chiark / gitweb /
docs: Fill in an empty cell with a copy instead
[subdirmk.git] / README
diff --git a/README b/README
index 5a585df4f26d3a1f042622712aec99232994edc0..b4f9a1563d21b6277056ed6bc1cb93fc3a00cce8 100644 (file)
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -138,18 +138,36 @@ If you `include subdirmk/regen.mk', dependency management and
 automatic regeneration for all of this template substitution, and for
 config.status etc. is done for you.
 
-Summary of directory reference syntaxes
----------------------------------------
-
-                  In build tree             In source tree             
-                  Relative  Absolute        Relative     Absolute      
-                                          
-                  &file     $(abs)/&file                             
- This directory   &/file    $(abs)/&/file   &^/file      &~/file       
-                  & f g h                   & ^ f g h    & ~ f g h     
-                                          
- Top level        file      $(abs)/file     $(ts)/file   $(ats)/file   
-                  f g h                                              
+Summary of recommended directory reference syntaxes
+---------------------------------------------------
+
+Path construction &-expansions, meanings summary:
+
+                      Relative paths in...   Absolute paths in...
+                      build     source       build           source
+                                                       
+  This directory      &         &,           &@              &@,
+  Top level           .         &;           &@.             &@;
+
+Adding `@' means "absolute path".  (`&.' is not allowed without @
+because just `&./' is a silly way of writing `.'.)  `/' terminates the
+escape (needed if the next thing is not a lowercase character, or
+space).  `=' means "just the value, no /".  Space starts multi-word
+processing.
+
+In more detail, with the various options for what comes next:
+
+      Recommended     Relative paths in...   Absolute paths in...
+             for      build     source       build           source
+                                                       
+  This       lc       &file     &,file       &@file          &@,file
+  directory  any      &/file    &,/file      &@/file         &@,/file
+             several  & f g h   &, f g h     &@ f g h        &@, f g h
+                                             
+  Top        lc       file      &;file       &@.file         &@;file
+  level      any      file      &;/file      &@./file        &@;/file
+             several  f g h     &; f g h     &@. f g h       &@; f g h
+             .mk.in   file      $(src)/file  $(abs)/file     $(abs_src)/file
 
 Substitution syntax
 -------------------
@@ -176,22 +194,45 @@ empty string).
        variables usually uppercase.  Otherwise, use another syntax:
 
 &_             =>      sub_dir_                        or TOP_
-&/             =>      sub/dir/                        or nothing
 &=_            =>      sub_dir                         or TOP
+
+&/             =>      sub/dir/                        or nothing
 &=/            =>      sub/dir                         or .
-&^             =>      $(top_srcdir)/sub/dir           or $(top_srcdir)
-&~             =>      $(abs_top_srcdir)/sub/dir       or $(abs_top_srcdir)
+
+&,lc   => $(top_srcdir)/sub/dir/lc       &,/   => $(top_srcdir)/sub/dir/
+&;lc   => $(top_srcdir)/lc               &;/   => $(top_srcdir)/
+
+&@lc   => $(PWD)/sub/dir/lc              &@/   => $(PWD)/sub/dir/
+&@.lc  => $(PWD)/lc                      &@./  => $(PWD)/
+&@,lc  => $(abs_top_srcdir)/sub/dir/lc   &@,/  => $(abs_top_srcdir)/sub/dir/
+&@;lc  => $(abs_top_srcdir)/lc           &@;/  => $(abs_top_srcdir)/
+
+In general:
+    =  return subdir without delimiter (not allowed with `,' `;' `@')
+    ,   pathname of this subdirectory in source tree
+    ;   pathname of top level of source tree
+    .   pathname of this directory in build tree, `@' must be specified
+    @   absolute pathnames
+
+So pathname syntax is a subset of:
+    '&' [ '@' ] [ ',' | ';' | '.' ] [ lc | '/' ]
+
+    To avoid incomprehensible .sd.mk files, some combinations are not
+    allowed.  For example `&=./' would mean `.' and `&./' would be the
+    empty string.  Variations with `=' and one of `@' `,' `;' are
+    uncommon and must be written using make variables instead.
 
 &&             =>      &&              for convenience in shell runes
 \&             =>      &               general escaping mechanism
 
-& thing thing... &
-& ^ thing thing... &
-& ~ thing thing... &
+& thing thing... &     &@ thing thing... &
+                       &. thing thing... &
+&, thing thing... &     &@, thing thing... &
+&; thing thing... &     &@; thing thing... &
        Convenience syntax for prefixing multiple filenames.
-       Introduced by & followed by lwsp (space or tab).
-       Each lwsp-separated non-ws word is prefixed by &/ &^/ &~/
-       respectively.  No other & escapes are recognised.
+       Introduced by & followed by lwsp where lc could go.
+       Each lwsp-separated non-ws word is prefixed by &/ etc.
+        etc. respectively.  No other & escapes are recognised.
        This processing continues until & preceded by lwsp,
        or until EOL (the end of the line), or \ then EOL.