Lintian tag: debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error

Type: warning

Description (from lintian-explain-tags)

A rule in the debian/rules file for this package calls the package's clean
or distclean target with a line like:

-$(MAKE) distclean

or

$(MAKE) -i distclean

The leading "-" or the option -i tells make to ignore all errors. Normally
this is done for packages using Autoconf since Makefile may not exist.
However, this line ignores all other error messages, not just the missing
Makefile error. It's better to use:

[ ! -f Makefile ] || $(MAKE) distclean

so that other error messages from the clean or distclean rule will still
be caught (or just remove the "-" if the package uses a static makefile).

Visibility: warning
Show-Always: no
Check: debian/rules

Affected packages

source version binary tag type tag information count
auto-07p 0.9.2+dfsg-3.1 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:11] 1
bible-kjv 4.39 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:36] 1
binfmtc 0.17-2.4 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:39] 1
binfmtc 0.17-2.4 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:38] 1
chrootuid 1.3-6.2 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:18] 1
clc-intercal 1:1.00-2 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:39] 1
dircproxy 1.0.5-7 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:33] 1
dvdtape 1.6-2.1 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:22] 1
dvdtape 1.6-2.1 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:21] 1
gkrellmoon 0.6-7.1 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:29] 1
gopher 3.0.17.3+nmu1 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:45] 1
gopher 3.0.17.3+nmu1 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:44] 1
integrit 4.1-6 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:42] 1
juman 7.0-3.9 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:40] 1
libcompface 1:1.5.2-6.1 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:95] 1
libjcode-pm-perl 2.06-1.1 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:54] 1
libpam-chroot 0.9-5.4 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:27] 1
libxml-rss-feed-perl 2.212-3 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:27] 1
logtools 0.13e+nmu3 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:32] 1
lpr 1:2008.05.17.3+nmu3.1 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:26] 1
lua5.1 5.1.5-10 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:64] 1
mac-fdisk 0.1-18.1 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:42] 1
mailsync 5.2.7-3.3 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:45] 1
netmaze 0.81+jpg0.82-19 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:73] 1
parchive 1.1-6 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:36] 1
postal 0.76+nmu2 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:27] 1
sauce 0.9.2+nmu1 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:41] 1
scanssh 2.1.3.1-0.2 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:41] 1
speech-tools 1:2.5.0-13 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:39] 1
sredird 2.2.2-0.2 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:40] 1
tinyproxy 1.11.2-1 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:28] 1
yorick-soy 1.4.0-4 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:14] 1
yorick-ygsl 1.2.1-2 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:24] 1
yorick-z 1.2.0+cvs20080115-6 warning debian-rules-ignores-make-clean-error [debian/rules:35] 1