[boomlinde]

I find that complexity of a Makefile isn't necessarily a function of its size. Ideally, one should be able to reason about each target individually, specifying its dependencies without consideration for how they are generated, whether they already exist etc. In such an ideal situation, it doesn't matter how large the Makefile is. Maintenance problems IMO happen when you can't trust tasks to fully specify their dependencies or that task commands only generate the target output.

Over all I agree with your argument, though.