Makefile

Makefiles help you to build a program from source without you having to issue every compiler call. They are interpreted by the command make and manage dependencies meaning they online issue the compile steps needed to save you time. Here is an example how to use a Makefile.

C file

We are using a source file written in C called main.c. Here is how we create it:

cat >main.c <<EOF
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
  printf("hello world");
}
EOF

Makefile

Now we create the Makefile:

cat >Makefile <<EOF
all:hello

hello: main.c
        gcc main.c -o hello

install: hello
        cp hello /usr/local/bin
EOF
sed -i "s/        /\t/g" Makefile 

See also

• SPEC file
• http://mrbook.org/tutorials/make/
• http://www.cems.uvm.edu/~snapp/maketutorial/make.html

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