doc phony actions

1 files changed, 20 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/manual.asciidoc b/manual.asciidoc
index 3038d46..80dfc50 100644
--- a/manual.asciidoc
+++ b/manual.asciidoc
@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@ program (like the `./configure` found in autotools projects) can
 analyze system dependencies and make as many decisions as possible up
 front so that incremental builds stay fast.  Going beyond autotools,
 even build-time decisions like "which compiler flags should I use?"
-or "should a build a debug or release-mode binary?"  belong in the
-ninjafile generator.
+or "should I build a debug or release-mode binary?"  belong in the
+`.ninja` file generator.
 
 Conceptual overview
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@@ -253,6 +253,24 @@ statement to the rule (for example, if the rule needs "the file
 extension of the first input"), pass that through as an extra
 variable, like how `cflags` is passed above.
 
+
+The `phony` rule
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The special rule name `phony` can be used to create aliases for other
+targets.  For example:
+
+----------------
+build all: phony some/file/in/a/faraway/subdir
+----------------
+
+This makes `ninja all` build the other files.  Semantically, the
+`phony` rule is equivalent to a plain rule where the `command` does
+nothing, but phony rules are handled specially in that they aren't
+printed when run, logged (see below), nor do they contribute to the
+command count printed as part of the build process.
+
+
 The Ninja log
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~