BUG: NMAKE /V Option Does Not Work in Versions 1.2 and Later

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft NMAKE Utility for MS-DOS, version 1.2

SYMPTOMS

The /V option for inheriting macro definitions in recursive calls to NMAKE in NMAKE version 1.2 does not work correctly. This option was removed from NMAKE versions 1.3 and later.

RESOLUTION

There are several different methods that can be used to inherit macros using NMAKE.

• To inherit environment variables defined in a makefile, use the SET command to set the variable. For example, if you wanted to use a new library path and inherit that path in NEXTFILE.MAK, you could do the following:

        NEWLIB=C:\MSVC\LIB;C:\MYLIBS;C:\MSVC\MFC\LIB
  

        ALL:
          set LIB=$(NEWLIB)
          NMAKE /f nextfile.mak
  
     -or-
  
  

• To inherit a small number of macros, define a macro on the command line for the recursive call:

       ALL:
         NMAKE /f nextfile.mak "MYMACRO=something"
  

  -or-

• Define the macros in the TOOLS.INI initialization file.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem with NMAKE version 1.2. The option was removed from later versions of NMAKE.