Hi I experimented with this and it didn't always seem to rebuild VERSION when it should. Looking at the file .git/HEAD that just seems to be the branch name not the commit id (unless in detached HEAD state) This link http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6526451/how-to-include-git-commit-number-into-a-c-executable suggests adding .git/index to the VERSION depends. I tested that and that does seem to work. It may mean that VERSION gets rebuilt if you stash (for example) but that is probably not a big problem. Best wishes Mark On Sat, 25 Jan 2014, Tomi Ollila <tomi.ollila@iki.fi> wrote: > This version file will be as prerequisite to the target files > that use the version info for some purpose, like printing > it to the user to examine. The contents of the VERSION file > is seldom read by the build system itself as the $(VERSION) > variable has the same information. > --- > Makefile.local | 11 ++++++++++- > 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) > > diff --git a/Makefile.local b/Makefile.local > index c85e09c..1f876b3 100644 > --- a/Makefile.local > +++ b/Makefile.local > @@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ VERSION:=$(shell cat ${srcdir}/version) > ifeq ($(filter release release-message pre-release update-versions,$(MAKECMDGOALS)),) > ifeq ($(IS_GIT),yes) > VERSION:=$(shell git describe --match '[0-9.]*'|sed -e s/_/~/ -e s/-/+/ -e s/-/~/) > +# Make the 'VERSION' file depend *also* on .git/HEAD in this case > +VERSION: .git/HEAD > endif > endif > > @@ -69,6 +71,11 @@ ifeq ($(shell cat .first-build-message 2>/dev/null),) > endif > endif > > +# This VERSION file is used mostly for triggering other file remakes... > +# This may get other dependency to .git/HEAD above in this file. > +VERSION: version > + echo $(VERSION) > $@ > + > $(TAR_FILE): > if git tag -v $(VERSION) >/dev/null 2>&1; then \ > ref=$(VERSION); \ > @@ -280,6 +287,8 @@ notmuch_client_srcs = \ > > notmuch_client_modules = $(notmuch_client_srcs:.c=.o) > > +notmuch.o: VERSION > + > notmuch: $(notmuch_client_modules) lib/libnotmuch.a util/libutil.a parse-time-string/libparse-time-string.a > $(call quiet,CXX $(CFLAGS)) $^ $(FINAL_LIBNOTMUCH_LDFLAGS) -o $@ > > @@ -318,7 +327,7 @@ install-desktop: > desktop-file-install --mode 0644 --dir "$(DESTDIR)$(desktop_dir)" notmuch.desktop > > SRCS := $(SRCS) $(notmuch_client_srcs) > -CLEAN := $(CLEAN) notmuch notmuch-shared $(notmuch_client_modules) notmuch.elc > +CLEAN := $(CLEAN) VERSION notmuch notmuch-shared $(notmuch_client_modules) > > DISTCLEAN := $(DISTCLEAN) .first-build-message Makefile.config > > -- > 1.8.5.3 > > _______________________________________________ > notmuch mailing list > notmuch@notmuchmail.org > http://notmuchmail.org/mailman/listinfo/notmuch