Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!super!udel!rochester!cornell!mailrus!ncar!tank!oddjob!mimsy!chris
From: chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: make importing SHELL
Message-ID: <13753@mimsy.UUCP>
Date: 27 Sep 88 05:45:50 GMT
References: <452@alice.marlow.uucp> <67870@sun.uucp> <67925@sun.uucp> <128@cetia.UUCP>
Sender: news@super.ORG
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
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In article <128@cetia.UUCP> chris@cetia.UUCP (Chris Bertin) writes:
>If 'make' had been modified to get its shell from a different variable (say
>'MAKESHELL', for example), no existing makefiles would have been broken and
>you would still be able to use a different shell. It is a misfeature.

Right.

More generally, the problem is that the environment variable $SHELL has
the meaning `user's preferred shell', and Makefile commands have the
meaning `hand this to the shell the Makefile says to use'.  When the
two do not conflict, things work out, but the two *do* conflict, and
too often.

$SHELL and the shell-to-be-used-by-make are simply two different things.
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris@mimsy.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris