make

make

Most programming projects encompass a large number of individual files. Keeping track of file interdependencies often gets too complex to maintain on a piece of paper or by memory. make(CP) was designed to keep track of file-to-file relationships, the order of command executions, and general file maintenance. make is a command generator. It generates command sequences to be executed within a UNIX system shell. Within a make description file, more commonly known as a makefile or Makefile, a user defines the file interdependencies and command sequences to be executed.

If a program must be linked from object files and libraries, which are in turn created from assembly or high-level language source files, then invoking make performs this task automatically.

By using make, a programmer no longer has to be concerned with the following scenario: if file A depends on file B, and if file B was modified after file A, then file A must be compiled and linked before the program can run correctly.

A programmer can now let make remember:

file-to-file interdependencies
which files were modified recently
which files require recompilation after source changes
the exact sequence of operations required to generate a new version of the program

NOTE: For a detailed explanation of the make command line usage, see make(CP).

The chapter is organized as follows: