#609 Any change in the make-rule does not update the output

[Andrei Akhmetzhanov]

When I modify my makefile, the target is not updated. Only when I clear the directory, it gets an update. For example: http://lalashan.mcmaster.ca/theobio/evolCancer/index.php/Main_Page/Make_test - If I uncomment the sort-line in my makefile and comment the wc-line, the output will be the same

Another problem is with remake button. I thought when I choose remake, it does remake even if it assumes the target is up to date. Although, it is not like that and the remake does not give any result in my previous example.

[Anonymous]

The first problem you discuss is just how make works. It does not check by default whether files are up to date with respect to the makefiles, and we are not going to change this.

Remake doesn't really do anything beyond what you would get if you reloaded the page, and again, it's not meant to.

There are three work-arounds that I use.

1) add the Makefile dependency explicitly. In your example, you could change the dependency rule to

data_sorted.txt: data.txt Makefile

while you were working (and then change it back if you didn't expect the rule to change for a while).

2) Use rm/make (from the list working directory screen).

3) Use the special theobio target .destroy. That is, you could say:

<project-file filename="data_sorted.txt.destroy"/>

before you say

<project-file filename="data_sorted.txt"/>

[Andrei Akhmetzhanov]

Thanks a lot for clarifying!

I was kind of aware of that.

I didn't know about the .destroy-rule (it is very nice to get to know about it!) and I was not smart about adding the Makefile dependency. Although, the latter is obviously a solution.

I used the trick with rm/make, but it was not very convenient to go to the project-dir-listing page every time I needed it.

Thanks again