(make.info.gz) Recursion

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 5.7 Recursive Use of `make'
 ===========================
 
 Recursive use of `make' means using `make' as a command in a makefile.
 This technique is useful when you want separate makefiles for various
 subsystems that compose a larger system.  For example, suppose you have
 a subdirectory `subdir' which has its own makefile, and you would like
 the containing directory's makefile to run `make' on the subdirectory.
 You can do it by writing this:
 
      subsystem:
              cd subdir && $(MAKE)
 
 or, equivalently, this ( Summary of Options Options Summary.):
 
      subsystem:
              $(MAKE) -C subdir
    
    You can write recursive `make' commands just by copying this example,
 but there are many things to know about how they work and why, and about
 how the sub-`make' relates to the top-level `make'.  You may also find
 it useful to declare targets that invoke recursive `make' commands as
 `.PHONY' (for more discussion on when this is useful, see  Phony
 Targets).
 
    For your convenience, when GNU `make' starts (after it has processed
 any `-C' options) it sets the variable `CURDIR' to the pathname of the
 current working directory.  This value is never touched by `make'
 again: in particular note that if you include files from other
 directories the value of `CURDIR' does not change.  The value has the
 same precedence it would have if it were set in the makefile (by
 default, an environment variable `CURDIR' will not override this
 value).  Note that setting this variable has no impact on the operation
 of `make' (it does not cause `make' to change its working directory,
 for example).
 

Menu

 
* MAKE Variable               The special effects of using `$(MAKE)'.
* Variables/Recursion         How to communicate variables to a sub-`make'.
* Options/Recursion           How to communicate options to a sub-`make'.
* -w Option                   How the `-w' or `--print-directory' option
                                   helps debug use of recursive `make' commands.
 

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