[gnu.utils.bug] Make can't capture shell output in a variable

gildea@bbn.com (Stephen Gildea) (09/13/89)

In Make 3.55, I can't find a feature similar to the shell backquote:
the ability to set a Make variable to the output of a shell command.

SunOS 4.0 Make has the feature I want.  You can set a variable with :sh=
instead of = and it will take the value to be a shell command.

For a sample use, consider this piece of a Makefile.  /bin/arch is a
program that prints what you're running on: "sun3", "sun4", etc.

ARCH:sh=/bin/arch

LIBDIR=lib/$(ARCH)

myprog: $(OBJS)
	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $(OBJS) -L$(LIBDIR) $(LIBS)


 < Stephen

mcgrath%paris.Berkeley.EDU@GINGER.BERKELEY.EDU (Roland McGrath) (09/15/89)

You didn't read the manual.

There is a `shell' function:

	ARCH := $(shell /bin/arch)