Gary Thorpe <gathorpe79@yahoo.com> writes:

> Quick question: are there are guides/tips/general rules anywhere on how
> to properly specify Makefile dependencies to allow working parallel
> jobs? Or, is it just a matter of completely specifying dependency
> information?

Generally in a single makefile is ok if all the dependencies are
actually specified.  Often makefiles will work in the -j1 case with
missing dependencies, so these bugs do not get fixed.

A common problem I find is a Makefile with subdirs, where one subdir
builds a library libfoo.a and another links to ../libfoo/libfoo.a
Without an explicit barrier the second dir rules can be run before the
first is finished.  Here there is a dependency, but not expressile (I
think) across makefiles.