What is a Makefile and how it works..?

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I'm trying to understand and do a simple project on makefile.

I couldn't understand what a make file is and how it executes, can anyone help me to understand it.

I need to create a sample using C programming.

Posted 28-Oct-13 20:43pm

Yashwanth R

Updated 28-Oct-13 20:46pm

v2

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CPallini · Answer 1 · 2013-10-28T20:51:00

Solution 1

You might start reading a tutorial, see, for instance: "Makefiles by examples"[^].

Posted 28-Oct-13 20:51pm

CPallini

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Yashwanth R 30-Oct-13 1:48am

Can u tell me what is the advantage of using makefile.
It will compile the files only if any changes are occurred in the particular files right..??
how will a developer come to know the make file is executing.

sorry if question is wrong.
I'm trying to execute a simple sample in this http://mrbook.org/tutorials/make/ url.
even if i remove makefile and execute the o/p will be same and even if makefile exist o/p is same.

CPallini 30-Oct-13 3:11am

"It will compile the files only if any changes are occurred in the particular files right..??"
Yes, and it can execute rather complex commands in order to compile big projects (issuing such commands by hand would be a hassle).
In very small, basic, projects you have no advantages in using make, however, as the projects get bigger, using it makes the difference (pardon the pun).

Yashwanth R 30-Oct-13 7:41am

thank u

CPallini 30-Oct-13 8:35am

You are welcome.

fkassaie · Answer 2 · 2013-10-28T22:02:00

Solution 2

Hi,
You can use these link to learn about makefiles:
1- http://oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu/~bhumphre/makefile.html[^]
2- http://www.cs.swarthmore.edu/~newhall/unixhelp/howto_makefiles.html[^]
3- http://www.cs.duke.edu/courses/cps108/doc/makefileinfo/sample.html[^]

Posted 28-Oct-13 22:02pm

fkassaie

Comments

Yashwanth R 30-Oct-13 1:48am

Can u tell me what is the advantage of using makefile.
It will compile the files only if any changes are occurred in the particular files right..??
how will a developer come to know the make file is executing.

sorry if question is wrong. I'm trying to execute a simple sample in this http://mrbook.org/tutorials/make/ url.
even if i remove make file and execute the o/p will be same and even if makefile exist o/p is same.

fkassaie 30-Oct-13 7:14am

Makefile is a script file for the make language .A unix tool that allows building complicated projects like operating systems easier .It works by writing rules and the requirements to it ..on how process a file ..It then call the apropriate tool to process that file
Is then easy to build pieces of software made of thouthands of files..On top of that the tool make checks if the file is UP TO DATE ..it means that if your project is made of 1000 files and you make a change only in one ..it doesn't need to rebuild 999 other files..but just one ..the others are ok ..up to date !
yes. if you remove the makefile, the execute of the o/p will be the same. this file is just for help in big project.

Yashwanth R 30-Oct-13 7:41am

thank you.

fkassaie 30-Oct-13 8:06am

was it helpful for you?
if you have some question, i can ask from my boss.

Yashwanth R 30-Oct-13 8:29am

we are starting a product on ERP concept so studying abt MAKEFILE.. so asked the above mentioned question, if i get any doubt further I'll ask u.. thanks for the concern..

Daniel Muñoz Parsapoormoghadam · Answer 3 · 2013-10-29T05:07:00

Solution 3

Here is a nice example of a Makefile and its explanation line by line.

You execute makefiles from the CLI (mostly in Unix-like systems, as far I know) using the make command, and they are normally written for automating tasks during a program's compilation-time.

Posted 29-Oct-13 5:07am

Daniel Muñoz Parsapoormoghadam

Updated 29-Oct-13 5:34am

v3