Intention of the clean target vs clean-depends

[Harry Schmalzbauer]

Am 05.11.2018 um 13:03 schrieb Harry Schmalzbauer:
> Hello,
>
> I'm about to overhaul some scripts and continue wondering why 'make 
> clean' removes ${WRKDIR} of all dependencies, although there's the 
> clean-depends target.
> The comment in bsd.ports.mk makes me think 'clean' shouldn't delete 
> dependencies:
> # clean                 - Remove ${WRKDIR} and other temporary files 
> used for building.
> # clean-depends - Do a "make clean" for all dependencies.
>
> Thanks fpr clarification,

Hello,

I'm really interested why it is how it is.
I'd highly appreciate if someone can confirm that the current behaviour 
of the clean: target is the intended behaviour.
If so, the clean-depends: can be retired, can it?
I'm ignoring this – to my understanding – oddity for more then a decade, 
without ever stumbling over any scenario where the behaviour would have 
been self clarifiying.
For now I'm using the clean-wrkdir: target instead of clean:, but since 
nobody answered yet, I guess my question is unclear or I'm missing 
somthing ultimate obvious, so the question isn't unclear but stupid?!?

Thanks,

-harry