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feat(parser): improve rule detection, inline recipe parsing, and PHONY handling#184

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mikelolasagasti merged 1 commit intocheckmake:mainfrom
mikelolasagasti:partial-fix-61
Nov 4, 2025
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feat(parser): improve rule detection, inline recipe parsing, and PHONY handling#184
mikelolasagasti merged 1 commit intocheckmake:mainfrom
mikelolasagasti:partial-fix-61

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@mikelolasagasti mikelolasagasti commented Oct 28, 2025

This patch significantly improves the Makefile parser and related rules:

  • Parser:

    • Support targets with special characters, patterns, and variables (%.o, file.ext, $(DIR_VAR), ${DIR_VAR}/subdir)
    • Add handling for inline recipes (target: deps ; command)
    • Recognize multiple-target rules (target1 target2 : dep)
    • Treat .PHONY and .DEFAULT_GOAL as rules (not variables)
    • Extend variable parsing to support ?=, !=, and += operators
    • Add detailed debug logging for ambiguous lines

  • Rules:

    • Update phonydeclared and minphony to support both parser modes (old .PHONY as variable and new .PHONY as rule)
    • Remove legacy off-by-one adjustment on PHONY line numbers. Fixes inaccurate violation line reporting (+1 line shift)
    • Preserve fallback to -1 when PHONY is missing

  • Tests:

    • Add new parser coverage for:
      • Inline recipes
      • Variable and pattern targets
      • Special characters, multiple targets, and file extensions
      • Other variable assignments (?=, !=, +=)
    • Adjust expected violation line numbers (from 21 to 22) for accurate reporting
    • Confirm full backward compatibility with existing fixtures

Overall, this modernizes the Makefile parser for complex rule syntax and brings line number reporting in sync with actual source positions.

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  • CI passes
  • Description of proposed change
  • Documentation (README, docs/, man pages) is updated
  • Existing issue is referenced if there is one
  • Unit tests for the proposed change

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mikelolasagasti commented Oct 28, 2025

This covers most of the complains in #61 but parser still has limitations and a different approach might be needed.

@mikelolasagasti mikelolasagasti force-pushed the partial-fix-61 branch 2 times, most recently from 4d37ef4 to 8730380 Compare October 29, 2025 09:26
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mikelolasagasti commented Oct 29, 2025

With latest changes:

  • Added fix and test TestParse_VariableLikeRuleIsNotRule to avoid target detection for blocks like:
ifeq ($(BUILD_GOOS),windows)
        EXTENSION := .exe
endif
  • Renamed reFindSpecialVariable to reFindSpecialTarget

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mikelolasagasti commented Oct 29, 2025

With latest changes:

  • Exclude .PHONY from uniquetargets rule as having multiple entries is OK, although it's a best practice to have just one.

@mikelolasagasti mikelolasagasti force-pushed the partial-fix-61 branch 2 times, most recently from f9b35e7 to fcef697 Compare October 29, 2025 10:25
@mikelolasagasti
feat(parser): improve rule detection, inline recipe parsing, and PHON…
1cbeee0 
…Y handling

This patch significantly improves the Makefile parser and related rules:

- Parser:
  - Support targets with special characters, patterns, and variables
    (`%.o`, `file.ext`, `$(DIR_VAR)`, `${DIR_VAR}/subdir`)
  - Add handling for inline recipes (`target: deps ; command`)
  - Recognize multiple-target rules (`target1 target2 : dep`)
  - Treat `.PHONY` and `.DEFAULT_GOAL` as rules (not variables)
  - Extend variable parsing to support `?=`, `!=`, and `+=` operators
  - Add detailed debug logging for ambiguous lines

- Rules:
  - Update `phonydeclared` and `minphony` to support both parser modes
    (old `.PHONY` as variable and new `.PHONY` as rule)
  - Remove legacy off-by-one adjustment on PHONY line numbers. Fixes
    inaccurate violation line reporting (+1 line shift)
  - Preserve fallback to -1 when PHONY is missing

- Tests:
  - Add new parser coverage for:
    - Inline recipes
    - Variable and pattern targets
    - Special characters, multiple targets, and file extensions
    - Other variable assignments (`?=`, `!=`, `+=`)
  - Adjust expected violation line numbers (from 21 to 22) for accurate
    reporting
  - Confirm full backward compatibility with existing fixtures
  - Skip `.PHONY` for uniquetargets rule as multiple entries is valid

Overall, this modernizes the Makefile parser for complex rule syntax
and brings line number reporting in sync with actual source positions.

Signed-off-by: Mikel Olasagasti Uranga <[email protected]>
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mikelolasagasti commented Oct 29, 2025

As this PR improves detection multi-line recipe bodies, it causes maxbodylength errors to https://github.com/reactive-firewall-org/multicast/blob/master/Makefile

Now:

$ ./checkmake /tmp/multicast/Makefile 
     RULE           DESCRIPTION             FILE NAME         LINE NUMBER 
 minphony       Required target      /tmp/multicast/Makefile  174         
                "all" is missing                                          
                from the Makefile.                                        
 maxbodylength  Target body for      /tmp/multicast/Makefile  178         
                "MANIFEST.in"                                             
                exceeds allowed                                           
                length of 8 lines                                         
                (27).                                                     
 maxbodylength  Target body          /tmp/multicast/Makefile  292         
                for "just-test"                                           
                exceeds allowed                                           
                length of 8 lines                                         
                (13).                                                     
 maxbodylength  Target body for      /tmp/multicast/Makefile  311         
                "test-mat-doctests"                                       
                exceeds allowed                                           
                length of 8 lines                                         
                (13).                                                     
 maxbodylength  Target body for      /tmp/multicast/Makefile  326         
                "test-mat-%"                                              
                exceeds allowed                                           
                length of 8 lines                                         
                (12).                                                     
 maxbodylength  Target body for      /tmp/multicast/Makefile  340         
                "test-extra"                                              
                exceeds allowed                                           
                length of 8 lines                                         
                (12).                                                     
 maxbodylength  Target body for      /tmp/multicast/Makefile  354         
                "test-extra-%"                                            
                exceeds allowed                                           
                length of 8 lines                                         
                (12).                                                     
 maxbodylength  Target body for      /tmp/multicast/Makefile  368         
                "test-fuzzing"                                            
                exceeds allowed                                           
                length of 8 lines                                         
                (12).                                                     
 maxbodylength  Target body          /tmp/multicast/Makefile  382         
                for "test-perf"                                           
                exceeds allowed                                           
                length of 8 lines                                         
                (12).                                                     
 maxbodylength  Target body for      /tmp/multicast/Makefile  492         
                "build-docs"                                              
                exceeds allowed                                           
                length of 8 lines                                         
                (11).                                                     
Error: violations found (10)

Before:

$ ./checkmake /tmp/multicast/Makefile 
   RULE       DESCRIPTION             FILE NAME         LINE NUMBER 
 minphony  Required target     /tmp/multicast/Makefile  173         
           "all" is missing                                         
           from the Makefile.                                       
Error: violations found (1)

@mikelolasagasti mikelolasagasti mentioned this pull request Oct 29, 2025
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obnoxxx
obnoxxx reviewed Oct 29, 2025
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Thanks for this PR, @mikelolasagasti !
This looks like a useful set of changes.

I would personally prefer to split this into multiple commits: one for each logical/conceptual change.

But feel free to merge it as it is if you prefer that.

This was linked to issues Oct 29, 2025
".PHONY<space>:" not judged as valid #63
Closed
False positive .PHONY violation on variables #61
Closed
Support VAR:=value #74
Closed
@mikelolasagasti mikelolasagasti mentioned this pull request Oct 29, 2025
Closed
@mikelolasagasti mikelolasagasti merged commit c9da2b6 into checkmake:main Nov 4, 2025
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Support VAR:=value ".PHONY<space>:" not judged as valid False positive .PHONY violation on variables

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@mikelolasagasti @obnoxxx