got wet with make --dry-run

Gentlemen, make --dry-run is booby trapped to still execute commands:
$ (cd Documentation; make --dry-run); find -mtime -1 -type f
./Documentation/doc.dep
./GIT-VERSION-FILE
Forgot $(MAKEFLAGS)? (info "(make)Options/Recursion").
By the way, why would an offline make need
/bin/sh: curl-config: command not found

jidanni@jidanni.org wrote:

Gentlemen, make --dry-run is booby trapped to still execute commands:
$ (cd Documentation; make --dry-run); find -mtime -1 -type f
./Documentation/doc.dep
./GIT-VERSION-FILE
Forgot $(MAKEFLAGS)? (info "(make)Options/Recursion").

A two minute check into Makefile shows that the recursion is
implemented via $(MAKE), which is the recommended way to do it.  It's
impossible to "forget" $(MAKEFLAGS), since the docs clearly say that
it is always exported unless explicitly unexported.

The *real* reason why it rebuilds GIT-VERSION-FILE is that the
Makefile says '-include GIT-VERSION-FILE', and uses the version info
to decide some parts of the build process.  (It'll also do a similar
thing with the $CFLAGS detection code.)  Since this influences the
actual commands executed, it seems sensible to run them even under
'make -n'.

By the way, why would an offline make need
/bin/sh: curl-config: command not found

From somewhere near the top of Makefile, which is definitely a
recommended read:

# Define NO_CURL if you do not have libcurl installed.  git-http-pull and
# git-http-push are not built, and you cannot use http:// and https://
# transports.


Next time please take the time to investigate at least a little bit
into your "issues" before starting to cry foul.

-- 
Thomas Rast
trast@{inf,student}.ethz.ch