Makefile: If target name contains colon (:)

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/3229278

Suppose I've got a simple #Makefile w/ a few URLs that I'd like to process as dynamic targets.

For example here is a not working snippet:

    
.DEFAULT_GOAL := all

#####
URLS  = https://foo.example.com
URLS += https://bar.example.com
URLS += https://www.example.org

#####
% :
    @echo the url is $(*)

#####
.PHONY : all
all : $(URLS)


  

It fails w/

*** target pattern contains no '%'

I believe that's b/c of the character : being part of URLS which confuses Make after expansion (order o

As a workaround, I've removed https:// from all URLs. For example this works:

    
URLS = foo.example.com
URLS += bar.example.com

  

I know Make generally doesn't play well w/ targets w/ space or colon in the name but I wonder if the above is the best I can do. What do you think?