load target breaks make

[J.J. Green]

With the following Makefile:

--

load : hello

hello :
 echo "all is well"

--

the commands "make", "make hello", "make load" result in error with message

  Makefile:1: :: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
  Makefile:1: *** :: failed to load. Stop.

this minimal example extracted from a Makefile with a load target which has
been used weekly for 10+ years.

$ make --version
GNU Make 4.1
Built for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Copyright (C) 1988-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Licence GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Linux Mint 18.1 Serena
Release: 18.1

$ apt-cache policy make
make:
  Installed: 4.1-6
  Candidate: 4.1-6
  Version table:
 *** 4.1-6 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

load:

is parsed as a make target

load :

is parsed as a load directive asking to load an extended module (make plugin) named literary `:'

https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/make.html#load-Directive

Please use correct syntax for targets, without a space before `:'.

[J.J. Green (j-j-green)]

This would seem to be a recent change to behaviour, and a quick google search shows examples with a space before the colon in Gnu make's own documentation and of other makes. This being the case, a couple of lines of C printing a more helpful message in the case that the Makefile requests that it load an .so called ":" might be appropriate. Just sayin'.

Best wishes,

Jim

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

On 27 February 2017 at 15:56, J.J. Green <email address hidden> wrote:
> This would seem to be a recent change to behaviour, and a quick google
> search shows examples with a space before the colon in Gnu make's own
> documentation and of other makes. This being the case, a couple of
> lines of C printing a more helpful message in the case that the Makefile
> requests that it load an .so called ":" might be appropriate. Just
> sayin'.
>

Valid point, maybe raise it with upstream?

--
Regards,

Dimitri.

[J.J. Green (j-j-green)]

Good idea, I've done that

Cheers

Jim