On Tue, Sep 16, 2025 at 06:19:41PM +0200, Joerg Boehmer wrote:
> -/* Apply Make quoting to STR, TRAIL. Note that it's not possible to
> - quote all such characters - e.g. \n, %, *, ?, [, \ (in some
> - contexts), and ~ are not properly handled. It isn't possible to
> - get this right in any current version of Make. (??? Still true?
> - Old comment referred to 3.76.1.) */
> +/* Apply Make quoting to STR, TRAIL. GNU make supports escape sequences in
> + rules for characters that are special to make. Note that it's not
> possible
> + to quote all such characters and some are not properly handled. The
> current
> + status with version 4.4.1 of GNU make is:
> + <newline> - No escape possible. The character always introduces a line
> break
> + or a continuation line.
> + <space>, :, # - Escaped spaces are properly handled in targets and
> + prerequisites.
> + <tab> - Escaped tab-characters sometimes decay to a space in targets and
> + prerequisites.
> + =, ; - No escape possible. These characters always retain their special
> + meaning.
Can't one use e.g.
$(shell echo =)
for =, or $(shell echo ';') ?
Or perhaps better
$(firstword =)
or
$(firstword ;)
?
Jakub
