Cshell within make

#Bill.Stewart.2G202.x0705 wcs at ho95e.UUCP
Sat Jan 18 15:22:27 AEST 1986


> A few observed that "make" should look at the SHELL variable.  It doesn't
> on our system (BSD 4.2), and a note today in news from Matthew P Wiener
> (of the Math Dept at UCB) says that the line in "make" that checks SHELL
> is usually commented out in the BSD version.  Anybody know why?

It's fine for "make" to use the *Makefile author's* $SHELL if he/she wants to
use it, but using $SHELL means it uses the shell of the
	*person making the software*

If make always uses /bin/sh, then everyone can use it.  If a given makefile
specifies csh, then 2/3 of the UNIX systems out there can use it, but they can
use it reliably.  If the makefile uses $SHELL, then any of you who use
/bin/sh can't make software  written by a csh user, and csh users can't make
software written by a /bin/sh user, even if they have both shells on there
machine.  I normally use ksh, but stick to the /bin/sh subset for programming.

How many of you still have the "Adventure Shell" on your system that someone
(Doug Gwyn or Guy Harris?) posted a few years ago?  Will it work with make? :-)

"A nasty little dwarf throws a stone knife into your mailbox!"

n
	You are in small, seldom-used directory
	There is a makefile here
	There is a foo.c here
attack foo.c with "make"

-- 
# Bill Stewart, AT&T Bell Labs 2G-202, Holmdel NJ 1-201-949-0705 ihnp4!ho95c!wcs



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