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Commands Reference, Volume 3
make Command
Purpose
Maintains, updates, and regenerates groups of programs.
Syntax
make [ -DVariable ] [ -d Option] ] [ -e ] [ -i ] [ -k ] [ -n ] [ -p ]
[ -q ] [ -r ] [ -S ] [ -s ] [ -t ] [ -f MakeFile ... ] [ Target ... ]
Description
The make command assists you
in maintaining a set of programs. Input to the make
command is a list of file dependency specifications.
There are four types of lines in a makefile: file dependency
specifications, shell commands, variable assignments, and comments. In general,
lines can be continued from one line to the next by ending them with a \ (backslash).
The trailing newline character and initial white space on the following line
are compressed into a single space.
File Dependency Specifications
Dependency lines consist of one or more targets, an
operator, and zero or more prerequisites (sources). This creates a relationship
where the targets depend on the prerequisites and are usually created from
them. The exact relationship between the target and the prerequisite is determined
by the operator that separates them. The operators are as follows:
: |
A target is considered out-of-date if its modification time is less
than that of any of its prerequisites. Prerequisites for a target accumulate
over dependency lines when this operator is used. The target is removed if
the make command is interrupted, unless the target has
the .PRECIOUS attribute. |
:: |
If no prerequisites are specified, the target is always recreated.
Otherwise, a target is considered out-of-date if any of its prerequisites
were modified more recently than the target. Prerequisites for a target do
not accumulate over dependency lines when this operator is used. The target
is not removed if the make command is interrupted. |
File dependency specifications have two types of rules,
inference and target. Inference rules specify how a target is to be made up-to-date.
These rules have one target with no / (slash) and a minimum of one . (period).
Target rules specify how to build the target. These rules can have more than
one target.
Makefile Execution
The make command executes the
commands in the makefile line by line. As make executes
each command, it writes the command to standard output (unless otherwise directed,
for example, using the -s flag). A makefile must have
a Tab in front of the commands on each line.
When a command is executed through the make command, it uses make's execution environment.
This includes any macros from the command line to the make command and any environment variables specified in the MAKEFLAGS variable. The make command's environment
variables overwrite any variables of the same name in the existing environment.
Note
When the
make
command encounters a line beginning with the word
include followed by another word that is the name of a makefile (for example,
include depend), the
make command
attempts to open that file and process its contents as if the contents were
displayed where the include line occurs. This behavior occurs only if the
first noncomment line of the first makefile read by the
make command is not the
.POSIX target; otherwise,
a syntax error occurs.
Comments: Comments begin with a # character, anywhere but in a shell command line,
and continue to the end of the line.
Environment: The make command uses the MAKEFLAGS environment variable, if it exists.
Target Rules
Target rules have the following format:
target[target...] : [prerequisite...] [;command]
<Tab>command
Multiple targets and prerequisites are separated by
spaces. Any text that follows the ; (semicolon) and all of the subsequent
lines that begin with a Tab character are considered commands to be used to
update the target. A new target entry is started when a new line does not
begin with a Tab or # character.
Note
The list of prerequisites
can be empty.
Special Targets
Special targets cannot be included with other targets;
that is, they must be the only target specified. These targets control the
operation of the make command. These targets are:
.DEFAULT |
This is used as the rule for any target (that was used only as a
prerequisite) that the make command cannot figure out
any other way to create. Only the shell script is used. The < (left angle bracket) variable of a target that inherits .DEFAULT's commands is set to the target's own name. |
.IGNORE |
Prerequisites of this target are targets themselves; this causes
errors from commands associated with them to be ignored. If no prerequisites
are specified, this is the equivalent of specifying the -i flag. |
.POSIX |
Causes the make command to use a different
default rules file. The file, /usr/ccs/lib/posix.mk,
provides the default rules as specified in the POSIX standard. |
.PRECIOUS |
Prerequisites of this target are targets themselves. .PRECIOUS prevents the target from being removed. If no prerequisites
are specified, the .PRECIOUS attribute is applied to
every target in the file. Usually, when make is interrupted
(for example, with SIGHUP, SIGTERM, SIGINT, or SIGQUIT), it
removes any partially made targets. If make was invoked
with the -n, -p, or -q flags, the target is considered to have the .PRECIOUS attribute. |
.SILENT |
Prerequisites of the target are targets themselves. This causes commands
associated with the target to not be written to standard output before they
are executed. If no prerequisites are specified, the .SILENT attribute is applied to every command in the file. |
.SUFFIXES |
Use this name to add more suffixes to the list of file suffixes that make recognizes. Prerequisites of the target are appended
to the list of known suffixes. If no suffixes are specified, any previously
specified suffixes are deleted. These suffixes are used by the inference rules.
To change the order of suffixes, you need to specify an empty .SUFFIXES entry and then a new list of .SUFFIXES
entries. A makefile must not associate commands with .SUFFIXES. |
Inference Rules
The make command has a default
set of inference rules, which you can supplement or overwrite with additional
inference rules definitions in the makefile. The default rules are stored
in the external file, /usr/ccs/lib/aix.mk. You can substitute
your own rules file by setting the MAKERULES variable
to your own file name from the command line. The following line shows how
to change the rules file from the command line:
make MAKERULES=/pathname/filename
Inference rules consist of target suffixes and commands.
From the suffixes, the make command determines the prerequisites,
and from both the suffixes and their prerequisites, the make command determines how to make a target up-to-date. Inference rules
have the following format:
rule:
<Tab>command
...
where rule has one of the
following forms:
.s1 |
A single-suffix inference rule that describes how to build a target
that is appended with one of the single suffixes. |
.s1.s2 |
A double-suffix inference rule that describes how to build a target
that is appended with .s2 with a prerequisite that
is appended with .s1. |
The .s1 and .s2 suffixes are defined as prerequisites of the special target, .SUFFIXES. The suffixes .s1 and .s2 must be known suffixes at the time the inference rule
is displayed in the makefile. The inference rules use the suffixes in the
order in which they are specified in .SUFFIXES. A new
inference rule is started when a new line does not begin with a <Tab> or # character.
If rule is empty, for example:
rule: ;
execution has no effect, and the make command recognizes that the suffix exists, but takes no actions
when targets are out-of-date.
A ~ (tilde) in the preceding rules refers to an SCCS
file. Therefore, the rule, .c~.o, would transform an
SCCS C language prerequisite file into an object file (.o). Because the s. of the SCCS file is a prefix,
it is incompatible with the make command's suffix view.
The ~ (tilde) is a way of changing any file reference into an SCCS file reference.
Libraries
A target or prerequisite can also be a member of an
archive library and is treated as such if there are parentheses in the name.
For example, library(name) indicates that name is a member of the archive library library.
To update a member of a library from a particular file, you can use the format .s1.a, where a file with the .s1 suffix is used to update a member of the archive library.
The .a refers to an archive library.
Using Macros
In makefiles, macro definitions are defined in the
format:
variable=value
Macros can be displayed throughout the makefile, as
follows:
- If a macro is displayed in a target line,
it is evaluated when the target line is read.
- If a macro is displayed in a command line,
it is evaluated when the command is executed.
- If a macro is displayed in a macro definition
line, it is evaluated when the new macro is displayed in a rule or command.
If a macro has no definition, it defaults to NULL. A new macro definition overwrites an existing macro of the same
name. Macros assignments can come from the following, in the listed order:
- Default inference rules
- Contents of the environment
- Makefiles
- Command lines.
Note
The -e flag causes environment variables to
override those defined in the makefile.
The SHELL macro is special. It
is set by the make command to the path name of the shell command interpreter (/usr/bin/sh). However, if it is redefined in the makefile or on the command line,
this default setting is overridden.
Note
The
SHELL macro does not affect, and is not affected by, the
SHELL environment variable.
Shell Commands
Each target can have associated with it a series of
shell commands, usually used to create the target. Each of the commands in
this script must be preceded by a Tab. While any target can be displayed on
a dependency line, only one of these dependencies can be followed by a creation
script, unless the :: operator is used.
If the first, or first two characters, of the command
line are one or all of @ (at sign), - (hyphen), and + (plus sign), the command
is treated specially, as follows:
@ |
Causes the command not to be echoed before it is executed. |
- |
Causes any nonzero exit status of the command line to be ignored. |
+ |
Causes a command line to be executed, even though the options -n, -q, or -t
are specified. |
A command that has no metacharacters is directly executed
by the make command. For example, the make command consigns the first command in the following example to the
shell because it contains the > (greater than sign) shell metacharacter.
The second command in the following example does not contain any shell metacharacters,
so the make command executes it directly:
target: dependency
cat dependency > target
chmod a+x target
Bypassing the shell saves time, but it can cause problems.
For example, attempting to execute a C shell script from within a makefile
by setting the SHELL macro to /bin/csh will not work unless the command line also contains at least
one shell metacharacter.
SHELL=/bin/csh
target: dependency
my_csh_script
This makefile fails because the make command attempts to run my_csh_script instead
of consigning it to the C shell.
Variable Assignments
Variables in the make command
are much like variables in the shell and consist of all uppercase letters.
The = operator assigns values to variables. Any previous
variable is then overridden.
Any white space before the assigned value is removed;
if the value is being appended, a single space is inserted between the previous
contents of the variable and the appended value.
Variables are expended by surrounding the variable
name with either { } (braces) or ( ) (parentheses) and preceding it with a
$ (dollar sign). If the variable name contains only a single letter, the surrounding
braces or parentheses are not required. This shorter form is not recommended.
Variable substitution occurs at two distinct times,
depending on where the variable is being used. Variables in dependency lines
are expanded as the line is read. Variables in shell commands are expanded
when the shell command is executed.
The four classes of variables (in order of increasing
precedence) are:
Environment |
Variables defined as part of the make command's
environment. |
Global |
Variables defined in the makefile or in included makefiles. |
Command line |
Variables defined as part of the command line. |
Local |
Variables defined specific to a certain target. The local variables
are as follows:
- $<
- Represents either the full name of a prerequisite that made a target
out-of-date (inference rule), or the full name of a target (.DEFAULT rule).
- $*
- Represents the file name section of a prerequisite that made a target
out-of-date (in an inference rule) without a suffix.
- $@
- Represents the full target name of the current target or the archive
file name part of the library archive target.
- $%
- Represents a library member in a target rule if the target is a member
of the archive library.
You can also use these local variables appended
with D or F:
- D
- Indicates that the local variable applies to the directory part of
the name. This is the path name prefix without a trailing / (slash). For current
directories, D is a . (period).
- F
- Indicates that the local variable applies to the file name part of
the name.
In addition, the make
command sets or knows about the following variables: |
$ |
A single $ (dollar sign); that is, $$ expands to a single dollar sign. |
LANG |
Determines the locale to use for the locale categories when both LC_ALL and the corresponding environment variable (beginning
with LC_) do not specify a locale. |
LC_ALL |
Determines the locale to be used to override any values for locale
categories specified by the setting of LANG or any other LC_ environment variable. |
LC_CTYPE |
Determines the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes
of text data as characters; for example, single- versus multibyte characters
in arguments. |
LC_MESSAGES |
Determines the language in which messages should be written. |
MAKEFLAGS |
The environment variable, MAKEFLAGS, can contain
anything that can be specified on make's command line.
Anything specified on make's command line is appended
to the MAKEFLAGS variable, which is then entered into
the environment for all programs that make executes.
Note that the operation of the -f and -p flags in the MAKEFLAGS variable is undefined.
Command line flags take precedence over the -f and -p flags in this variable. |
VPATH |
Allows you to specify a list of directories to search for prerequisites.
The list of directories works like the PATH variable
in the SHELL. The VPATH variable
can specify multiple directories separated by colons. For example:
VPATH=src:/usr/local/src
This tells the make command to search for the following
directories in the order given:
- The current directory (this happens even without VPATH)
- src (a subdirectory in
the current directory )
- /usr/local/src.
|
Flags
-DVariable |
Sets the value of Variable to 1. |
-dOption |
Displays detailed information about the files and times that make examines (debug mode). The -d flag without
any options or with the A option displays all the
debug information available. Individually selectable debug options follow:
- A
- Displays all possible debug information.
- a
- Displays debug information about archive searching and caching.
- d
- Displays debug information about directory searching.
- g1
- Displays debug information about input graph before making anything.
- g2
- Displays debug information about input graph after making everything,
or before exiting on an error.
- m
- Displays debug information about making targets, including modification
dates.
- s
- Displays debug information about suffix searching.
- v
- Displays debug information about variable assignments.
|
-e |
Specifies that environmental variables override macro assignments
within makefiles. |
-f MakeFile |
Specifies a makefile to read instead of the default makefile. If MakeFile is - (hyphen), standard input is read. Multiple
makefiles can be specified and are read in the order specified. |
-i |
Ignores nonzero exit of shell commands in the
makefile. Equivalent to specifying - (hyphen) before each command line in
the makefile. |
-k |
Continues processing after errors are encountered, but only on those
targets that do not depend on the target whose creation caused the error. |
-n |
Displays commands, but does not run them. However, lines beginning
with a + (plus sign) are executed. |
-p |
Displays the complete set of macro definitions and target descriptions
before performing any commands. |
-q |
Returns a zero status code if the target file is up-to-date; returns
a one status code if the target file is not up-to-date. However, a command
line with the + (plus sign) prefix will be executed. |
-r |
Does not use the default rules. |
-S |
Terminates the make command if an error occurs.
This is the default and the opposite of -k flag. |
-s |
Does not display commands on the screen as they are performed. |
-t |
Creates a target or updates its modification time to make it seem
up-to-date. Executes command lines beginning with a + (plus sign). |
Target |
Specifies a target name of the form Target
or sets the value of variables. |
Exit Status
When the -q flag is specified,
this command returns the following exit values:
0 |
Successful completion. |
1 |
The target was not up-to-date. |
>1 |
An error occurred. |
Otherwise, this command returns the following exit
values:
0 |
Successful completion. |
>1 |
An error occurred. |
Examples
- To make the first target found in the makefile,
type:
make
- To display, but not run, the commands that the make command would use to make a file:
make -n search.o
Doing
this will verify that a new description file is correct before using it.
- To create a makefile that says that pgm depends on two files, a.o and b.o, and that they, in turn, depend on their corresponding prerequisite
files (a.c and b.c) and a common
file, incl.h, type:
pgm: a.o b.o
c89 a.o b.o -o pgm
a.o: incl.h a.c
c89 -c a.c
b.o: incl.h b.c
c89 -c b.c
- To make optimized .o
files from .c files, type:
.c.o:
c89 -c -o $*.c
or:
.c.o:
c89 -c -o $<
- To view the contents of the built-in rules,
type:
make -p -f /dev/null 2>/dev/null
Files
makefile |
Contains a list of dependencies. |
Makefile |
Contains a list of dependencies. |
s.makefile |
Contains a list of dependencies. It is an SCCS file. |
s.Makefile |
Contains a list of dependencies. It is an SCCS file. |
/usr/ccs/lib/posix.mk |
Contains default POSIX rules for the make command. |
/usr/ccs/lib/aix.mk |
Contains default rules for the make command. |
Related Information
The sh
command.
The make Command Overview in AIX 5L Version 5.2 General Programming Concepts: Writing and Debugging Programs.
The Commands Overview
in AIX 5L Version 5.2 System User's Guide: Operating System and Devices.
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