> 2. Make is _really_ hard to use to try to compose a large build system ... recursive make is harmful
Note that "recursive make is harmful" does not argue against multiple Makefiles!
There's nothing wrong with using multiple Makefiles per-se, as long as they include rather than call each other. In other words, the article just says that Makefiles should use sub-Makefiles via "include" rather than executing those through separate (recursive) call to Make.
However, I agree that composition of Makefiles is still a pain, given that the included Makefile must be aware that it is executed from another (parent/grandparent) directory.
Note that "recursive make is harmful" does not argue against multiple Makefiles!
There's nothing wrong with using multiple Makefiles per-se, as long as they include rather than call each other. In other words, the article just says that Makefiles should use sub-Makefiles via "include" rather than executing those through separate (recursive) call to Make.
However, I agree that composition of Makefiles is still a pain, given that the included Makefile must be aware that it is executed from another (parent/grandparent) directory.