[Simh] Here comes a new Makefile - please try it and enhance it!

[Terry Newton]

Hello all,

--- On Thu, 9/18/08, Philipp Hachtmann <hachti at hachti.de> wrote:

> I have just written a new single Makefile. It's
> attached to this message.
> 
> The Makefile currently contains the module definitions for
> H316,
> Nova and Eclipse. There is also enough information to add
> the rest.
> 
> Someone should do it! It's simple!

Sorry to chime in here on things I don't exactly understand...
but perhaps that's the point! I took a look at the existing
3.8-0 makefile, and I CAN understand it, yet I don't
understand this new makefile.

The present makefile works perfectly for me under both Linux
and Windows (called via the mingw batch), with the very minor
hassle of having to create a BIN directory (if that's even true
anymore, been doing it that way for a while and just do it).
Each simulator compile command reduces to a single command
line, which if I want, can be copied off the screen and
used as is. I know practically nothing about make but
reading through the existing makefile and making substitutions
I can pretty much deduce what that command line will be.
Being batch-like has advantages! As in being able to read it.

Another thing is SimH needs to be compilable on practically
any modern platform, with as few deviations (IFEQ etc) as
possible, and with NO changes to the base source code.
Doing fancy stuff is asking for problems, and requires
extensive testing to make sure it works on ALL platforms.
What about a mainframe using who-knows-what version of UNIX?

I want to keep an open mind, so exactly what are the
advantages of this new makefile over the present one?

> # Here comes the weird generic stuff. Should be altered
> VERY carefully only.

???? this is what I'm talking about. In the existing makefile
I can quickly find what needs changing (if anything) and just
do it, care (or even much understanding) is not required.
 
> # Add the executable to the CLEANSTUFF list
> 
> CLEANSTUFF+=$$(TARGET_DIR)/$$($(1)_EXEC)$$(EXEC_SUFFIX)

???? a make clean is supposed to remove the extra objects,
NOT the EXE's, those are the things I want to keep :-)

Regarding SimH hacks, I think it should be hacked! I have
my own set of hacks for the HP2100 simulator to enable
partial support for playing games etc that use HP terminal
codes, I'm interested in the readline patch, and curious
to as why there's a need for a new makefile.

BUT... hacks don't necessarily belong in the main distro and
have the potential to disrupt other people's hacks if too much
changes. My terminal hacks are for me and so I can provide
customized binaries for running my other hacks, but are not
appropriate for everyone (people would complain that it didn't
work with this or that etc but it does what *I* want it to do -
play my favorite HP games without blinking). Such things should
be provided on their own websites etc, so they can be used or
not used, with an explanation of what they do and how to use.

Terry