Re: [libvirt] [PATCH 1 of 5] Split out version script into multiple files

john.levon(a)sun.com wrote: ... ... This all looks fine, but I'd prefer to retain the WARNING in the generated file, so that people are less likely to modify it directly. Along the same lines, I find that making generated files read-only often saves me from wasting time modifying it, since I don't always see the top few lines of a file. Here's a proposed replacement for the above: libvirt.syms: libvirt_public.syms $(PRIVSYMFILES) rm -f $@-tmp $@ printf '# WARNING: generated from the following:\n# $^\n\n' >$@-tmp cat $(srcdir)/libvirt_public.syms >>$@-tmp printf '\n\n# Private symbols\n\n' >>$@-tmp printf 'LIBVIRT_PRIVATE_$(VERSION) {\n\n' >>$@-tmp printf 'global:\n\n' >>$@-tmp for file in $(PRIVSYMFILES); do \ cat $(srcdir)/$$file >>$@-tmp; \ done printf '\n\nlocal:\n*;\n\n};' >>$@-tmp chmod a-w $@-tmp mv $@-tmp libvirt.syms I.e., unlink $@ up front, emit the WARNING comment use $(VERSION) rather than obsolescent @VERSION@ syntax run chmod a-w $@-tmp just before renaming in shell code, use single quotes unless you require double, so that the reader doesn't have to wonder if there are expandable constructs use $$file, rather than $${file} (less syntax) Note that using $^ is a GNU-make'ism, but it's ok, because there are already uses like that in this file, as well as plenty of other constructs that are specific to GNU make.