I pushed a fix for the $(file ...) function.

The other inconsistencies will need to be dealt with later... I don't want to make backward-incompatible changes right now.

What does this makefile produce?

$ cat Makefile
e :=
s := $e hello   there $e
$(warning if: [$(if $e , some , <none> )])
$(warning and: [$(and a$e , $s )])
$(warning or: [$(or $e ,$s)])
$(warning patsubst:[$(patsubst aa,a,$s)])
$(warning patsubst:[$(patsubst aa%,a, $s )])
$(warning patsubst:[$(patsubst aa%%,a, $s )])
$(warning patsubst:[$(patsubst hello,,$s)])
$(warning patsubst:[$(patsubst hello ,,$s)])
args = $(warning args: [$1][$2][$3])
$(call   args ,$s, $s, $s )
$(error bye)

$ make380 2>&1 | tr ' ' ,
Makefile:3:,if:,[,some,]
Makefile:4:,and:,[]
Makefile:5:,or:,[]
Makefile:6:,patsubst:[,hello,,,there,]
Makefile:7:,patsubst:[hello,there]
Makefile:8:,patsubst:[hello,there]
Makefile:9:,patsubst:[,,,,there,]
Makefile:10:,patsubst:[,,,there,]
Makefile:12:,args:,[,hello,,,there,][,,hello,,,there,][,,hello,,,there,,]
Makefile:13:,***,bye.,,Stop.

$ make381 2>&1 | tr ' ' ,
Makefile:3:,if:,[,<none>,]
Makefile:4:,and:,[,hello,,,there,]
Makefile:5:,or:,[,hello,,,there,]
Makefile:6:,patsubst:[,hello,,,there,]
Makefile:7:,patsubst:[hello,there]
Makefile:8:,patsubst:[hello,there]
Makefile:9:,patsubst:[,,,,there,]
Makefile:10:,patsubst:[,,,there,]
Makefile:12:,args:,[,hello,,,there,][,,hello,,,there,][,,hello,,,there,,]
Makefile:13:,***,bye.,,Stop.

Dunno how to rationalise this. Some functions strip w.s. from around all the arguments (and, or); some from just the first argument (call); and patsubst will $(strip) its last argument only when its first contains a % (even if it's doubled as in %%).

Oh, and there's a regression in the 1st argument of $(if) from 3.80 to 3.81.

This is a documentation error if nothing else. The manual says "The arguments are the arguments of the function. They are separated from the function name by one or more spaces or tabs, and if there is more than one argument, then they are separated by commas. Such whitespace and commas are not part of an argument's value." Does the "such whitespace" in this snippet mean just the w.s. between the function name and the first argument? It seems that only $(patsubst) does it right in this regard.