GNU bug report logs - #12411
24.2.50; No `make help' target?

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Message #32 received at 12411 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se>
Cc: bzg <at> altern.org, 12411 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, monnier <at> iro.umontreal.ca
Subject: Re: bug#12411: 24.2.50; No `make help' target?
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2019 19:57:08 +0300

> From: Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se>
> Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2019 01:09:32 +0200
> Cc: 12411 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Bastien <bzg <at> altern.org>
> 
> I'm not a Makefile expert, so I couldn't find a way to skip the
> configure step and immediately echo.

There's GNUmakefile which could be used for that purpose.

> +	@echo "make clean            -- delete files from build"
> +	@echo "make mostlyclean      -- delete most files from build"
> +	@echo "make distclean        -- delete files from build and configure"
> +	@echo "make maintainer-clean -- delete almost everything that can be regenerated"

It would be good to have these 4 more descriptive.  The above
basically just repeats the target names, which is not very helpful.

> +	@echo "make bootstrap        -- delete all files and force a new bootstrap"

"Delete all files" sounds scary, and is also incorrect.

> +	@echo "make uninstall        -- delete all installed files"

I'd say "remove files installed by 'make install'"

> +	@echo "make docs             -- generate Emacs documentation"
> +	@echo "make html             -- generate html documentation"
> +	@echo "make ps               -- generate ps documentation"
> +	@echo "make pdf              -- generate pdf documentation"

The description of "make docs" should tell which formats it produces,
otherwise its relation to the 3 other docs-related targets is not
clear.

Thanks.

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