Looking for speed increases in "make index" and pkg_version for ports

[Garrett Cooper]

Mike Meyer wrote:
> In <465AB421.10802 at dlr.de>, Hartmut Brandt <hartmut.brandt at dlr.de> typed:
>> 1. make and its sub-makes for a) reading the file; b) parsing the file
>> (note that .if and .for processing is done while parsing); c) processing
>> targets.
> 
> Make and submakes have been gone over already. See <URL:
> http://miller.emu.id.au/pmiller/books/rmch/ >.
> 
> I'm not sure it can be applied to the ports tree, though. I haven't
> looked into it, but recalled this paper when you mentioned measuring
> makes and sub-makes.
> 
>     <mike

Reducing the number of variables will certainly cut down on the amount 
of overhead in the make/submake context switches by a long shot.

Maybe someone should consider running a 'pre-make' using the .mk files, 
find the variables of interest for all particular sub-ports, and then 
carry on the 'root make', i.e. make process in each port directory, with 
just the variables of interest.

-Garrett