Added some more stuff about recursive references.

This commit is contained in:
Roland McGrath 1988-07-03 13:07:42 +00:00
parent 78079dd062
commit c9be6b239c

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@ -2090,6 +2090,7 @@ sets @samp{bar} to @samp{a.c b.c c.c}. @xref{Setting}.
@subsection Recursive References
@cindex recursive variable reference
@cindex variable reference, recursive
Variables may be referenced inside a variable reference. This is called
a @dfn{recursive variable reference}. For example,
@ -2140,6 +2141,74 @@ but it works: @samp{$($($(z)))} expands to @samp{$($(y))} which becomes
@samp{variable2} in @samp{$(x)} and finally expands to @samp{$(variable2)},
a simple variable reference that becomes @samp{Hello}.@refill
Recursive variable references need not be as simple as @samp{$($(a))}.
They can contain several variable references:
@example
a_dirs := dira dirb
1_dirs := dir1 dir2
a_files := filea fileb
1_files := file1 file2
ifeq "$(use_a)" "yes"
a1 := a
else
a1 := 1
endif
ifeq "$(use_dirs)" "yes"
df := dirs
else
df := files
endif
dirs := $($(a1)_$(df))
@end example
@noindent
will give @samp{dirs} the value of @samp{a_dirs}, @samp{1_dirs},
@samp{a_files} or @samp{1_files} depending on the settings of @samp{use_a}
and @samp{use_dirs}.@refill
Recursive variable references can also be part of a modified reference:
@example
a_objects := a.o b.o c.o
1_objects := 1.o 2.o 3.o
sources := $($(a1)_object:.o=.c)
@end example
@noindent
defines @samp{sources} as either @samp{a.c b.c c.c} or @samp{1.c 2.c 3.c},
depending on the value of @samp{a1}.
The only restriction on this sort of use of recursive variable references
is that they cannot specify part of a function invokation. This is because
the search for an initial word matching defined function is done before the
check for a variable name containing a dollar sign. Thus,
@example
ifdef do_sort
func := sort
else
func := strip
endif
bar := a d b g q c
foo := $($(func) $(bar))
@end example
@noindent
attempts to give @samp{foo} the value of the variable @samp{sort a d b g
q c} or @samp{strip a d b g q c}, rather than giving @samp{a d b g
q c} as the argument to either the @code{sort} or the @code{strip}
function. This is an implementation restriction which may be removed in
the future if the need arises, but this is not likely since there are not
really any two functions you would want to give the same arguments.@refill
Recursive variable references are a complicated concept needed only for
very complex makefile programming. You need not worry about them in
general, except to know that making a variable with a dollar sign in its
@ -4659,6 +4728,9 @@ Intermediate implicit files. @xref{Chained Rules}.
Special search method for library dependencies written in the form
@samp{-l@var{name}}. @xref{Libraries/Search}.
@item
Allowing suffixes for suffix rules (@pxref{Suffix Rules}) to contain
any characters. In other version of @code{make}, they must begin with
@samp{.} and not contain any @samp{/} characters.
@item