Tip #1434: as you type (or paste) in Makefile, autoconvert leading eight spaces to tab

[ this tip is only for those who edit Makefiles by hand]
Makefiles punish you if instead of single tab somebody puts eight spaces in your makefile (happens  when pasting between Makeiles). But those treacherous Makefiles did not suspect that we have now  this little vimscript piece.  It guards against this annoying pitfall (but you must have ':set nopaste' set for this helper to work.)

The following piece auto-converts 8 spaces at the beginning of line (only in Makefiles, and only at the beginning of line) into tab, as you type or paste. It is suggested to have ':set list' in Makefiles, too.  This piece will only work if 'set nopaste' is set.

"****************
" In Makefile, automatically convert eight spaces at the beginning
" of line to tab, as you type (or paste)
"*****************
au FileType make :inoremap <buffer><silent><space> <space><c-o>:call MapSpaceInMakefile()<cr>
function! MapSpaceInMakefile()
    " if this space is 8th space from the beginning of line, replace 8 spaces with
    " one tab (only at the beginning of file)
    let line = getline('.')
    let col = col('.')

    if strpart(line, 0, 8) == '        '
        let new = "\t" . strpart(line,8)
        call setline('.', new )
    endif

    return ""
endfunction


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