On 2015-04-06 06:44 -0700, Arthur Schwarz wrote: > Automake manual pg. 120
When referencing the manual it is best to provide section numbers, and also quote the section title. Ideally, further include a brief quotation of the text you are discussing. Page numbers: (a) don't exist in non-print formats, and (b) change over time. Section headings suffer from (b) too but to a much lesser degree. This is important not only so that we can figure out what part of the manual is being discussed today, but also so that 10+ years from now, someone searching can find this question can understand the context. > Does anyone know where AM_TAP_AWK is defined and what it does? I assume we are talking about ยง15.4.2 "Use TAP with the Automake test harness"[1], specifically this line in the example: TEST_LOG_DRIVER = env AM_TAP_AWK='$(AWK)' $(SHELL) \ $(top_srcdir)/build-aux/tap-driver.sh AM_TAP_AWK is defined right there, in the example code. Its purpose is to tell the tap-driver.sh program which AWK program to use. [1] https://gnu.org/software/automake/manual/automake.html#Use-TAP-with-the-Auto make-test-harness Cheers, -- Nick Bowler, Elliptic Technologies (http://www.elliptictech.com/) Hey thanks; I guess what your saying is that the variable needs no definition; it's self-defining. Does this mean that the TAP interface needs this variable only under some circumstances but not under all? Since it is self-defined within an example and not in some text which defines the TAP interface I suppose that it is only required sometimes, otherwise the TAP interface would have it as part of its description. I'm also a bit confused about the use of env. Does this use mean that Makefile evaluates TEST_LOG_DRIVER by escaping to a shell? Otherwise, does Makefile do it's own interpretation of 'env'? the reason that I'm asking this question is that on env Cygwin (8.23-4) manual page (and env --help) shows: SYNOPSIS env [OPTION]... [-] [NAME=VALUE]... [COMMAND [ARG]...] which seems to imply that either we have NAME=VALUE or NAME=. The example shows $(SHELL) which has neither of these. I suppose that when $(SHELL) is evaluated it produces some variable name (?) but if it does, how does TAP determine what this name is from the environment? Does it search the environment for a fixed set of names and then assume success at the first one found? Can I supply TAP with a shell whose name is not one of the fixed set of names? Anyhow, I'm abandoning TAP and going to try to use the Custom Drivers and hope that if the definitions are not clearer then at least I can get some sort of test going. If that doesn't work then I will distribute my software with no testing. Thanks art The failure of the past is the challenge of the present and the success of the future.