It might be useful to consider 'make', a.k.a., GNUmake, as a language
and to organize the manual around this notion. In descriptions of
computer languages it is seen as useful to define the lexical structure,
including keywords, prior to defining the sentential structure prior to
in-depth explanations of features. In looking at the current manual I
think this this would fit well and do much to providing a framework for
reading the manual. For example, what is a filename lexical structure, a
target, reserved name, and archive, and so on. And then, what is the
general nature of valid sentences in the language.
From what I have been able to gather:
target : [[:alphanum:]]+
prerequisite : name+.name*
| name
| name(name)
name : localName
| keyword ???
recipe : ?
localName : [[:alphanum:]]+
keyword : [[:ALPHA:]]+
| '.' [[:ALHPA:]]+
derefname : $(localName)
sentences : rule | assignment | keyword | ...
rule : target_list ':' prerequisite_list ; recipe recipe_list
| target_list ':'prerequisite_list recipe_list
recipe_list : recipe_list recipe
| <newline>$(..RECIPEPREFIX) recipe
|
and so on. I'm only on Chapter 4.0 so I'm sure, absolutely sure, that
this is wrong, and/or incomplete.
This is the issue. The manual spreads lexical and parse definitions
throughout. Often, a new lexical/parsing item is introduced as part of
an example, and often with a forward reference. But nowhere is this
information collected and presented as part of the manual preliminaries.
It almost seems (to me) that in order to understand Chapter 2-4 I have
to read the remainder of the manual, and then go back to the overview
topics in these chapters.
For example, on pg. 24 'OBJS := $(addprefix $(OBJDIR)/,foo.o bar.o
baz.o)' is given. Nowhere, up to this point, is this syntax described.
For example, what is an 'addprefix'? Why is there a space? What is the
syntax of the right hand side of a localName? Do localNames have to be
capitalized? And so on.
As a separate item, throughout what I have read here is a reference to a
'filename'. I believe that this is incorrect in each instance that it is
mentioned. The 'filename' can be a reference to a directory, filename,
local name, or anything. This being said, nowhere is the lexical
definition or sentential structure presented up to this point. For
example, can filenames be replaced by an archive (alpha(alpha))? It
would be helpful to know the basic lexical structure before the chapters
are read (see above note).
In other respects I think that the manual is very good.
If I can be of any assistance in rewriting portions of the manual, I
would gladly take a hand at it.
thanks for you good work;
art
