| -*-Indented-Text-*- |
| GNU Make TODO List |
| ------------------ |
| |
| This list comes both from the authors and from users of GNU make. |
| |
| They are listed in no particular order! |
| |
| Also, I don't gaurantee that all of them will be ultimately deemed "good |
| ideas" and implemented. These are just the ones that, at first blush, |
| seem to have some merit (and that I can remember). |
| |
| However, if you see something here you really, really want, speak up. |
| All other things being equal, I will tend to implement things that seem |
| to maximize user satisfaction. |
| |
| Also, this list doesn't include things which I'm pretty sure would |
| require serious, fundamental change to GNU make; those things belong on |
| the mythical "Make 4.0" list. I admit, that line can be somewhat fuzzy :) |
| |
| |
| * Per-target variable definitions (a la SunOS make's ":=" feature, but |
| note the syntax here will definitely be different!) |
| |
| * Multi-token pattern rule matching (allow %1/%2.c : %1/obj/%2.o, etc.) |
| |
| * More robust clock skew detection algorithm. |
| |
| * Provide MAKETARGETS and MAKEVARIABLES variables, containing the |
| names of the targets and variables defined in the makefile. |
| |
| * If the user asks for parallelization, rebuild any "include"'d files |
| in parallel as well (helps esp. when there are many .d files to be |
| built). |
| |
| * Allow variables/functions to expand to other make rules which are |
| then interpreted, with newlines handled correctly. |
| |
| * More intelligent submake handling when doing parallel makes: |
| currently each submake gets a "-j 1" option. It would be good if |
| make was smart enough to give some/all its slots to the submake |
| (esp. if there is no other rule that can be run by the parent in |
| parallel, a common situation). Doing this perfectly might be too |
| hard, but something less than perfect is certainly possible. |
| |
| * Option to check more than timestamps to determine if targets have |
| changed (MD5 checksumming?) |
| |
| * Some sort of operating-system independent way of handling paths |
| would be outstanding, so makefiles can be written for UNIX, VMS, |
| DOS, MS-Windows, Amiga, etc. with a minimum of specialization. |
