Right, but the original point which started the thread is that "The author is not even using the mtime-based dependency tracking", in which case a plain shell s

Right, but the original point which started the thread is that "The author is not even using the mtime-based dependency tracking", in which case a plain shell script is very much a viable alternative to make. I don't particularly mind this use of make, but as an article on make it fails to exemplify what I think is its main purpose.