make check fails to start in Postgres 8.4.2

Question

I am running into a strange error when trying to run PostgreSQL 8.4.2's regression suite on a new Ubuntu instance that I've created on Amazon EC2.

I can configure PostgreSQL successfully:

$ ./configure
[ Output not shown ]
$ tail -1 config.log
configure: exit 0

It builds just fine:

$ make
[ Ouput clipped ]
All of PostgreSQL successfully made. Ready to install.

But when I try to run the regression suite, I receive an error:

$ make check
[ Ouput clipped ]
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/ubuntu/stock/postgresql-8.4.2/src/test/regress'
You must use GNU make to use Postgres.  It may be installed
on your system with the name 'gmake'.

However, I believe that I am running GNU Make:

$ make --version
GNU Make 3.81
Copyright (C) 2006  Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.
There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

This program built for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu

$ ls -l `which gmake`
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Feb  6 17:41 /usr/bin/gmake -> /usr/bin/make

I see that in the src/test/regress directory, there is a Makefile:

$ cat src/test/regress/Makefile 
# The Postgres make files exploit features of GNU make that other makes
# do not have.  Because it is a common mistake for users to try to build
# Postgres with a different make, we have this make file that does nothing
# but tell the user to use GNU make.

# If the user were using GNU make now, this file would not get used because
# GNU make uses a make file named "GNUmakefile" in preference to "Makefile"
# if it exists.  Postgres is shipped with a "GNUmakefile".

all install clean check installcheck:
    @echo "You must use GNU make to use Postgres.  It may be installed"
    @echo "on your system with the name 'gmake'."

The comments in that Makefile indicate that there should be a file named GNUmakefile in that directory, but there is not:

$ ls src/test/regress/*akefile 
src/test/regress/Makefile

There is a GNUMakefile in the top-level directory:

$ ls *akefile
GNUmakefile  Makefile

Even when I force make and make check to use the GNUmakefile, via -f GNUmakefile, the same error occurs.

Note that I can run the regression suite just fine on my home machine.

Does any one have any ideas why it's not working on the EC2 instance?

EDIT: On my home machine, I'm running Ubuntu 12.04. The EC2 instance is running 13.10. Both machines are running make version 3.81.

Answer 1

You must have a messed up download or checkout. There should be a src/test/regress/GNUmakefile there, as you suspected. Try downloading again.

Answer 2

This is what that directory looks like on mine:

$ ls src/test/regress/*akefile
src/test/regress/GNUmakefile  src/test/regress/Makefile