Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.19990228024437.0089e310@pop.globalserve.net>
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Date: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 02:44:37 -0500
To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com, bug-gnu-utils AT prep DOT ai DOT mit DOT edu
From: Paul Derbyshire <pderbysh AT usa DOT net>
Subject: Make bug/wart/oddity, Make v 3.76.1
Cc: bug-gnu-utils AT gnu DOT org
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Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com

I made a makefile one of whose targets creates one of its dependencies
(perfectly normal) and in which another target shares the same dependency.
When run, it will (sometimes, but not always) emit a message about the
dependency in question having a modification time in the future, and
complaining about clock skew.

1. Winblows is NOT changing from DST to standard time or vice versa in
   the middle of the build :-)
2. The clock isn't being changed by the user (me) asynchronously
   during the build.
3. The clock isn't being automatically changed by any Internet clock-
   syncyhronizing software during the build either.

Since the file is written and the clock is not subsequently changed except
to allow it to follow its normal strict increasing trend, it is logically
impossible for the file's timestamp to be greater than the clock time on
the subsequent read, forcing me to conclude that either

1. Make has a bug or an "undocumented feature" perhaps involving
   roundoff errors of some kind or
2. My BIOS is experiencing the early stages of terminal hardware
   failure :-(

Anyone have any more information, or at least a way for me to verify
that case 2 isn't happening? (Oh, BIOS, you've done me in good stead for
two years... if you've got to give up the ghost, please wait for a week or
two, until AFTER the new PII-333 box arrives and AFTER all my stuff is
copied to the PII-333 box and AFTER this old box is subsequently sold and
until AFTER the buyer remits payment in full... :-))

Here is the result of running "make --version":

C:\PGD\C++\omega\ofc>make --version
GNU Make version 3.76.1, by Richard Stallman and Roland McGrath.
Copyright (C) 1988, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97
        Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.
There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Report bugs to <bug-gnu-utils AT prep DOT ai DOT mit DOT edu>.

-- 
   .*.  "Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not
-()  <  circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a
   `*'  straight line."    -------------------------------------------------
        -- B. Mandelbrot  |http://surf.to/pgd.net
_____________________ ____|________     Paul Derbyshire     pderbysh AT usa DOT net
Programmer & Humanist|ICQ: 10423848|