[Buildroot] Target rebuilding

[Buildroot] Target rebuilding

[Jérôme Pouiller]

Hello all,

It is handy to do tests directly in target/. But after some time, it is 
necessary to make a new fresh target/ directory. The current procedure to do 
this is:

* remove build/.root (or remove target/ if you want to throw all your work)
* remove build/*/.stamp_target_installed
* depending of you toolchain:
  # remove stamps/ext-toolchain-installed (external)
  # remove stamps/ct-ng-toolchain-installed (ctng)
  # remove target/lib/libc.so.0 (buildroot)
* launch make

I think this process lacks of consistency. Idealy, this process should be:
  rm -r target (depending if want to throw all your work)
  rm build/*/.stamp_target_installed
  make

I suggest following changes:

 1. Move build/.root to stamps/. Since it is hidden, many user forget this 
file exist.

 2. All stamps files are in subdirectories of build/. I suggest to move 
stamps/ to build/stamps/

 3. Buildroot toolchain should create a stamp files to be uniform with other 
toolchains. In add, target/lib/libc.so.0 never exists when PREFER_STATIC_LIB 
is enable.

 4. To be consistent stamps/*-toolchain-installed may be renamed 
stamps/.stamp_target_installed or stamps/.stamp_toolchain_target_installed or 
toolchain/.stamp_target_installed. We may add a README file to explain what is 
purpose of this apparently empty directory.

  5. stamps/ext-toolchain-installed currently copy libc in staging/ and in 
target/. It may be splited in two rules: stamps/ext-toolchain-target-installed 
and stamps/ext-toolchain-staging-installed.


What do you think about it?


Regards,

-- 
J?r?me Pouiller

[Buildroot] Target rebuilding

[Stephan Hoffmann]

Hello J?r?me!

Am 17.01.2013 12:04, schrieb J?r?me Pouiller:
> Hello all,
>
> It is handy to do tests directly in target/. But after some time, it is 
> necessary to make a new fresh target/ directory.
This topic comes up from time to time. Once upon a time I sent a patch
to introduce a "make target-clean" (
http://lists.busybox.net/pipermail/buildroot/2012-October/060484.html )
, but it does not seem that this feature can be implemented in a
reliable way, especially when libraries are removed from .config.

So for now I fear we have to stick to "make clean && make" if we want to
clean up our file system.
>  The current procedure to do 
> this is:
>
> * remove build/.root (or remove target/ if you want to throw all your work)
What's the use in removing the stamp file and keeping the target
directory? I think the whole proccedure is meant to chean up the target
file system, isn't it?

Regards

Stephan
> * remove build/*/.stamp_target_installed
> * depending of you toolchain:
>   # remove stamps/ext-toolchain-installed (external)
>   # remove stamps/ct-ng-toolchain-installed (ctng)
>   # remove target/lib/libc.so.0 (buildroot)
> * launch make
>
> I think this process lacks of consistency. Idealy, this process should be:
>   rm -r target (depending if want to throw all your work)
>   rm build/*/.stamp_target_installed
>   make
>
> I suggest following changes:
>
>  1. Move build/.root to stamps/. Since it is hidden, many user forget this 
> file exist.
>
>  2. All stamps files are in subdirectories of build/. I suggest to move 
> stamps/ to build/stamps/
>
>  3. Buildroot toolchain should create a stamp files to be uniform with other 
> toolchains. In add, target/lib/libc.so.0 never exists when PREFER_STATIC_LIB 
> is enable.
>
>  4. To be consistent stamps/*-toolchain-installed may be renamed 
> stamps/.stamp_target_installed or stamps/.stamp_toolchain_target_installed or 
> toolchain/.stamp_target_installed. We may add a README file to explain what is 
> purpose of this apparently empty directory.
>
>   5. stamps/ext-toolchain-installed currently copy libc in staging/ and in 
> target/. It may be splited in two rules: stamps/ext-toolchain-target-installed 
> and stamps/ext-toolchain-staging-installed.
>
>
> What do you think about it?
>
>
> Regards,
>


-- 
reLinux     -    Stephan Hoffmann
Am Schmidtgrund 124    50765 K?ln
Tel. +49.221.95595-19    Fax: -64
www.reLinux.de     sho at reLinux.de

[Buildroot] Target rebuilding

[Jérôme Pouiller]

Hello Stephan,
 
On Thursday 17 January 2013 14:27:46 Stephan Hoffmann wrote:
> Am 17.01.2013 12:04, schrieb J?r?me Pouiller:
> > It is handy to do tests directly in target/. But after some time, it is
> > necessary to make a new fresh target/ directory.
> 
> This topic comes up from time to time. Once upon a time I sent a patch
> to introduce a "make target-clean" (
> http://lists.busybox.net/pipermail/buildroot/2012-October/060484.html )
> , but it does not seem that this feature can be implemented in a
> reliable way, especially when libraries are removed from .config.
I am agreee with this thread. Since we cannot prove correctness it is not a 
good idea to give a target to this.

Nevertheless, in 90% of cases, I know I can rebuild target/ without recompile 
everything and this "hack" allow to divide by 500 time to rebuild target/. I 
would like to make this procedure easier to learn for users.

I asked myself if it was not possible to make this procedure more intuitive 
without breaking everything. That why I suggest these small changes. Each of 
them can be done independently. 

IMHO these changes would make process more coherent and would bring a better 
usage of Buildroot. But I understand it is subjective. 

> So for now I fear we have to stick to "make clean && make" if we want to
> clean up our file system.
Sure. But, if it is the only answer I give, my interlocutor will reply me that 
Buildroot is painful (which make me angry for all rest of the day).

> >  The current procedure to do
> > 
> > this is:
> > 
> > * remove build/.root (or remove target/ if you want to throw all your
> > work)
> 
> What's the use in removing the stamp file and keeping the target
> directory? I think the whole proccedure is meant to chean up the target
> file system, isn't it?
Right. It was mainly to point out "build/.root" is not an intuitive path.

[...]
> > I suggest following changes:
> >  1. Move build/.root to stamps/. Since it is hidden, many user forget this
> > file exist.
> >
> >  2. All stamps files are in subdirectories of build/. I suggest to move 
> > stamps/ to build/stamps/
> >
> >  3. Buildroot toolchain should create a stamp files to be uniform with
> >  other toolchains. In add, target/lib/libc.so.0 never exists when
> >  PREFER_STATIC_LIB is enable.
> >
> >  4. To be consistent stamps/*-toolchain-installed may be renamed 
> > stamps/.stamp_target_installed or stamps/.stamp_toolchain_target_installed
> > or toolchain/.stamp_target_installed. We may add a README file to explain
> > what is purpose of this apparently empty directory.
> >
> >   5. stamps/ext-toolchain-installed currently copy libc in staging/ and in 
> > target/. It may be splited in two rules: stamps/ext-toolchain-target-
> > installed and stamps/ext-toolchain-staging-installed.
[...]

Regards,

-- 
J?r?me Pouiller

[Buildroot] Target rebuilding

[Arnout Vandecappelle]

On 17/01/13 12:04, J?r?me Pouiller wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> It is handy to do tests directly in target/. But after some time, it is
> necessary to make a new fresh target/ directory. The current procedure to do
> this is:
>
> * remove build/.root (or remove target/ if you want to throw all your work)
> * remove build/*/.stamp_target_installed
> * depending of you toolchain:
>    # remove stamps/ext-toolchain-installed (external)
>    # remove stamps/ct-ng-toolchain-installed (ctng)
>    # remove target/lib/libc.so.0 (buildroot)
> * launch make
>
> I think this process lacks of consistency. Idealy, this process should be:
>    rm -r target (depending if want to throw all your work)
>    rm build/*/.stamp_target_installed
>    make

  I agree that it lacks consistency, and I'm in favour of improving the 
consistency of stamp files.

>
> I suggest following changes:
>
>   1. Move build/.root to stamps/. Since it is hidden, many user forget this
> file exist.

  ACK.

>
>   2. All stamps files are in subdirectories of build/. I suggest to move
> stamps/ to build/stamps/

  I'm not convinced that that improves the consistency. If build/.root 
moves to stamps, than all directories in build/ are build directories. 
That sounds like a good idea to me.


>   3. Buildroot toolchain should create a stamp files to be uniform with other
> toolchains. In add, target/lib/libc.so.0 never exists when PREFER_STATIC_LIB
> is enable.

  ACK

  Note that the buildroot toolchain is on the way out (though it will 
probably take 3 more years before it's really gone), so don't put too 
much effort into improving it.


>   4. To be consistent stamps/*-toolchain-installed may be renamed
> stamps/.stamp_target_installed or stamps/.stamp_toolchain_target_installed or
> toolchain/.stamp_target_installed. We may add a README file to explain what is
> purpose of this apparently empty directory.

  I don't agree with this one. build/*/.stamp_* is stuff that is created 
by the package infrastructure. The toolchain stuff is not in the package 
infrastructure. So I wouldn't let it use the same pattern for stamp files.


>    5. stamps/ext-toolchain-installed currently copy libc in staging/ and in
> target/. It may be splited in two rules: stamps/ext-toolchain-target-installed
> and stamps/ext-toolchain-staging-installed.

  It could be split, but what is the advantage of that?


> What do you think about it?

  Let's see some patches! :-)

  Regards,
  Arnout


-- 
Arnout Vandecappelle                          arnout at mind be
Senior Embedded Software Architect            +32-16-286500
Essensium/Mind                                http://www.mind.be
G.Geenslaan 9, 3001 Leuven, Belgium           BE 872 984 063 RPR Leuven
LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/arnoutvandecappelle
GPG fingerprint:  7CB5 E4CC 6C2E EFD4 6E3D A754 F963 ECAB 2450 2F1F

[Buildroot] [PATCH] Standardisation of $(BUILD)/.root name

[Jérôme Pouiller]

To be coherent with stamps used by toolchains, file $(BUILD)/.root is now named
$(STAMPS)/target-skeleton-installed.

Signed-off-by: J?r?me Pouiller <jezz@sysmic.org>
---
 Makefile |    5 +++--
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index a57975e..73a7c01 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -429,16 +429,17 @@ ifeq ($(BR2_ROOTFS_SKELETON_CUSTOM),y)
 TARGET_SKELETON=$(BR2_ROOTFS_SKELETON_CUSTOM_PATH)
 endif
 
-$(BUILD_DIR)/.root:
+$(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed:
 	mkdir -p $(TARGET_DIR)
 	rsync -a \
 		--exclude .empty --exclude .svn --exclude .git \
 		--exclude .hg --exclude=CVS --exclude '*~' \
 		$(TARGET_SKELETON)/ $(TARGET_DIR)/
 	cp support/misc/target-dir-warning.txt $(TARGET_DIR_WARNING_FILE)
+	mkdir -p $(STAMP_DIR)
 	touch $@
 
-$(TARGET_DIR): $(BUILD_DIR)/.root
+$(TARGET_DIR): $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed
 
 STRIP_FIND_CMD = find $(TARGET_DIR)
 ifneq (,$(call qstrip,$(BR2_STRIP_EXCLUDE_DIRS)))
-- 
1.7.9.5

[Buildroot] [PATCH] Standardisation of $(BUILD)/.root name

[Thomas Petazzoni]

Dear J?r?me Pouiller,

On Tue, 14 May 2013 16:30:50 +0200, J?r?me Pouiller wrote:

> -$(BUILD_DIR)/.root:
> +$(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed:
>  	mkdir -p $(TARGET_DIR)
>  	rsync -a \
>  		--exclude .empty --exclude .svn --exclude .git \
>  		--exclude .hg --exclude=CVS --exclude '*~' \
>  		$(TARGET_SKELETON)/ $(TARGET_DIR)/
>  	cp support/misc/target-dir-warning.txt $(TARGET_DIR_WARNING_FILE)
> +	mkdir -p $(STAMP_DIR)
>  	touch $@

I'm generally ok with the idea, but I don't like this mkdir. There is
already a mkdir that creates the stamp file directory, in the main
Makefile.

Thomas
-- 
Thomas Petazzoni, Free Electrons
Kernel, drivers, real-time and embedded Linux
development, consulting, training and support.
http://free-electrons.com

[Buildroot] [PATCH] Standardisation of $(BUILD)/.root name

[Jérôme Pouiller]

On Tuesday 14 May 2013 17:07:21 Thomas Petazzoni wrote:
> Dear J?r?me Pouiller,
> 
> On Tue, 14 May 2013 16:30:50 +0200, J?r?me Pouiller wrote:
> > -$(BUILD_DIR)/.root:
> > 
> > +$(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed:
> >  	mkdir -p $(TARGET_DIR)
> >  	rsync -a \
> >  	
> >  		--exclude .empty --exclude .svn --exclude .git \
> >  		--exclude .hg --exclude=CVS --exclude '*~' \
> >  		$(TARGET_SKELETON)/ $(TARGET_DIR)/
> >  	
> >  	cp support/misc/target-dir-warning.txt $(TARGET_DIR_WARNING_FILE)
> > 
> > +	mkdir -p $(STAMP_DIR)
> > 
> >  	touch $@
> 
> I'm generally ok with the idea, but I don't like this mkdir. There is
> already a mkdir that creates the stamp file directory, in the main
> Makefile.
I also dislike this mkdir. My problem is to be sure $(STAMP_DIR) is created 
before $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed. 

I can change order of dependencies in dirs target but this solution is too 
fragile.

I cannot just add a dependency between $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed 
and  $(STAMP_DIR).

I can add a stampfile for $(STAMP_DIR) but it looks a little complicated. 

I can also use an intermediate phony target (like dirs target) but it also 
looks complicated.


Any better idea?

-- 
J?r?me Pouiller, Sysmic
Embedded Linux specialist
http://www.sysmic.fr

[Buildroot] [PATCH] Standardisation of $(BUILD)/.root name

[Yann E. MORIN]

J?r?me, All,

On 2013-05-14 17:27 +0200, J?r?me Pouiller spake thusly:
> On Tuesday 14 May 2013 17:07:21 Thomas Petazzoni wrote:
> > Dear J?r?me Pouiller,
> > 
> > On Tue, 14 May 2013 16:30:50 +0200, J?r?me Pouiller wrote:
> > > -$(BUILD_DIR)/.root:
> > > 
> > > +$(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed:
> > >  	mkdir -p $(TARGET_DIR)
> > >  	rsync -a \
> > >  	
> > >  		--exclude .empty --exclude .svn --exclude .git \
> > >  		--exclude .hg --exclude=CVS --exclude '*~' \
> > >  		$(TARGET_SKELETON)/ $(TARGET_DIR)/
> > >  	
> > >  	cp support/misc/target-dir-warning.txt $(TARGET_DIR_WARNING_FILE)
> > > 
> > > +	mkdir -p $(STAMP_DIR)
> > > 
> > >  	touch $@
> > 
> > I'm generally ok with the idea, but I don't like this mkdir. There is
> > already a mkdir that creates the stamp file directory, in the main
> > Makefile.
> I also dislike this mkdir. My problem is to be sure $(STAMP_DIR) is created 
> before $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed. 
> 
> I can change order of dependencies in dirs target but this solution is too 
> fragile.

Agreed, this is not-so-nice.

> I cannot just add a dependency between $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed 
> and  $(STAMP_DIR).

Why not? Like:
    $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed: $(STAMP_DIR)

which to me looks like the sane solution (and not what I previosuly
answered Arnout about $(TARGET_DIR))

Regards,
Yann E. MORIN.

-- 
.-----------------.--------------------.------------------.--------------------.
|  Yann E. MORIN  | Real-Time Embedded | /"\ ASCII RIBBON | Erics' conspiracy: |
| +33 662 376 056 | Software  Designer | \ / CAMPAIGN     |  ___               |
| +33 223 225 172 `------------.-------:  X  AGAINST      |  \e/  There is no  |
| http://ymorin.is-a-geek.org/ | _/*\_ | / \ HTML MAIL    |   v   conspiracy.  |
'------------------------------^-------^------------------^--------------------'

[Buildroot] [PATCH] Standardisation of $(BUILD)/.root name

[Jérôme Pouiller]

On Wednesday 15 May 2013 00:23:24 Yann E. MORIN wrote:
[...]
> > I cannot just add a dependency between
> > $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed and  $(STAMP_DIR).
> 
> Why not? Like:
>     $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed: $(STAMP_DIR)
> 
> which to me looks like the sane solution (and not what I previosuly
> answered Arnout about $(TARGET_DIR))
Because, $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed will be rebuilt each time a 
file is added or removed from $(STAMP_DIR).

-- 
J?r?me Pouiller, Sysmic
Embedded Linux specialist
http://www.sysmic.fr

[Buildroot] [PATCH] Standardisation of $(BUILD)/.root name

[Jérôme Pouiller]

On Wednesday 15 May 2013 08:19:10 J?r?me Pouiller wrote:
> On Wednesday 15 May 2013 00:23:24 Yann E. MORIN wrote:
> [...]
> 
> > > I cannot just add a dependency between
> > > $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed and  $(STAMP_DIR).
> > 
> > Why not? Like:
> >     $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed: $(STAMP_DIR)
> > 
> > which to me looks like the sane solution (and not what I previosuly
> > answered Arnout about $(TARGET_DIR))
> 
> Because, $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed will be rebuilt each time a
> file is added or removed from $(STAMP_DIR).
But, we may use an intermediate phony target:
$(STAMP_DIR)_phony: $(STAMP_DIR)
.PHONY: $(STAMP_DIR)_phony
$(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed: $(STAMP_DIR)_phony

(not tested, but should work)

-- 
J?r?me Pouiller, Sysmic
Embedded Linux specialist
http://www.sysmic.fr

[Buildroot] [PATCH] Standardisation of $(BUILD)/.root name

[Yann E. MORIN]

J?r?me, All,

On 2013-05-15 08:27 +0200, J?r?me Pouiller spake thusly:
> On Wednesday 15 May 2013 08:19:10 J?r?me Pouiller wrote:
> > On Wednesday 15 May 2013 00:23:24 Yann E. MORIN wrote:
> > [...]
> > 
> > > > I cannot just add a dependency between
> > > > $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed and  $(STAMP_DIR).
> > > 
> > > Why not? Like:
> > >     $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed: $(STAMP_DIR)
> > > 
> > > which to me looks like the sane solution (and not what I previosuly
> > > answered Arnout about $(TARGET_DIR))
> > 
> > Because, $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed will be rebuilt each time a
> > file is added or removed from $(STAMP_DIR).
> But, we may use an intermediate phony target:
> $(STAMP_DIR)_phony: $(STAMP_DIR)
> .PHONY: $(STAMP_DIR)_phony
> $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed: $(STAMP_DIR)_phony

Or an order-only rule:

$(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed: | $(STAMP_DIR)

(not tested, but it's used in the crosstool-NG backend)

Regards,
Yann E. MORIN.

-- 
.-----------------.--------------------.------------------.--------------------.
|  Yann E. MORIN  | Real-Time Embedded | /"\ ASCII RIBBON | Erics' conspiracy: |
| +33 662 376 056 | Software  Designer | \ / CAMPAIGN     |  ___               |
| +33 223 225 172 `------------.-------:  X  AGAINST      |  \e/  There is no  |
| http://ymorin.is-a-geek.org/ | _/*\_ | / \ HTML MAIL    |   v   conspiracy.  |
'------------------------------^-------^------------------^--------------------'

[Buildroot] [PATCH] Standardisation of $(BUILD)/.root name

[Yann E. MORIN]

On 2013-05-15 08:19 +0200, J?r?me Pouiller spake thusly:
> On Wednesday 15 May 2013 00:23:24 Yann E. MORIN wrote:
> [...]
> > > I cannot just add a dependency between
> > > $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed and  $(STAMP_DIR).
> > 
> > Why not? Like:
> >     $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed: $(STAMP_DIR)
> > 
> > which to me looks like the sane solution (and not what I previosuly
> > answered Arnout about $(TARGET_DIR))
> Because, $(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed will be rebuilt each time a 
> file is added or removed from $(STAMP_DIR).

Indeed. Sigh. Too short-sighted I was...

Regards,
Yann E. MORIN.

-- 
.-----------------.--------------------.------------------.--------------------.
|  Yann E. MORIN  | Real-Time Embedded | /"\ ASCII RIBBON | Erics' conspiracy: |
| +33 662 376 056 | Software  Designer | \ / CAMPAIGN     |  ___               |
| +33 223 225 172 `------------.-------:  X  AGAINST      |  \e/  There is no  |
| http://ymorin.is-a-geek.org/ | _/*\_ | / \ HTML MAIL    |   v   conspiracy.  |
'------------------------------^-------^------------------^--------------------'

[Buildroot] [PATCH] Standardisation of $(BUILD)/.root name

[Arnout Vandecappelle]

On 14/05/13 17:07, Thomas Petazzoni wrote:
> Dear J?r?me Pouiller,
>
> On Tue, 14 May 2013 16:30:50 +0200, J?r?me Pouiller wrote:
>
>> -$(BUILD_DIR)/.root:
>> +$(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed:
>>   	mkdir -p $(TARGET_DIR)
>>   	rsync -a \
>>   		--exclude .empty --exclude .svn --exclude .git \
>>   		--exclude .hg --exclude=CVS --exclude '*~' \
>>   		$(TARGET_SKELETON)/ $(TARGET_DIR)/
>>   	cp support/misc/target-dir-warning.txt $(TARGET_DIR_WARNING_FILE)
>> +	mkdir -p $(STAMP_DIR)
>>   	touch $@
>
> I'm generally ok with the idea, but I don't like this mkdir. There is
> already a mkdir that creates the stamp file directory, in the main
> Makefile.

  I don't have an issue with a few redundant mkdir -p calls.

  I would like to see a $(Q) in front of it though - but then it should 
be in front of the rest as well, and with a $(MESSAGE) call.

  Regards,
  Arnout


-- 
Arnout Vandecappelle                          arnout at mind be
Senior Embedded Software Architect            +32-16-286500
Essensium/Mind                                http://www.mind.be
G.Geenslaan 9, 3001 Leuven, Belgium           BE 872 984 063 RPR Leuven
LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/arnoutvandecappelle
GPG fingerprint:  7CB5 E4CC 6C2E EFD4 6E3D A754 F963 ECAB 2450 2F1F

[Buildroot] [PATCH] Standardisation of $(BUILD)/.root name

[Yann E. MORIN]

Arnout, All,

On 2013-05-14 23:52 +0200, Arnout Vandecappelle spake thusly:
> On 14/05/13 17:07, Thomas Petazzoni wrote:
> >Dear J?r?me Pouiller,
> >
> >On Tue, 14 May 2013 16:30:50 +0200, J?r?me Pouiller wrote:
> >
> >>-$(BUILD_DIR)/.root:
> >>+$(STAMP_DIR)/skeleton-target-installed:
> >>  	mkdir -p $(TARGET_DIR)
> >>  	rsync -a \
> >>  		--exclude .empty --exclude .svn --exclude .git \
> >>  		--exclude .hg --exclude=CVS --exclude '*~' \
> >>  		$(TARGET_SKELETON)/ $(TARGET_DIR)/
> >>  	cp support/misc/target-dir-warning.txt $(TARGET_DIR_WARNING_FILE)
> >>+	mkdir -p $(STAMP_DIR)
> >>  	touch $@
> >
> >I'm generally ok with the idea, but I don't like this mkdir. There is
> >already a mkdir that creates the stamp file directory, in the main
> >Makefile.
> 
>  I don't have an issue with a few redundant mkdir -p calls.

I concur with Thomas: we should ensure the stamp-dir is already created
in a generic way, it's kind of an internal stuff, which should not be
visible to users (I mean: packages, and stuff like that, not actual
persons).

That we need to sprinkle the code with a few 'mkdir' here and ther "just
in case" is an indication we do not fully masterise the chain of events,
and is really not nice.

The fact that the 'mkdir' is needed in the first place is because of this
rulle in the top-level Makefile:

    dirs: [...] $(TARGET_DIR) [...] $(STAMP_DIR)

which will have 'make' run the $(TARGET_DIR) goal before the
$(STAMP_DIR) goal.

This can be solved in two ways: the nice one, and the not-so-nice one:
  - have an additional rule:
        $(TARGET_DIR): $(STAMP_DIR)                 <- the nice way
  - invert the order of goals in the 'dirs' rule    <- the not-so-nice way

Regards,
Yann E. MORIN.

-- 
.-----------------.--------------------.------------------.--------------------.
|  Yann E. MORIN  | Real-Time Embedded | /"\ ASCII RIBBON | Erics' conspiracy: |
| +33 662 376 056 | Software  Designer | \ / CAMPAIGN     |  ___               |
| +33 223 225 172 `------------.-------:  X  AGAINST      |  \e/  There is no  |
| http://ymorin.is-a-geek.org/ | _/*\_ | / \ HTML MAIL    |   v   conspiracy.  |
'------------------------------^-------^------------------^--------------------'