[CentOS] mkdep vs. makedepend

Where I work, we have an application that has been merrily running
away (and being built) on FC1 (yes, you read that right).

One of my assignments is to bring this up to CentOS, but on my first
effort, I ran into this interesting "feature."  The original build
process (FC1) uses mkdep to generate the dependency files that are
subsequently used by the makes to build the app.  mkdep does not exist
in CentOS 5.2.  There is a makedepend command that operates slightly
differently.

Can someone enlighten me on this, particularly w.r.t. 1) how do I use
makedepend to generate the same files mkdep did and is this a good
idea (my impression is that it's not really that hard but also not
necessarily a good idea or 2) convert all the makefiles to be
makedepend friendly (seems relatively easy, though fairly extensive,
but probably a better idea and also harmless should I wish/need to
continue to build on the FC1 system?

Probably a really basic question or two, but neither google nor the
archives have a good article on this that I could find.

Thanks.

mhr