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 ony issue the compile steps needed to save you time. Here is an example of 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 

Use it

To use the Makefile to build the executable binary file hello from the C source main.c, just call the command make and it will look like this:

tweedleburg:~/tuturial # make
gcc main.c -o hello

See also

• SPEC file

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