Re: [PATCH] Don't write directly to a make target ($@).

Junio C Hamano [off-list ref] wrote:

Jim Meyering [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

Otherwise, if make is suspended, or killed with prejudice, or if the
system crashes, you could be left with an up-to-date, yet corrupt,
generated file.

Thanks.  Maybe you would want a "make clean" target for them too
if you do this.  I often use $@+ instead of t$@ so that I can
say "rm -f *+" there.

I chose a prefix rather than a suffix, so that if git is built on a file
system with unreasonable file name length limitations, the prefix will
distinguish the temporary from the target; in that situation, a suffixed
temporary name could map to the target name.

However, assuming reasonable file name length limits, using a suffix is
generally better, since it works even when the target is an absolute
name.  Adding a prefix obviously won't work with an absolute name.

I'm happy to ignore 14-byte(and 8.3)-limited file systems and
go with a suffix, if you still prefer that.  New patch coming up.