From: elf AT netcom DOT com (Marc Singer)
Message-Id: <199704032124.NAA29222@netcom23.netcom.com>
Subject: Re: Nmake for WinNT 3.5 utilities
To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com (DJGPP List Alias)
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 13:24:06 -0800 (PST)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SUN.3.91.970403165812.27318D-100000@is> from "Eli Zaretskii" at Apr 3, 97 04:58:51 pm
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> 
> 
> On Wed, 2 Apr 1997, Casey Corcoran wrote:
> 
> > If not, do you think it is feasible to build one, or should I concentrate
> > my efforts on manually editing the existing make file as we go along?
> 
> Are you talking about converting MSVC-compatible Makefiles to DJGPP's
> Make?  If so, I'm not sure you need to convert them at all, they might
> just work with DJGPP's Make unaltered.

I believe this is not true.  The conditional syntax used in MSVC
makefiles is not compatible with GNU Make.  The redirection used to
circumvent command line length limitations is not compatible.
The difference in pathname separators is not easily reconcilled since
GNU Make sometimes interprets \ as an escape and sometimes allows it
to be passed to the operating system [sic].

I've tried to either a) automate the conversion or b) create LCD
(least common denominator) makefiles without success.  My best
solution has been to read the MSVC makefile and generate simpler,
portable GNUmakefiles.  Unfortunately, there are a couple of features
that GNU needs to make it a truly powerful superset of NMAKE on which
MSVC's make is based.

-- Marc Singer