[fpc-pascal] fpc make vs. gnu make

[Tomas Hajny]

Michael Van Canneyt wrote:
> On Thu, 12 Jul 2007, Tom Walsh wrote:
>
>> I am starting work on one fpc project and planning another.  The current
>> project will be for an x86 target, the planned project would be on ARM.
>> I'm
>> confused by the inclusion of a make utility within the fpc package.
>>
>> Is there a compelling reason NOT to use GNU make for the fpc projects?
>> Is
>> there any benefit to the fpc make?
>
> The FPC provided make is GNU make.

@Michael: He probably means fpcmake.

@Tom: fpcmake isn't used for building but rather for construction and
maintenance of proper Makefile (later executed by GNU make) from
simplified Makefile.fpc allowing not to repeat platform specific knowledge
and focus just to stuff need for building Pascal units and programs (in
this context, you could compare it to autoconf known in the C world).

However, because of limitations of GNU make, especially talking about some
less common platforms, it's intended to avoid need of GNU make altogether
and replace it with the new fppkg system (this is only for the future,
though, not in use yet).

Tomas