[neroden@doctormoo.dyndns.org: Re: Get rid of libtool? [was Re: Makefile problems]]

[Nathanael Nerode <neroden at doctormoo dot dyndns dot org>]

On Thu, Jul 04, 2002 at 01:03:43PM -0600, Tom Tromey wrote:
> >>>>> "Nathanael" == Nathanael Nerode <neroden@doctormoo.dyndns.org> writes:
> 
> [ also on automake list ]
> 
> Nathanael> Automake also makes massive use of Makefile macros, which
> Nathanael> are a known and proven way to make Makefiles lots slower.
> 
> This is interesting.  Have you quantified this performance loss?
> We might be able to do something about this, if it is important enough.

I haven't quantified it yet;  there's a reasonably straightforward way
to do so, though, which is to take an automake-generated Makefile and
write every Makefile macro out explicitly where it's used.  Then measure
the time needed to build in the two different cases.  To isolate the
issue more, one can compare the time needed to "make" when nothing needs
to be done (when everything's already made).

Hmm, I'll take a look at this in some actual cases.

I'd like to do this automatically, but I don't want to rewrite Make's
macro processor, so it has to be done by hand-copying the macros.  Slow,
tedious. :-/

My theory is that macros should only be used if
* they need to be changed post-configure, at 'make' time
* or they are traditional and standardized

--Nathanael