On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 10:26:26AM -0700, Martin Nowak wrote:
> > @@ -211,8 +213,22 @@ impcnvgen : mtype.h impcnvgen.c
> >  
> >  #########
> >  
> > -verstr.h : ../VERSION
> > -	$(ECHO) -n \"`cat ../VERSION`\" > verstr.h
> > +# Create (or update) the verstr.h file.
> > +# The file is only updated if the VERSION file changes, or, only when release=1
> > +# is not used, when the full version string changes (i.e. when the git hash or
> > +# the working tree dirty states changes).
> > +# The full version string have the form VERSION-devel-HASH(-dirty).
> > +# The "-dirty" part is only present when the repository had uncommitted changes
> > +# at the moment it was compiled (only files already tracked by git are taken
> > +# into account, untracked files don't affect the dirty state).
> > +VERSION := $(shell cat ../VERSION)
> > +ifneq (1,$(release))
> 
> > Would be nice to hear a reason behind it but OK, will update with this change.
> 
> It's the predominant Makefile style and we use it all over the place.

I used lowercase deliberately to distinguish between what's more like a
build option to which is overriding tools (which the typical use for all
uppercase variables in make, like CC, CFLAGS, etc.). There is precedent,
most notably the "prefix" variable used to configure the location of
built programs.

But I understand your preference, no worries.