A minimal example:
%.txt: foo.log
# pass
%.log:
# pass
Run:
$ make a.txt --dry-run
# pass
# pass
rm foo.log
Why is the last action rm foo.log
?
How can I get rid of it?
A minimal example:
%.txt: foo.log
# pass
%.log:
# pass
Run:
$ make a.txt --dry-run
# pass
# pass
rm foo.log
Why is the last action rm foo.log
?
How can I get rid of it?
By default, GNU make removes intermediate files. Since %.txt depends on %.log, make wants to remove the .log file. To prevent that behavior you mark them as precious with .PRECIOUS or .SECONDARY.
.PRECIOUS: foo.log
Also, you can make it so that no intermediate files are ever removed by using .SECONDARY with no dependencies.
.SECONDARY:
See this section of the GNU make manual.