780126 - pymake doesn't handle recursively-defined macros

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox Build System :: General, defect)

Description

[Michael Haggerty]

Attachment: Makefile demonstrating problem

Using GNU make, it is possible to define recursive macros.  See [1] for an explanation of why one would want to use this feature.

The attachment is an example.  It defines a macro "recursive" that takes a list argument.  It evaluates to the first word from its argument list, followed by an "x", followed by the result of invoking itself recursively on the rest of the list.  An "$(if ...)" construct is used to end the recursion.

The output of running GNU make with this Makefile is

    1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x

Pymake, on the other hand, rejects the construct with

    make.py[0]: Entering directory '/home/mhagger/jpk/proj/jpkspm'
    Recursively setting variable 'recursive'

and no other output.

Pymake should implement the same behavior as GNU make.

[1] http://softwareswirl.blogspot.de/2009/10/gnu-make-trick-for-handling-long-lists.html

Comment 1

[Chris Cooper [:coop] (he/him)]

Mass close of pymake-related bugs.