[Python-Dev] Verbosity of the Makefile

[Guido van Rossum]

> I was referring to this output:
> 
> making Makefile in subdirectory Modules
> Compiling (meta-) parse tree into NFA grammar
> Making DFA for 'single_input' ...
> Making DFA for 'file_input' ...
> Making DFA for 'eval_input' ...
> Making DFA for 'funcdef' ...
> Making DFA for 'parameters' ...
> Making DFA for 'varargslist' ...
> Making DFA for 'fpdef' ...
> Making DFA for 'fplist' ...
> Making DFA for 'stmt' ...
> Making DFA for 'simple_stmt' ...
> Making DFA for 'small_stmt' ...
> ...
> Making DFA for 'list_for' ...
> Making DFA for 'list_if' ...
> Adding FIRST sets ...
> Writing graminit.c ...
> Writing graminit.h ...

This should only happen after "make clean" right?  If it annoys you,
we could add >/dev/null to the pgen rule.

> > > Also, I'd suggest adding a line
> > >
> > > .SILENT:
> > >
> > > to the top-level Makefile to make possible errors more visible
> > > (without the parser messages the Makefile messages for a clean
> > > run fit on a 25-line display).
> > 
> > I tried this, and it's to quiet -- you don't know what's going on at
> > all any more.  If you like this, just say "make -s".
> 
> I know, that's what I have in my .aliases file... just thought
> that it might be better to only see problems rather than hundreds
> of OS commands.

-1.  It's too silent to be a good default.  Someone who first unpacks
and builds Python and is used to building other projects would wonder
why make is "hanging" without printing anything.  I've never seen a
Makefile that had this right out of the box.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.pythonlabs.com/~guido/)