GNU bug report logs - #78112
GNU make now needed for VPATH builds on OpenBSD

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Bruno Haible <bruno <at> clisp.org>
To: bug-diffutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: GNU make now needed for VPATH builds on OpenBSD
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2025 13:40:51 +0200

The commit 33ee12e5878c950dfd5ee230039abc514d936d03
           build: use system help2man

surely was intended to have an effect only on the users
who build from git or who have made modifications after
unpacking the diffutils tarball.

But it also has an effect on OpenBSD users who take the diffutils tarball,
unpack it, and build it through a VPATH build. Previously, this worked
with plain 'make'. Now, it fails with 'make' and needs GNU make ('gmake').

Here is the error message:

$ make
...
Making all in tests
Making all in doc
Making all in man
  GEN      cmp.1
/home/bruno/diffutils-2025-04-28/build-aux/missing[81]: help2man: not found
WARNING: 'help2man' is missing on your system.
         You should only need it if you modified a dependency of a man page.
         You may want to install the GNU Help2man package:
         <https://www.gnu.org/software/help2man/>
*** Error 127 in man (Makefile:2580 'cmp.1': @echo "  GEN     " cmp.1;base=`expr cmp.1 : '\(.*\).1'`				 && test -x ../src/$base					 && (ec...)
*** Error 1 in /home/bruno/diffutils-2025-04-28/bb (Makefile:2457 'all-recursive': @fail=;  if (target_option=k; case ${target_option-} in  ...)

Two workarounds exist:
  - Use 'gmake' instead of 'make'.
  - Build in the source directory.

Maybe this is worth documenting in the INSTALL file? (Oh it's a hassle
that this file is autogenerated. Maybe create a file 'INSTALL.openbsd'?)

Bruno

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