... at least on this machine.

$ make -C backend
make: Entering directory `/home/fenix0/eh99/e99re41/pgsql/src/backend'
make -C access all 
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/fenix0/eh99/e99re41/pgsql/src/backend/access'
<snip>
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/fenix0/eh99/e99re41/pgsql/src/backend/access'
make -C bootstrap all 
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/fenix0/eh99/e99re41/pgsql/src/backend/bootstrap'
make[1]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/fenix0/eh99/e99re41/pgsql/src/backend/bootstrap'
make -C catalog all 
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/fenix0/eh99/e99re41/pgsql/src/backend/catalog'
make[1]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/fenix0/eh99/e99re41/pgsql/src/backend/catalog'
make -C commands all 
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/fenix0/eh99/e99re41/pgsql/src/backend/commands'
make -C .. parse.h
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/fenix0/eh99/e99re41/pgsql/src/backend'
for i in access bootstrap catalog commands executor lib libpq main parser nodes optimizer port postmaster regex rewrite storage tcop utils; do make -C $i parser/parse.h; done
make[3]: Entering directory `/home/fenix0/eh99/e99re41/pgsql/src/backend/access'
make -C common   parser/parse.h
make[4]: Entering directory `/home/fenix0/eh99/e99re41/pgsql/src/backend/access/common'
make[4]: *** No rule to make target `parser/parse.h'.  Stop.
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
make[4]: Leaving directory `/home/fenix0/eh99/e99re41/pgsql/src/backend/access/common'
make[3]: *** [parser/parse.h] Error 2
make[3]: Leaving directory `/home/fenix0/eh99/e99re41/pgsql/src/backend/access'
... recursive death ...
make: *** [commands.dir] Error 2
make: Leaving directory `/home/fenix0/eh99/e99re41/pgsql/src/backend'

I vaguely recall that this file might be intended to be built by bison.
The potentially relevant lines from Makefile.global are:
YFLAGS= -y -d
YACC= /usr/sup/gnu/bin/bison

`uname -a`
SunOS Krokodil 5.5.1 Generic_103640-23 sun4m sparc SUNW,SPARCstation-4

-- 
Peter Eisentraut                  Sernanders vaeg 10:115
peter_e@gmx.net                   75262 Uppsala
http://yi.org/peter-e/            Sweden


Mon, 8 Nov 1999 15:37:02 +0100 (MET)
Peter Eisentraut <e99re41@DoCS.UU.SE>
Backend build fails in current
Peter Eisentraut <e99re41@DoCS.UU.SE> writes:
> ...
> make -C common   parser/parse.h
> make[4]: Entering directory `/home/fenix0/eh99/e99re41/pgsql/src/backend/access/common'
> make[4]: *** No rule to make target `parser/parse.h'.  Stop.
>              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Are you still seeing this?  I didn't see it with a pull from CVS
yesterday.  If you are, what version of make are you using?

			regards, tom lane

Sat, 13 Nov 1999 02:53:09 -0500
Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
Re: [HACKERS] Backend build fails in current 
On Sat, 13 Nov 1999, Tom Lane wrote:

> Peter Eisentraut <e99re41@DoCS.UU.SE> writes:
> > ...
> > make -C common   parser/parse.h
> > make[4]: Entering directory `/home/fenix0/eh99/e99re41/pgsql/src/backend/access/common'
> > make[4]: *** No rule to make target `parser/parse.h'.  Stop.
> >              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> Are you still seeing this?  I didn't see it with a pull from CVS
> yesterday.  If you are, what version of make are you using?

Affirmative. Same problem.

GNU Make version 3.74, by Richard Stallman and Roland McGrath.

That's a little old it seems, but I don't have any power to upgrade it on
this particular machine. It should certainly be possible to fix the make
files, since requiring GNU make is already a hassle for some, but
requiring the latest version might be too much to ask for?

-- 
Peter Eisentraut                  Sernanders vaeg 10:115
peter_e@gmx.net                   75262 Uppsala
http://yi.org/peter-e/            Sweden


Sat, 13 Nov 1999 14:36:31 +0100 (MET)
Peter Eisentraut <e99re41@DoCS.UU.SE>
Re: [HACKERS] Backend build fails in current 
Peter Eisentraut <e99re41@DoCS.UU.SE> writes:
>> Are you still seeing this?  I didn't see it with a pull from CVS
>> yesterday.  If you are, what version of make are you using?

> Affirmative. Same problem.

> GNU Make version 3.74, by Richard Stallman and Roland McGrath.

> That's a little old it seems,

It is.  I'd suggest leaning on your sysadmin to get it updated to
something current (3.78.1 is current I think).

In the meantime, please try the attached patch.  If it seems to
straighten out the behavior on your make, I'll commit it.

			regards, tom lane

*** src/backend/Makefile.orig	Sun Mar  7 18:05:56 1999
--- src/backend/Makefile	Sat Nov 13 09:43:17 1999
***************
*** 116,127 ****
  # make files in our subdirectories.
  
  parse.h: parser/parse.h
- 	$(MAKE) -C parser parse.h
  	cp parser/parse.h .
  
! fmgr.h:
! 	$(MAKE) -C utils fmgr.h
  	cp utils/fmgr.h .
  
  #############################################################################
  clean:
--- 116,131 ----
  # make files in our subdirectories.
  
  parse.h: parser/parse.h
  	cp parser/parse.h .
  
! parser/parse.h:
! 	$(MAKE) -C parser parse.h
! 
! fmgr.h: utils/fmgr.h
  	cp utils/fmgr.h .
+ 
+ utils/fmgr.h:
+ 	$(MAKE) -C utils fmgr.h
  
  #############################################################################
  clean:

Sat, 13 Nov 1999 09:50:08 -0500
Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
Re: [HACKERS] Backend build fails in current 