diff --git a/winsup/doc/how-programming.texinfo b/winsup/doc/how-programming.texinfo index d3e62cfdd..1684c815a 100644 --- a/winsup/doc/how-programming.texinfo +++ b/winsup/doc/how-programming.texinfo @@ -16,30 +16,28 @@ would be difficult. @subsection Why is make behaving badly? -@strong{(Please note: This section has not yet been updated for the latest -net release.)} +Make has two operating modes, UNIX and WIN32. You need to make sure +that you are operating in the right mode. -Starting with the beta 19 release, make defaults to a win32 mode in -which backslashes in filenames are permitted and cmd.exe/command.com -is used as the sub-shell. In this mode, escape characters aren't -allowed among other restrictions. For this reason, you must set -the environment variable MAKE_MODE to UNIX to run make on ordinary Unix -Makefiles. Here is the full scoop: +In UNIX mode, make uses sh.exe as a subshell. The path list separator +is ':', '\' is the escape character, POSIX paths are expected, and +Cygwin mounts will be understood. Use this for Makefiles written for +UNIX. -MAKE_MODE selects between native Win32 make mode (the default) and -a Unix mode where it behaves like a Unix make. The Unix mode does -allow specifying Win32-style paths but only containing forward slashes -as the path separator. The path list separator character is a colon -in Unix mode. +In WIN32 mode, make uses the "native" command shell (cmd.exe or +command.com), with all the restrictions that implies. The path list +separator is ';', the path separator is '\', "copy" and "del" work, but +the Cygwin mount table is not understood. Use this for nmake-style +Makefiles. -Win32 mode expects path separators to be either / or \. Thus no -Unix-style \s as escape are allowed. Win32 mode also uses -cmd.exe/command.com as the subshell which means "copy" and "del" -(and other shell builtins) will work. The path list separator -character is semi-colon in Win32 mode. People who want an nmake-like -make might want to use this mode but no one should expect Unix -Makefiles to compile in this mode. That is why the default b19 -install sets MAKE_MODE to UNIX. +The default mode for the Net Release of make (the one installed by +@code{setup.exe}) is UNIX. The default mode for commercial releases to +Redhat (formerly Cygnus) customers is WIN32. + +You can override the default by setting the environment variable +MAKE_MODE to "UNIX" (actually case is not significant) or "WIN32" +(actually anything other than "UNIX"). You can also specify the options +--unix or --win32 on the make command line. @subsection Why the undefined reference to "WinMain@@16"?