DOCUMENT:Q61808  31-OCT-1999  [utilities]
TITLE   :FIX: Using "!" & "$?" Do Not Work as Expected w/ NMAKE 1.11
PRODUCT :Microsoft Programming Utilities
PROD/VER:MS-DOS:1.11; OS/2:1.11
OPER/SYS:
KEYWORDS:kb16bitonly

======================================================================
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft NMAKE Utility for MS-DOS, version 1.11 
 - Microsoft NMAKE Utility for OS/2, version 1.11 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SYMPTOMS
========

In an NMAKE description file, applying the "!" (exclamation point) operator to
the beginning of a command line using the macro "$?" should cause the command to
be executed once for every out-of-date dependent file. In version 1.11 of NMAKE
(shipped with C version 6.00), the $? macro evaluates to the list of every
dependent, regardless of whether it is out of date or not. This is not the
correct behavior.

RESOLUTION
==========

Fortunately, the problem above is easy to correct. NMAKE performs correctly if
two colons (::) are placed after the target NEW.LIB on the dependency line. The
NMAKE file may be rewritten as follows so that the $? macro will work with NMAKE
1.11:

      new.lib::a.obj b.obj c.obj
         !lib $@-+$?;

The use of the $? macro is described on page 108 of the "Microsoft C Advanced
Programming Techniques" manual included with C version 6.00. The use of the two
colons on the dependency line is described on page 109.

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in NMAKE version 1.11. This problem
was corrected in NMAKE version 1.12.

MORE INFORMATION
================

To re-create this problem, save the following lines to a file called MAKEFILE:

      new.lib: a.obj b.obj c.obj
          !lib $@-+$?;

Assuming that only A.OBJ is out of date with respect to NEW.LIB, the following
will be produced upon running NMAKE:

1. NMAKE 1.00 or 1.12:

         lib new.lib-+a.obj;

2. NMAKE 1.11:

         lib new.lib-+a.obj
         lib new.lib-+b.obj
         lib new.lib-+c.obj

Example 1 above shows the correct function of the $? macro.

Additional query words: buglist1.11 fixlist1.12

======================================================================
Keywords          : kb16bitonly 
Technology        : kbVCsearch kbAudDeveloper kbNMAKESearch kbNMAKE111DOS kbNMAKE111OS2
Version           : MS-DOS:1.11; OS/2:1.11
Solution Type     : kbfix

=============================================================================

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