make plugin fails to include a Makefile via a relative path from another Makefile

Metadata

Project: snapcraft (launchpad)
Number: #1636238
Type: issue
State: open
Author: ~ivan-lezhnjov-iv
Labels: plugin
Created: 2016-10-24 03:37 PM UTC
Updated: 2016-10-25 10:39 PM UTC
Closed: —

Current evaluation

make plugin runs make in the part's scoped source dir, so Makefile includes pointing outside it (e.g. ../src/Makefile.global for PostgreSQL contrib) fail. Reported 2018, no maintainer response; plugin now lives in craft-parts.

Suggested action: needs triage

Reason: The issue has zero comments, no assignee, no maintainer response, and only the generic 'plugin' label, so it has never been triaged. Root cause is verifiable in craft_parts/plugins/make_plugin.py, which emits a plain `make` executed in the part source dir; because the reporter scoped `source: parts/postgresql/src/contrib/`, `../src/Makefile.global` is not copied into the part build dir — a part-scoping limitation with a workaround (widen `source` and pass `make -C src/contrib`, or use override-build) rather than a plugin defect. Confidence is held down because the reporter's desired outcome is unstated and the code has since moved from snapcraft to craft-parts, so the fix would need to be re-scoped there.

Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot

Impact: 32 Quick Win: 10 Complexity: 50 Confidence: 68 Actionability: 62

Issue body

Here's another issue I ran into when I tried to build contrib modules shipped with PostgreSQL project: ... Building contrib make -f Makefile -j1 Makefile:5: ../src/Makefile.global: No such file or directory make: *** No rule to make target '../src/Makefile.global'. Stop. Command '['/bin/sh', '/tmp/tmpxgmn5skk', 'make', '-f', 'Makefile', '-j1']' returned non-zero exit status 2 It seems like make plugin fails to include a Makefile that is referenced as a relative path from the main Makefile. Corresponding snapcraft.yaml section looks like this: contrib: plugin: make source: parts/postgresql/src/contrib/ after: - postgresql

Evaluation history

Date	Model	Scores	Action	Summary
2026-10-02 06:54 PM UTC	stealth/space-bunny-alpha	Impact: 32 Quick Win: 10 Complexity: 50 Confidence: 68 Actionability: 62	needs triage	make plugin runs make in the part's scoped source dir, so Makefile includes pointing outside it (e.g. ../src/Makefile.global for PostgreSQL contrib) fail. Reported 2018, no maintainer response; plugin now lives in craft-parts.
2026-09-23 04:55 PM UTC	qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b	Impact: 30 Quick Win: 14 Complexity: 40 Confidence: 50 Actionability: 80	needs triage	Make plugin fails to resolve relative paths in Makefile includes, causing build failures for projects like PostgreSQL contrib modules
2026-09-01 07:31 AM UTC	qwen/qwen3.8-27b	Impact: 15 Quick Win: 10 Staleness: 95 Complexity: 30 Confidence: 55 Support Request: 70	close not a bug	make plugin fails to build PostgreSQL contrib because its Makefile includes ../src/Makefile.global, which lies outside the declared source directory. 10 years old, zero comments, no maintainer response. Failure stems from user source config, not a plugin defect.
2026-07-23 11:49 AM UTC	qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b	Staleness: 98 Complexity: 45 Confidence: 90 Support Request: 10	close stale	Make plugin fails to resolve relative Makefile includes during build. Issue is over 9 years old with no maintainer response or comments.
2026-07-22 12:18 PM UTC	qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b	Staleness: 98 Complexity: 40 Confidence: 90 Support Request: 10	close stale	Snapcraft make plugin fails to resolve relative paths in included Makefiles when building PostgreSQL contrib modules. Unaddressed for ~9.7 years with no maintainer interaction.
2026-07-09 07:09 PM UTC	qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6	Staleness: 95 Complexity: 25 Confidence: 85 Support Request: 10	close stale	Snapcraft make plugin fails to resolve relative paths in Makefile include directives. No maintainer response or activity for over 9 years.

Update history

Date	Change
2016-10-25 10:39 PM UTC	created

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