make -U

[Faried Nawaz]

> I think that it's not needed, since the functionality can
> easily be achieved by running "make FOO=", i.e., assigning
> an empty value.

There are a few cases where you do need to undefine something.  Take for
example port Makefiles which are marked with RESTRICTED; if you want to
make a package for company-wide distribution, you can simply type
"make -U RESTRICTED package" and you're done.

In my particular case, it was /usr/src/gnu/lib/libobjc -- its Makefile has
NOPIC defined. I could

- edit the makefile,
- ask around about the NOPIC thing (done, but haven't received a response yet),
- or type "make -U NOPIC -D SHLIB_MAJOR install"

There's no need to edit the makefile (changes lost in the next cvsup) or to
make a copy of the makefile, edit the copy, and do make -f my-makefile
(differences will develop between Makefile and my-makefile over time).


Faried.
-- 
The Great GNU has arrived, infidels, behold his wrath !
"If a MOO runs on a port no one accesses, does it run?"