Dmitry, thank you. Version 4.4.1 indeed has much more detailed and
understandable debug output. (my previous version was 4.3 — the
default on Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS.)
Now, with the following makefile:
```
foo.o:
%.o: aaa
@echo $@ 1111
%aa :
@echo $@ 2222
```
I get the output:
```
.......................
1 : Updating goal targets....
2 : Considering target file 'foo.o'.
3 : File 'foo.o' does not exist.
4 : Looking for an implicit rule for 'foo.o'.
5 : Trying pattern rule '%.o: aaa' with stem 'foo'.
6 : Trying rule prerequisite 'aaa'.
7 : Not found 'aaa'.
8 : Trying harder.
9 : Trying pattern rule '%.o: aaa' with stem 'foo'.
10 : Trying rule prerequisite 'aaa'.
11 : Looking for a rule with explicit file 'aaa'.
12 : Avoiding implicit rule recursion for rule '%.o: aaa'.
13 : Trying pattern rule '%aa:' with stem 'a'.
.......................
```
Here everything clear for me except line 12: Avoiding implicit rule
recursion for rule '%.o: aaa'.
After line 7 we've completed with point 5 of search algorithm and move
to point 6 (searching for aaa in implicit rules).
But I can't understand why we again see rule '%.o: aaa' and reject it
as recursion?
For aaa there is only suitable rule here - '%aa :'
Everything here is clear to me except line 12: “Avoiding implicit rule
recursion for rule '%.o: aaa'.”
After line 7, we finish step 5 of the search algorithm and move to
step 6 (searching for aaa in implicit rules). But I can’t understand
why we see the rule '%.o: aaa' again and rejected it as recursion.
As far as I can see, for aaa the only applicable rule here is '%aa:'
regards, Dmitry
On Sat, Oct 18, 2025 at 11:41 PM Dmitry Goncharov
<[email protected]> wrote:
>
> On Sat, Oct 18, 2025 at 3:11 AM Dmitry <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Updating goal targets....
> > Considering target file 'foo.o'.
> > File 'foo.o' does not exist.
> > Looking for an implicit rule for 'foo.o'.
> > Trying pattern rule with stem 'foo'.
> > Trying rule prerequisite 'aaa'.
> > Trying pattern rule with stem 'foo'.
> > Trying rule prerequisite 'aaa'.
> > Looking for a rule with intermediate file 'aaa'.
>
> This output is from an old version of make. If you try a recent make,
> you'll see much more detailed output from implicit search. That'll
> hopefully clarify the behavior. But, if not, post that detailed output
> here.
>
> regards, Dmitry
--
--
Dmitry
