[KLUG Programming] Makefile Hell

[Adam Williams]

Ah yes, what fond memories.  Makefile Hell, just across the libtool
channel from the GCC Version Mania themepark.  While not a particularly
popular vacation spot, I've been there several times myself.   The best
part is the ferry ride across the channel during which guest are treated
to the comedic stylings of ELF & COFFF with a jazz intermission
featuring the sultry and well-endowed A.OUT.  But don't forget your
admissions token, that ferry operation has one mean looking dog!

> Okay. This is the Makefile for Rik van Riel's procps package. I am
> trying to Debianize it, which means, in part, installing the files under
> a subdir instead of under /. I get to:
> gcc  -D_GNU_SOURCE -O3 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wshadow
> -I/var/home/peter/newproc/procps-surriel-2.0.11 -I/usr/include/ncurses
> -I/usr/X11R6/include  -Wl,-warn-common   sysctl.c proc/libproc.so.2.0.11 -o sysctl
> install --strip sysctl /var/home/peter/newproc/procps-surriel-2.0.11/debian/procps-surriel/sbin/sysctl
> install: cannot create regular file `/var/home/peter/newproc/procps-surriel-2.0.11/debian/procps-surriel/sbin/sysctl':
> No such file or directory
> make[1]: *** [install_sysctl] Error 1
> make[1]: Leaving directory `/var/home/peter/newproc/procps-surriel-2.0.11'
> make: *** [install-arch] Error 2
> I get these files:
> debian/procps-surriel
> debian/procps-surriel/usr
> debian/procps-surriel/usr/bin
> debian/procps-surriel/usr/bin/w
> debian/procps-surriel/usr/bin/top
> debian/procps-surriel/usr/bin/free
> debian/procps-surriel/usr/bin/pmap
> debian/procps-surriel/usr/bin/oldps
> debian/procps-surriel/usr/bin/pgrep
> debian/procps-surriel/usr/bin/pkill
> debian/procps-surriel/usr/bin/skill
> debian/procps-surriel/usr/bin/snice
> debian/procps-surriel/usr/bin/tload
> debian/procps-surriel/usr/bin/watch
> debian/procps-surriel/usr/bin/uptime
> debian/procps-surriel/usr/bin/vmstat
> debian/procps-surriel/usr/sbin

But notice the lack of debian/procps-surriel/sbin

> but as you can see make shies away from creating 'debian/procps-surriel/sbin'.
> Can anyone tell me why? Or where I put the command to create those
> directories? TIA.

man install ...
-D     create all leading components of DEST except the last, then copy
       SOURCE to DEST;  useful in the 1st format

Perhaps?