commands within ``make''

[Glen McCluskey]

Is there a good reason why an option cannot be added
to ``make'' so that it will directly execute subcommands
such as the compiler, instead of invoking a subshell?

The only reason I can think of is to allow shell syntax
such as pipes.  There are enough cases where this is not
necessary that the faster command startup time would seem
to make it worthwhile.  Some tests indicate that a vfork()
and execvp() go about twice as fast as a system().

			Glen McCluskey
			..tektronix!mako!glenm