remake -xn isn't the same as remake -nx

[MayeulC]

remake -nx does perform a dry run; remake -xn does not.

The problem might seat between the keyboard and the chair, as I didn't extensively read the documentation (thus it could be intended behaviour, just unexpected for me); but I would expect them to perform the same.

---

System configuration

OS: Arch Linux
make: GNU Make 4.2.1
remake: GNU Make 4.2.1+dbg-1.4

Steps to reproduce

Example Makefile:

a:
	echo this was executed

Correct output

$ remake -nx
Reading makefiles...
Updating makefiles...
Updating goal targets...
 File 'a' does not exist.
Must remake target 'a'.
Makefile:2: target 'a' does not exist
##>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
echo this was executed
##<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Successfully remade target file 'a'.

$ remake --trace -n
Reading makefiles...
Updating makefiles...
Updating goal targets...
 File 'a' does not exist.
Must remake target 'a'.
Makefile:2: target 'a' does not exist
##>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
echo this was executed
##<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Successfully remade target file 'a'.

$ remake -x
Reading makefiles...
Updating makefiles...
Updating goal targets...
 File 'a' does not exist.
Must remake target 'a'.
Makefile:2: target 'a' does not exist
##>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
echo this was executed
##<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
this was executed
Successfully remade target file 'a'.

Unexpected output

$ remake -xn
Makefile:2: target 'a' does not exist
##>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
echo this was executed
##<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
this was executed

[rocky]

Make it easy for me to help you. Come up with a specific Makefile, and show the results of one over the other. Then do the same with GNU make.

Give the GNU remake and GNU make versions that you used as well as the OS versions.

[MayeulC]

All right, sorry for that oversight, I was quite tired at the time. I expanded a bit with some system information and more examples on how to reproduce this.

This isn't reproducible with make, as it doesn't have a -x option, and both remake --trace -n & remake -n --trace perform the same, so I left the

Then do the same with GNU make.

part out.

---

Off-topic, but might be worthy to discuss:

I also reported a French translation bug to https://translationproject.org/team/index.html since that's what was indicated on that page; but I had to read this repository's makefiles to find that page, so I guess it could be a bit more documented as well. The bug was:

update target 'xxx' due to: yyy

is translated to

mise à jour de la cible « xxx » nécessaire pour : yyy

litterally meaning:

updating target « xxx » necessary for: yyy

which is completely backwards, and hard to understand. "nécessaire pour" should be something along the lines of "à cause de" (~"because of") or "causée par" (~"caused by").

I'm only writing this here to get confirmation that this was the right channel to report the translation issue; if not, I can open a ticket in the right place.

[rocky]

Will have to look at what's up with -nx vs `-xn and it may take a while. It is a bug, but it feels like a minor one.

As for the translations, that discussion isn't going to do anything here.

[boretom]

I did have a look at this issue and I can't decide if it's a bug or expected behaviour.

The trace (-x | --trace) parameter accepts an argument and therefore the character(s) that follow '-x' are assumed to be that argument. No argument is necessary since it sets a default, hence '-nx' works.

The same erroneous behaviour can be seen if running remake -xv which should just print the version information. But the output is the same as if I run remake -xn.

For debugging this issue I used the source of hashdeep since it got no dependencies expect autoconf/automake build tools. But every project will do.

I would expect remake to exit with an error if the argument passed to '-x'(or --trace) is none of the following expected arguments.

  -x, --trace[=TYPE]          Trace command execution TYPE may be
                              "command", "read", "normal"."
                              "noshell", or "full". Default is "normal"

It doesn't do that yet, see main.c, line 563-584 function decode_trace_flags(). Personally I would let remake exit with a meaningful error text.

[rocky]

It doesn't do that yet, see main.c, line 563-584 function decode_trace_flags(). Personally I would let remake exit with a meaningful error text.

Feel free to fix and put in a PR!

If you are feeling more ambitious there is a new vesion of GNU make, version 4.3 out. So there eventually will be a 4.3 branch with an entires set of patches to add the features here that aren't in GNU make.

[boretom]

I'll create a PR probably sometimes next week.

And for the being more ambitious, I'll have a look at the code to see if I can wrap my head around that topic.

[boretom]

Is fixed with remake@e141b6a

[rocky]

@boretom Thanks!

@MayeulC please try this out. If we don't hear back from you in a couple of days, I'll assume this is fixed.

[boretom]

@rocky, regarding make 4.3: I did a diff and I'm up for the task - not like from 3.8 to 4 :) ... it may take a week or two. If you're ok with that timeline I would take on the task.