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 Lines: 17 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