Обсуждение: Question: rebuilding frontend tools after libpgfeutils.a changes?

Hi,

While working on patch [1], I noticed that after modifying astreamer_lz4.c, running “make" only rebuilds
libpgfeutils.a,but does not automatically rebuild the client tools that depend on it. This makes iterative development
abit inconvenient, as the tools need to be rebuilt manually. 

I am wondering whether it would be worth updating the relevant Makefiles so that changes to libpgfeutils.a properly
triggerrebuilds of dependent frontend binaries. 

Since this would likely involve touching quite a few Makefiles, I’d prefer to check first whether committers think the
effortis worthwhile before spending time on it. That’s the reason for this email. 

[1] https://postgr.es/m/0594CC79-1544-45DD-8AA4-26270DE777A7@gmail.com

Best regards,
--
Chao Li (Evan)
HighGo Software Co., Ltd.
https://www.highgo.com/

Chao Li <li.evan.chao@gmail.com> writes:
> I am wondering whether it would be worth updating the relevant Makefiles so that changes to libpgfeutils.a properly
triggerrebuilds of dependent frontend binaries. 

I'd vote no, because it would add a lot of usually-pointless cycles to
normal rebuild cases.

Now, I'm a guy who doesn't believe in --enable-depend either, so
your opinion might differ.  But it would not be a free improvement.

            regards, tom lane

> On Mar 2, 2026, at 22:56, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
>
> Chao Li <li.evan.chao@gmail.com> writes:
>> I am wondering whether it would be worth updating the relevant Makefiles so that changes to libpgfeutils.a properly
triggerrebuilds of dependent frontend binaries. 
>
> I'd vote no, because it would add a lot of usually-pointless cycles to
> normal rebuild cases.
>
> Now, I'm a guy who doesn't believe in --enable-depend either, so
> your opinion might differ.  But it would not be a free improvement.
>
> regards, tom lane

Thanks for the guidance. I will not spend time on that then.

Best regards,
--
Chao Li (Evan)
HighGo Software Co., Ltd.
https://www.highgo.com/