Q44131

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Q44131: How to Specify Paths in Inference Rules in NMAKE

Article: Q44131
Version(s): 1.00   | 1.10
Operating System: MS-DOS | OS/2
Flags: ENDUSER | s_quickc  s_c  h_FORTRAN
Last Modified: 23-MAR-1990

Question:

How to I specify paths in inference rules?

Response:

Note: For a complete description of this feature, see QuickC Version 2.00
Toolkit, Section 7.3.3. One of the most powerful new features of
NMAKE is that it allows paths to be specified in an inference rule.

The syntax of an inference rule without paths is as follows:

   .fromext.toext:

This syntax is somewhat limited, however, because both the "fromfile"
and the "tofile" are evaluated as if they existed in the current
directory. With NMAKE, a path specifier may be added to an inference
rule by doing the following:

   {frompath}.fromext{topath}.toext:

Note: If you use a path on one element of the inference rule, you must
use it on both. For instance, if you want to compare any .c file in
the current directory with its .obj file in my object directory, the
inference rule would look like the following:

{.}.c{c:\objects}.obj:
        cl /c $<;

Note that the fromext (.c) has to be preceded with a path. In the case
of the current directory, the ".", or current directory works nicely.

When NMAKE encounters a descriptor block that has no commands
following, it will look for an inference rule that matches the
descriptor block. When checking for matching, NMAKE expects that the
base name of both the target and the dependents be the same. Also, the
paths must match exactly. In other words, the following descriptor
line would not use the inference rule just defined because the paths
do not match on the .obj file:

   test.obj : test.c

In this case, the predefined inference rule for .c.obj: would be
invoked. To invoke the inference rule just defined, the descriptor
line would be as follows:

   c:\objects\test.obj : test.c