1 files changed, 28 insertions, 5 deletions

diff --git a/build/algorithm.ixx b/build/algorithm.ixx
index ddd63f6..d4d0ec8 100644
--- a/build/algorithm.ixx
+++ b/build/algorithm.ixx
@@ -95,16 +95,39 @@ namespace build
   {
     t.dependents--;
 
-    switch (t.state)
+    switch (target_state ts = t.state ())
     {
     case target_state::unchanged:
-    case target_state::changed: return t.state;
+    case target_state::changed: return ts;
     default:
       {
         // Handle the "last" execution mode.
         //
+        // This gets interesting when we consider interaction with
+        // groups. It seem to make sense to treat group members as
+        // dependents of the group, so, for example, if we try to
+        // clean the group via three of its members, only the last
+        // attempt will actually execute the clean. This means that
+        // when we match a group member, inside we should also match
+        // the group in order to increment the dependents count.
+        // Though this seems to be a natural requirement (if we
+        // are delegating to the group, we need to find a recipe
+        // for it, just like we would for a prerequisite).
+        //
+        // Note that below we are going to change the group state
+        // to postponed. This is not a mistake: until we execute
+        // the recipe, we want to keep returning postponed. And
+        // once the recipe is executed, it will reset the state
+        // to group (see group_action()). To put it another way,
+        // the execution of this member is postponed, not of the
+        // group.
+        //
+        // One important invariant to keep in mind: the return
+        // value from execute() should always be the same as what
+        // would get returned by a subsequent call to state().
+        //
         if (current_mode == execution_mode::last && t.dependents != 0)
-          return (t.state = target_state::postponed);
+          return (t.raw_state = target_state::postponed);
 
         return execute_impl (a, t);
       }
@@ -114,10 +137,10 @@ namespace build
   inline target_state
   execute_direct (action a, target& t)
   {
-    switch (t.state)
+    switch (target_state ts = t.state ())
     {
     case target_state::unchanged:
-    case target_state::changed: return t.state;
+    case target_state::changed: return ts;
     default: return execute_impl (a, t);
     }
   }