I can't get it managed to build Mozilla with dmake (Sun's "distributed" make - a make which can run on multiple (!!) machines) due various errors. 1st problem is: -- snip -- % dmake dmake: Fatal error in reader: ./config/autoconf.mk, line 162: Unexpected end of line seen -- snip -- It would be nice to get this fixed because we have 14 Ultra*-machines which can be "clustered" to build the Zilla...

Filed bug report to the Sun Workshop 6EA "customer feedback form" (http://access1.sun.com/workshop6ea/feedback.cgi) to notice Sun that there's an error/problem...

Unless dmake supports the GNU make syntax (or someone provides patches), I'm going to mark this as "won't fix". It looks as though dmake is choking on GNU make's include feature and we use that feature in *every* Makefile. Btw, recent versions of GNU make support building on multiple machines using PVM. I haven't tried it with mozilla but I'd be happy to hear the results of any testing.

Mhhh... I hate hate hate PVM (<-- only from the system admins view, programming is OK). Maybe someone at the Sun Workshop development team feels pity with us and adds the missing feature. cls (Chris ??), please wait until someone at Sun makes a "comment" on this issue... (is this possible ?)

Sure, we can wait.

I think the problem here lies on the ifdef statement. Like what cls has mentioned, there's certainly some subtle differences in syntax between the gnu Makefile and Sun's Makefile. Roland, we are very grateful to know that you have 14 Ultra*-machines; however, I do not think that it justifies for a patch for dmake. AFAIK, almost all patches are generated for bug fixes. Since I do not see this as a bug, I really doubt that a patch will be provided for this.

Such a patch would be called a feature-patch (like the X11R6.4-update for Solaris 2.7 in MU4...) :-) Question is if "dmake" can be used in real life development&production systems. Trying to compile various GNU/freeware projects with dmake shows that it is _far_ away from being useable in such cases ;-( After all, building Mozilla in parallel with maketool/dmake is a gimmic - but I would be a good test if there are other (currently) hidden problems/bugs...

You are absolutely right that there's such thing called feature-patch. While patches for bug fixes usually starts with customer escalation, feature-patch goes thru a completely different process. They need to go through internal approval process which involves business justification, and they usually come out as quarterly updates. Dmake is a released product. It is certainly used in development and production. If you would like it to be improved to support GNU makefiles, the best way is to go through Customer Support. They would certainly be happy to hear suggestions from you and other customers. Or perhaps another alternative is to make PVM, which GNU make supports, to better meet your expectation somehow.

mass re-assign of all bugs where i was listed as the qa contact

Per previous comment....