This is make.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.0 from make.texinfo. INFO-DIR-SECTION GNU Packages START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY * Make: (make). Remake files automatically. END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY This file documents the GNU Make utility, which determines automatically which pieces of a large program need to be recompiled, and issues the commands to recompile them. This is Edition 0.54, last updated 09 September 1999, of `The GNU Make Manual', for `make', Version 3.78.1. Copyright (C) 1988, '89, '90, '91, '92, '93, '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, '99 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a translation approved by the Free Software Foundation.  File: make.info, Node: Archive Symbols, Up: Archive Update Updating Archive Symbol Directories ----------------------------------- An archive file that is used as a library usually contains a special member named `__.SYMDEF' that contains a directory of the external symbol names defined by all the other members. After you update any other members, you need to update `__.SYMDEF' so that it will summarize the other members properly. This is done by running the `ranlib' program: ranlib ARCHIVEFILE Normally you would put this command in the rule for the archive file, and make all the members of the archive file prerequisites of that rule. For example, libfoo.a: libfoo.a(x.o) libfoo.a(y.o) ... ranlib libfoo.a The effect of this is to update archive members `x.o', `y.o', etc., and then update the symbol directory member `__.SYMDEF' by running `ranlib'. The rules for updating the members are not shown here; most likely you can omit them and use the implicit rule which copies files into the archive, as described in the preceding section. This is not necessary when using the GNU `ar' program, which updates the `__.SYMDEF' member automatically.  File: make.info, Node: Archive Pitfalls, Next: Archive Suffix Rules, Prev: Archive Update, Up: Archives Dangers When Using Archives =========================== It is important to be careful when using parallel execution (the `-j' switch; *note Parallel Execution: Parallel.) and archives. If multiple `ar' commands run at the same time on the same archive file, they will not know about each other and can corrupt the file. Possibly a future version of `make' will provide a mechanism to circumvent this problem by serializing all commands that operate on the same archive file. But for the time being, you must either write your makefiles to avoid this problem in some other way, or not use `-j'.  File: make.info, Node: Archive Suffix Rules, Prev: Archive Pitfalls, Up: Archives Suffix Rules for Archive Files ============================== You can write a special kind of suffix rule for dealing with archive files. *Note Suffix Rules::, for a full explanation of suffix rules. Archive suffix rules are obsolete in GNU `make', because pattern rules for archives are a more general mechanism (*note Archive Update::). But they are retained for compatibility with other `make's. To write a suffix rule for archives, you simply write a suffix rule using the target suffix `.a' (the usual suffix for archive files). For example, here is the old-fashioned suffix rule to update a library archive from C source files: .c.a: $(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(CPPFLAGS) -c $< -o $*.o $(AR) r $@ $*.o $(RM) $*.o This works just as if you had written the pattern rule: (%.o): %.c $(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(CPPFLAGS) -c $< -o $*.o $(AR) r $@ $*.o $(RM) $*.o In fact, this is just what `make' does when it sees a suffix rule with `.a' as the target suffix. Any double-suffix rule `.X.a' is converted to a pattern rule with the target pattern `(%.o)' and a prerequisite pattern of `%.X'. Since you might want to use `.a' as the suffix for some other kind of file, `make' also converts archive suffix rules to pattern rules in the normal way (*note Suffix Rules::). Thus a double-suffix rule `.X.a' produces two pattern rules: `(%.o): %.X' and `%.a: %.X'.  File: make.info, Node: Features, Next: Missing, Prev: Archives, Up: Top Features of GNU `make' ********************** Here is a summary of the features of GNU `make', for comparison with and credit to other versions of `make'. We consider the features of `make' in 4.2 BSD systems as a baseline. If you are concerned with writing portable makefiles, you should not use the features of `make' listed here, nor the ones in *Note Missing::. Many features come from the version of `make' in System V. * The `VPATH' variable and its special meaning. *Note Searching Directories for Prerequisites: Directory Search. This feature exists in System V `make', but is undocumented. It is documented in 4.3 BSD `make' (which says it mimics System V's `VPATH' feature). * Included makefiles. *Note Including Other Makefiles: Include. Allowing multiple files to be included with a single directive is a GNU extension. * Variables are read from and communicated via the environment. *Note Variables from the Environment: Environment. * Options passed through the variable `MAKEFLAGS' to recursive invocations of `make'. *Note Communicating Options to a Sub-`make': Options/Recursion. * The automatic variable `$%' is set to the member name in an archive reference. *Note Automatic Variables: Automatic. * The automatic variables `$@', `$*', `$<', `$%', and `$?' have corresponding forms like `$(@F)' and `$(@D)'. We have generalized this to `$^' as an obvious extension. *Note Automatic Variables: Automatic. * Substitution variable references. *Note Basics of Variable References: Reference. * The command-line options `-b' and `-m', accepted and ignored. In System V `make', these options actually do something. * Execution of recursive commands to run `make' via the variable `MAKE' even if `-n', `-q' or `-t' is specified. *Note Recursive Use of `make': Recursion. * Support for suffix `.a' in suffix rules. *Note Archive Suffix Rules::. This feature is obsolete in GNU `make', because the general feature of rule chaining (*note Chains of Implicit Rules: Chained Rules.) allows one pattern rule for installing members in an archive (*note Archive Update::) to be sufficient. * The arrangement of lines and backslash-newline combinations in commands is retained when the commands are printed, so they appear as they do in the makefile, except for the stripping of initial whitespace. The following features were inspired by various other versions of `make'. In some cases it is unclear exactly which versions inspired which others. * Pattern rules using `%'. This has been implemented in several versions of `make'. We're not sure who invented it first, but it's been spread around a bit. *Note Defining and Redefining Pattern Rules: Pattern Rules. * Rule chaining and implicit intermediate files. This was implemented by Stu Feldman in his version of `make' for AT&T Eighth Edition Research Unix, and later by Andrew Hume of AT&T Bell Labs in his `mk' program (where he terms it "transitive closure"). We do not really know if we got this from either of them or thought it up ourselves at the same time. *Note Chains of Implicit Rules: Chained Rules. * The automatic variable `$^' containing a list of all prerequisites of the current target. We did not invent this, but we have no idea who did. *Note Automatic Variables: Automatic. The automatic variable `$+' is a simple extension of `$^'. * The "what if" flag (`-W' in GNU `make') was (as far as we know) invented by Andrew Hume in `mk'. *Note Instead of Executing the Commands: Instead of Execution. * The concept of doing several things at once (parallelism) exists in many incarnations of `make' and similar programs, though not in the System V or BSD implementations. *Note Command Execution: Execution. * Modified variable references using pattern substitution come from SunOS 4. *Note Basics of Variable References: Reference. This functionality was provided in GNU `make' by the `patsubst' function before the alternate syntax was implemented for compatibility with SunOS 4. It is not altogether clear who inspired whom, since GNU `make' had `patsubst' before SunOS 4 was released. * The special significance of `+' characters preceding command lines (*note Instead of Executing the Commands: Instead of Execution.) is mandated by `IEEE Standard 1003.2-1992' (POSIX.2). * The `+=' syntax to append to the value of a variable comes from SunOS 4 `make'. *Note Appending More Text to Variables: Appending. * The syntax `ARCHIVE(MEM1 MEM2...)' to list multiple members in a single archive file comes from SunOS 4 `make'. *Note Archive Members::. * The `-include' directive to include makefiles with no error for a nonexistent file comes from SunOS 4 `make'. (But note that SunOS 4 `make' does not allow multiple makefiles to be specified in one `-include' directive.) The same feature appears with the name `sinclude' in SGI `make' and perhaps others. The remaining features are inventions new in GNU `make': * Use the `-v' or `--version' option to print version and copyright information. * Use the `-h' or `--help' option to summarize the options to `make'. * Simply-expanded variables. *Note The Two Flavors of Variables: Flavors. * Pass command-line variable assignments automatically through the variable `MAKE' to recursive `make' invocations. *Note Recursive Use of `make': Recursion. * Use the `-C' or `--directory' command option to change directory. *Note Summary of Options: Options Summary. * Make verbatim variable definitions with `define'. *Note Defining Variables Verbatim: Defining. * Declare phony targets with the special target `.PHONY'. Andrew Hume of AT&T Bell Labs implemented a similar feature with a different syntax in his `mk' program. This seems to be a case of parallel discovery. *Note Phony Targets: Phony Targets. * Manipulate text by calling functions. *Note Functions for Transforming Text: Functions. * Use the `-o' or `--old-file' option to pretend a file's modification-time is old. *Note Avoiding Recompilation of Some Files: Avoiding Compilation. * Conditional execution. This feature has been implemented numerous times in various versions of `make'; it seems a natural extension derived from the features of the C preprocessor and similar macro languages and is not a revolutionary concept. *Note Conditional Parts of Makefiles: Conditionals. * Specify a search path for included makefiles. *Note Including Other Makefiles: Include. * Specify extra makefiles to read with an environment variable. *Note The Variable `MAKEFILES': MAKEFILES Variable. * Strip leading sequences of `./' from file names, so that `./FILE' and `FILE' are considered to be the same file. * Use a special search method for library prerequisites written in the form `-lNAME'. *Note Directory Search for Link Libraries: Libraries/Search. * Allow suffixes for suffix rules (*note Old-Fashioned Suffix Rules: Suffix Rules.) to contain any characters. In other versions of `make', they must begin with `.' and not contain any `/' characters. * Keep track of the current level of `make' recursion using the variable `MAKELEVEL'. *Note Recursive Use of `make': Recursion. * Provide any goals given on the command line in the variable `MAKECMDGOALS'. *Note Arguments to Specify the Goals: Goals. * Specify static pattern rules. *Note Static Pattern Rules: Static Pattern. * Provide selective `vpath' search. *Note Searching Directories for Prerequisites: Directory Search. * Provide computed variable references. *Note Basics of Variable References: Reference. * Update makefiles. *Note How Makefiles Are Remade: Remaking Makefiles. System V `make' has a very, very limited form of this functionality in that it will check out SCCS files for makefiles. * Various new built-in implicit rules. *Note Catalogue of Implicit Rules: Catalogue of Rules. * The built-in variable `MAKE_VERSION' gives the version number of `make'.  File: make.info, Node: Missing, Next: Makefile Conventions, Prev: Features, Up: Top Incompatibilities and Missing Features ************************************** The `make' programs in various other systems support a few features that are not implemented in GNU `make'. The POSIX.2 standard (`IEEE Standard 1003.2-1992') which specifies `make' does not require any of these features. * A target of the form `FILE((ENTRY))' stands for a member of archive file FILE. The member is chosen, not by name, but by being an object file which defines the linker symbol ENTRY. This feature was not put into GNU `make' because of the nonmodularity of putting knowledge into `make' of the internal format of archive file symbol tables. *Note Updating Archive Symbol Directories: Archive Symbols. * Suffixes (used in suffix rules) that end with the character `~' have a special meaning to System V `make'; they refer to the SCCS file that corresponds to the file one would get without the `~'. For example, the suffix rule `.c~.o' would make the file `N.o' from the SCCS file `s.N.c'. For complete coverage, a whole series of such suffix rules is required. *Note Old-Fashioned Suffix Rules: Suffix Rules. In GNU `make', this entire series of cases is handled by two pattern rules for extraction from SCCS, in combination with the general feature of rule chaining. *Note Chains of Implicit Rules: Chained Rules. * In System V `make', the string `$$@' has the strange meaning that, in the prerequisites of a rule with multiple targets, it stands for the particular target that is being processed. This is not defined in GNU `make' because `$$' should always stand for an ordinary `$'. It is possible to get portions of this functionality through the use of static pattern rules (*note Static Pattern Rules: Static Pattern.). The System V `make' rule: $(targets): $$@.o lib.a can be replaced with the GNU `make' static pattern rule: $(targets): %: %.o lib.a * In System V and 4.3 BSD `make', files found by `VPATH' search (*note Searching Directories for Prerequisites: Directory Search.) have their names changed inside command strings. We feel it is much cleaner to always use automatic variables and thus make this feature obsolete. * In some Unix `make's, the automatic variable `$*' appearing in the prerequisites of a rule has the amazingly strange "feature" of expanding to the full name of the _target of that rule_. We cannot imagine what went on in the minds of Unix `make' developers to do this; it is utterly inconsistent with the normal definition of `$*'. * In some Unix `make's, implicit rule search (*note Using Implicit Rules: Implicit Rules.) is apparently done for _all_ targets, not just those without commands. This means you can do: foo.o: cc -c foo.c and Unix `make' will intuit that `foo.o' depends on `foo.c'. We feel that such usage is broken. The prerequisite properties of `make' are well-defined (for GNU `make', at least), and doing such a thing simply does not fit the model. * GNU `make' does not include any built-in implicit rules for compiling or preprocessing EFL programs. If we hear of anyone who is using EFL, we will gladly add them. * It appears that in SVR4 `make', a suffix rule can be specified with no commands, and it is treated as if it had empty commands (*note Empty Commands::). For example: .c.a: will override the built-in `.c.a' suffix rule. We feel that it is cleaner for a rule without commands to always simply add to the prerequisite list for the target. The above example can be easily rewritten to get the desired behavior in GNU `make': .c.a: ; * Some versions of `make' invoke the shell with the `-e' flag, except under `-k' (*note Testing the Compilation of a Program: Testing.). The `-e' flag tells the shell to exit as soon as any program it runs returns a nonzero status. We feel it is cleaner to write each shell command line to stand on its own and not require this special treatment.  File: make.info, Node: Makefile Conventions, Next: Quick Reference, Prev: Missing, Up: Top Makefile Conventions ******************** This node describes conventions for writing the Makefiles for GNU programs. Using Automake will help you write a Makefile that follows these conventions. * Menu: * Makefile Basics:: General Conventions for Makefiles * Utilities in Makefiles:: Utilities in Makefiles * Command Variables:: Variables for Specifying Commands * Directory Variables:: Variables for Installation Directories * Standard Targets:: Standard Targets for Users * Install Command Categories:: Three categories of commands in the `install' rule: normal, pre-install and post-install.  File: make.info, Node: Makefile Basics, Next: Utilities in Makefiles, Up: Makefile Conventions General Conventions for Makefiles ================================= Every Makefile should contain this line: SHELL = /bin/sh to avoid trouble on systems where the `SHELL' variable might be inherited from the environment. (This is never a problem with GNU `make'.) Different `make' programs have incompatible suffix lists and implicit rules, and this sometimes creates confusion or misbehavior. So it is a good idea to set the suffix list explicitly using only the suffixes you need in the particular Makefile, like this: .SUFFIXES: .SUFFIXES: .c .o The first line clears out the suffix list, the second introduces all suffixes which may be subject to implicit rules in this Makefile. Don't assume that `.' is in the path for command execution. When you need to run programs that are a part of your package during the make, please make sure that it uses `./' if the program is built as part of the make or `$(srcdir)/' if the file is an unchanging part of the source code. Without one of these prefixes, the current search path is used. The distinction between `./' (the "build directory") and `$(srcdir)/' (the "source directory") is important because users can build in a separate directory using the `--srcdir' option to `configure'. A rule of the form: foo.1 : foo.man sedscript sed -e sedscript foo.man > foo.1 will fail when the build directory is not the source directory, because `foo.man' and `sedscript' are in the the source directory. When using GNU `make', relying on `VPATH' to find the source file will work in the case where there is a single dependency file, since the `make' automatic variable `$<' will represent the source file wherever it is. (Many versions of `make' set `$<' only in implicit rules.) A Makefile target like foo.o : bar.c $(CC) -I. -I$(srcdir) $(CFLAGS) -c bar.c -o foo.o should instead be written as foo.o : bar.c $(CC) -I. -I$(srcdir) $(CFLAGS) -c $< -o $@ in order to allow `VPATH' to work correctly. When the target has multiple dependencies, using an explicit `$(srcdir)' is the easiest way to make the rule work well. For example, the target above for `foo.1' is best written as: foo.1 : foo.man sedscript sed -e $(srcdir)/sedscript $(srcdir)/foo.man > $@ GNU distributions usually contain some files which are not source files--for example, Info files, and the output from Autoconf, Automake, Bison or Flex. Since these files normally appear in the source directory, they should always appear in the source directory, not in the build directory. So Makefile rules to update them should put the updated files in the source directory. However, if a file does not appear in the distribution, then the Makefile should not put it in the source directory, because building a program in ordinary circumstances should not modify the source directory in any way. Try to make the build and installation targets, at least (and all their subtargets) work correctly with a parallel `make'.  File: make.info, Node: Utilities in Makefiles, Next: Command Variables, Prev: Makefile Basics, Up: Makefile Conventions Utilities in Makefiles ====================== Write the Makefile commands (and any shell scripts, such as `configure') to run in `sh', not in `csh'. Don't use any special features of `ksh' or `bash'. The `configure' script and the Makefile rules for building and installation should not use any utilities directly except these: cat cmp cp diff echo egrep expr false grep install-info ln ls mkdir mv pwd rm rmdir sed sleep sort tar test touch true The compression program `gzip' can be used in the `dist' rule. Stick to the generally supported options for these programs. For example, don't use `mkdir -p', convenient as it may be, because most systems don't support it. It is a good idea to avoid creating symbolic links in makefiles, since a few systems don't support them. The Makefile rules for building and installation can also use compilers and related programs, but should do so via `make' variables so that the user can substitute alternatives. Here are some of the programs we mean: ar bison cc flex install ld ldconfig lex make makeinfo ranlib texi2dvi yacc Use the following `make' variables to run those programs: $(AR) $(BISON) $(CC) $(FLEX) $(INSTALL) $(LD) $(LDCONFIG) $(LEX) $(MAKE) $(MAKEINFO) $(RANLIB) $(TEXI2DVI) $(YACC) When you use `ranlib' or `ldconfig', you should make sure nothing bad happens if the system does not have the program in question. Arrange to ignore an error from that command, and print a message before the command to tell the user that failure of this command does not mean a problem. (The Autoconf `AC_PROG_RANLIB' macro can help with this.) If you use symbolic links, you should implement a fallback for systems that don't have symbolic links. Additional utilities that can be used via Make variables are: chgrp chmod chown mknod It is ok to use other utilities in Makefile portions (or scripts) intended only for particular systems where you know those utilities exist.  File: make.info, Node: Command Variables, Next: Directory Variables, Prev: Utilities in Makefiles, Up: Makefile Conventions Variables for Specifying Commands ================================= Makefiles should provide variables for overriding certain commands, options, and so on. In particular, you should run most utility programs via variables. Thus, if you use Bison, have a variable named `BISON' whose default value is set with `BISON = bison', and refer to it with `$(BISON)' whenever you need to use Bison. File management utilities such as `ln', `rm', `mv', and so on, need not be referred to through variables in this way, since users don't need to replace them with other programs. Each program-name variable should come with an options variable that is used to supply options to the program. Append `FLAGS' to the program-name variable name to get the options variable name--for example, `BISONFLAGS'. (The names `CFLAGS' for the C compiler, `YFLAGS' for yacc, and `LFLAGS' for lex, are exceptions to this rule, but we keep them because they are standard.) Use `CPPFLAGS' in any compilation command that runs the preprocessor, and use `LDFLAGS' in any compilation command that does linking as well as in any direct use of `ld'. If there are C compiler options that _must_ be used for proper compilation of certain files, do not include them in `CFLAGS'. Users expect to be able to specify `CFLAGS' freely themselves. Instead, arrange to pass the necessary options to the C compiler independently of `CFLAGS', by writing them explicitly in the compilation commands or by defining an implicit rule, like this: CFLAGS = -g ALL_CFLAGS = -I. $(CFLAGS) .c.o: $(CC) -c $(CPPFLAGS) $(ALL_CFLAGS) $< Do include the `-g' option in `CFLAGS', because that is not _required_ for proper compilation. You can consider it a default that is only recommended. If the package is set up so that it is compiled with GCC by default, then you might as well include `-O' in the default value of `CFLAGS' as well. Put `CFLAGS' last in the compilation command, after other variables containing compiler options, so the user can use `CFLAGS' to override the others. `CFLAGS' should be used in every invocation of the C compiler, both those which do compilation and those which do linking. Every Makefile should define the variable `INSTALL', which is the basic command for installing a file into the system. Every Makefile should also define the variables `INSTALL_PROGRAM' and `INSTALL_DATA'. (The default for each of these should be `$(INSTALL)'.) Then it should use those variables as the commands for actual installation, for executables and nonexecutables respectively. Use these variables as follows: $(INSTALL_PROGRAM) foo $(bindir)/foo $(INSTALL_DATA) libfoo.a $(libdir)/libfoo.a Optionally, you may prepend the value of `DESTDIR' to the target filename. Doing this allows the installer to create a snapshot of the installation to be copied onto the real target filesystem later. Do not set the value of `DESTDIR' in your Makefile, and do not include it in any installed files. With support for `DESTDIR', the above examples become: $(INSTALL_PROGRAM) foo $(DESTDIR)$(bindir)/foo $(INSTALL_DATA) libfoo.a $(DESTDIR)$(libdir)/libfoo.a Always use a file name, not a directory name, as the second argument of the installation commands. Use a separate command for each file to be installed.  File: make.info, Node: Directory Variables, Next: Standard Targets, Prev: Command Variables, Up: Makefile Conventions Variables for Installation Directories ====================================== Installation directories should always be named by variables, so it is easy to install in a nonstandard place. The standard names for these variables are described below. They are based on a standard filesystem layout; variants of it are used in SVR4, 4.4BSD, Linux, Ultrix v4, and other modern operating systems. These two variables set the root for the installation. All the other installation directories should be subdirectories of one of these two, and nothing should be directly installed into these two directories. `prefix' A prefix used in constructing the default values of the variables listed below. The default value of `prefix' should be `/usr/local'. When building the complete GNU system, the prefix will be empty and `/usr' will be a symbolic link to `/'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as `@prefix@'.) Running `make install' with a different value of `prefix' from the one used to build the program should NOT recompile the program. `exec_prefix' A prefix used in constructing the default values of some of the variables listed below. The default value of `exec_prefix' should be `$(prefix)'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as `@exec_prefix@'.) Generally, `$(exec_prefix)' is used for directories that contain machine-specific files (such as executables and subroutine libraries), while `$(prefix)' is used directly for other directories. Running `make install' with a different value of `exec_prefix' from the one used to build the program should NOT recompile the program. Executable programs are installed in one of the following directories. `bindir' The directory for installing executable programs that users can run. This should normally be `/usr/local/bin', but write it as `$(exec_prefix)/bin'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as `@bindir@'.) `sbindir' The directory for installing executable programs that can be run from the shell, but are only generally useful to system administrators. This should normally be `/usr/local/sbin', but write it as `$(exec_prefix)/sbin'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as `@sbindir@'.) `libexecdir' The directory for installing executable programs to be run by other programs rather than by users. This directory should normally be `/usr/local/libexec', but write it as `$(exec_prefix)/libexec'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as `@libexecdir@'.) Data files used by the program during its execution are divided into categories in two ways. * Some files are normally modified by programs; others are never normally modified (though users may edit some of these). * Some files are architecture-independent and can be shared by all machines at a site; some are architecture-dependent and can be shared only by machines of the same kind and operating system; others may never be shared between two machines. This makes for six different possibilities. However, we want to discourage the use of architecture-dependent files, aside from object files and libraries. It is much cleaner to make other data files architecture-independent, and it is generally not hard. Therefore, here are the variables Makefiles should use to specify directories: `datadir' The directory for installing read-only architecture independent data files. This should normally be `/usr/local/share', but write it as `$(prefix)/share'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as `@datadir@'.) As a special exception, see `$(infodir)' and `$(includedir)' below. `sysconfdir' The directory for installing read-only data files that pertain to a single machine-that is to say, files for configuring a host. Mailer and network configuration files, `/etc/passwd', and so forth belong here. All the files in this directory should be ordinary ASCII text files. This directory should normally be `/usr/local/etc', but write it as `$(prefix)/etc'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as `@sysconfdir@'.) Do not install executables here in this directory (they probably belong in `$(libexecdir)' or `$(sbindir)'). Also do not install files that are modified in the normal course of their use (programs whose purpose is to change the configuration of the system excluded). Those probably belong in `$(localstatedir)'. `sharedstatedir' The directory for installing architecture-independent data files which the programs modify while they run. This should normally be `/usr/local/com', but write it as `$(prefix)/com'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as `@sharedstatedir@'.) `localstatedir' The directory for installing data files which the programs modify while they run, and that pertain to one specific machine. Users should never need to modify files in this directory to configure the package's operation; put such configuration information in separate files that go in `$(datadir)' or `$(sysconfdir)'. `$(localstatedir)' should normally be `/usr/local/var', but write it as `$(prefix)/var'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as `@localstatedir@'.) `libdir' The directory for object files and libraries of object code. Do not install executables here, they probably ought to go in `$(libexecdir)' instead. The value of `libdir' should normally be `/usr/local/lib', but write it as `$(exec_prefix)/lib'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as `@libdir@'.) `infodir' The directory for installing the Info files for this package. By default, it should be `/usr/local/info', but it should be written as `$(prefix)/info'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as `@infodir@'.) `lispdir' The directory for installing any Emacs Lisp files in this package. By default, it should be `/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp', but it should be written as `$(prefix)/share/emacs/site-lisp'. If you are using Autoconf, write the default as `@lispdir@'. In order to make `@lispdir@' work, you need the following lines in your `configure.in' file: lispdir='${datadir}/emacs/site-lisp' AC_SUBST(lispdir) `includedir' The directory for installing header files to be included by user programs with the C `#include' preprocessor directive. This should normally be `/usr/local/include', but write it as `$(prefix)/include'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as `@includedir@'.) Most compilers other than GCC do not look for header files in directory `/usr/local/include'. So installing the header files this way is only useful with GCC. Sometimes this is not a problem because some libraries are only really intended to work with GCC. But some libraries are intended to work with other compilers. They should install their header files in two places, one specified by `includedir' and one specified by `oldincludedir'. `oldincludedir' The directory for installing `#include' header files for use with compilers other than GCC. This should normally be `/usr/include'. (If you are using Autoconf, you can write it as `@oldincludedir@'.) The Makefile commands should check whether the value of `oldincludedir' is empty. If it is, they should not try to use it; they should cancel the second installation of the header files. A package should not replace an existing header in this directory unless the header came from the same package. Thus, if your Foo package provides a header file `foo.h', then it should install the header file in the `oldincludedir' directory if either (1) there is no `foo.h' there or (2) the `foo.h' that exists came from the Foo package. To tell whether `foo.h' came from the Foo package, put a magic string in the file--part of a comment--and `grep' for that string. Unix-style man pages are installed in one of the following: `mandir' The top-level directory for installing the man pages (if any) for this package. It will normally be `/usr/local/man', but you should write it as `$(prefix)/man'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as `@mandir@'.) `man1dir' The directory for installing section 1 man pages. Write it as `$(mandir)/man1'. `man2dir' The directory for installing section 2 man pages. Write it as `$(mandir)/man2' `...' *Don't make the primary documentation for any GNU software be a man page. Write a manual in Texinfo instead. Man pages are just for the sake of people running GNU software on Unix, which is a secondary application only.* `manext' The file name extension for the installed man page. This should contain a period followed by the appropriate digit; it should normally be `.1'. `man1ext' The file name extension for installed section 1 man pages. `man2ext' The file name extension for installed section 2 man pages. `...' Use these names instead of `manext' if the package needs to install man pages in more than one section of the manual. And finally, you should set the following variable: `srcdir' The directory for the sources being compiled. The value of this variable is normally inserted by the `configure' shell script. (If you are using Autconf, use `srcdir = @srcdir@'.) For example: # Common prefix for installation directories. # NOTE: This directory must exist when you start the install. prefix = /usr/local exec_prefix = $(prefix) # Where to put the executable for the command `gcc'. bindir = $(exec_prefix)/bin # Where to put the directories used by the compiler. libexecdir = $(exec_prefix)/libexec # Where to put the Info files. infodir = $(prefix)/info If your program installs a large number of files into one of the standard user-specified directories, it might be useful to group them into a subdirectory particular to that program. If you do this, you should write the `install' rule to create these subdirectories. Do not expect the user to include the subdirectory name in the value of any of the variables listed above. The idea of having a uniform set of variable names for installation directories is to enable the user to specify the exact same values for several different GNU packages. In order for this to be useful, all the packages must be designed so that they will work sensibly when the user does so.  File: make.info, Node: Standard Targets, Next: Install Command Categories, Prev: Directory Variables, Up: Makefile Conventions Standard Targets for Users ========================== All GNU programs should have the following targets in their Makefiles: `all' Compile the entire program. This should be the default target. This target need not rebuild any documentation files; Info files should normally be included in the distribution, and DVI files should be made only when explicitly asked for. By default, the Make rules should compile and link with `-g', so that executable programs have debugging symbols. Users who don't mind being helpless can strip the executables later if they wish. `install' Compile the program and copy the executables, libraries, and so on to the file names where they should reside for actual use. If there is a simple test to verify that a program is properly installed, this target should run that test. Do not strip executables when installing them. Devil-may-care users can use the `install-strip' target to do that. If possible, write the `install' target rule so that it does not modify anything in the directory where the program was built, provided `make all' has just been done. This is convenient for building the program under one user name and installing it under another. The commands should create all the directories in which files are to be installed, if they don't already exist. This includes the directories specified as the values of the variables `prefix' and `exec_prefix', as well as all subdirectories that are needed. One way to do this is by means of an `installdirs' target as described below. Use `-' before any command for installing a man page, so that `make' will ignore any errors. This is in case there are systems that don't have the Unix man page documentation system installed. The way to install Info files is to copy them into `$(infodir)' with `$(INSTALL_DATA)' (*note Command Variables::), and then run the `install-info' program if it is present. `install-info' is a program that edits the Info `dir' file to add or update the menu entry for the given Info file; it is part of the Texinfo package. Here is a sample rule to install an Info file: $(DESTDIR)$(infodir)/foo.info: foo.info $(POST_INSTALL) # There may be a newer info file in . than in srcdir. -if test -f foo.info; then d=.; \ else d=$(srcdir); fi; \ $(INSTALL_DATA) $$d/foo.info $(DESTDIR)$@; \ # Run install-info only if it exists. # Use `if' instead of just prepending `-' to the # line so we notice real errors from install-info. # We use `$(SHELL) -c' because some shells do not # fail gracefully when there is an unknown command. if $(SHELL) -c 'install-info --version' \ >/dev/null 2>&1; then \ install-info --dir-file=$(DESTDIR)$(infodir)/dir \ $(DESTDIR)$(infodir)/foo.info; \ else true; fi When writing the `install' target, you must classify all the commands into three categories: normal ones, "pre-installation" commands and "post-installation" commands. *Note Install Command Categories::. `uninstall' Delete all the installed files--the copies that the `install' target creates. This rule should not modify the directories where compilation is done, only the directories where files are installed. The uninstallation commands are divided into three categories, just like the installation commands. *Note Install Command Categories::. `install-strip' Like `install', but strip the executable files while installing them. In many cases, the definition of this target can be very simple: install-strip: $(MAKE) INSTALL_PROGRAM='$(INSTALL_PROGRAM) -s' \ install Normally we do not recommend stripping an executable unless you are sure the program has no bugs. However, it can be reasonable to install a stripped executable for actual execution while saving the unstripped executable elsewhere in case there is a bug. `clean' Delete all files from the current directory that are normally created by building the program. Don't delete the files that record the configuration. Also preserve files that could be made by building, but normally aren't because the distribution comes with them. Delete `.dvi' files here if they are not part of the distribution. `distclean' Delete all files from the current directory that are created by configuring or building the program. If you have unpacked the source and built the program without creating any other files, `make distclean' should leave only the files that were in the distribution. `mostlyclean' Like `clean', but may refrain from deleting a few files that people normally don't want to recompile. For example, the `mostlyclean' target for GCC does not delete `libgcc.a', because recompiling it is rarely necessary and takes a lot of time. `maintainer-clean' Delete almost everything from the current directory that can be reconstructed with this Makefile. This typically includes everything deleted by `distclean', plus more: C source files produced by Bison, tags tables, Info files, and so on. The reason we say "almost everything" is that running the command `make maintainer-clean' should not delete `configure' even if `configure' can be remade using a rule in the Makefile. More generally, `make maintainer-clean' should not delete anything that needs to exist in order to run `configure' and then begin to build the program. This is the only exception; `maintainer-clean' should delete everything else that can be rebuilt. The `maintainer-clean' target is intended to be used by a maintainer of the package, not by ordinary users. You may need special tools to reconstruct some of the files that `make maintainer-clean' deletes. Since these files are normally included in the distribution, we don't take care to make them easy to reconstruct. If you find you need to unpack the full distribution again, don't blame us. To help make users aware of this, the commands for the special `maintainer-clean' target should start with these two: @echo 'This command is intended for maintainers to use; it' @echo 'deletes files that may need special tools to rebuild.' `TAGS' Update a tags table for this program. `info' Generate any Info files needed. The best way to write the rules is as follows: info: foo.info foo.info: foo.texi chap1.texi chap2.texi $(MAKEINFO) $(srcdir)/foo.texi You must define the variable `MAKEINFO' in the Makefile. It should run the `makeinfo' program, which is part of the Texinfo distribution. Normally a GNU distribution comes with Info files, and that means the Info files are present in the source directory. Therefore, the Make rule for an info file should update it in the source directory. When users build the package, ordinarily Make will not update the Info files because they will already be up to date. `dvi' Generate DVI files for all Texinfo documentation. For example: dvi: foo.dvi foo.dvi: foo.texi chap1.texi chap2.texi $(TEXI2DVI) $(srcdir)/foo.texi You must define the variable `TEXI2DVI' in the Makefile. It should run the program `texi2dvi', which is part of the Texinfo distribution.(1) Alternatively, write just the dependencies, and allow GNU `make' to provide the command. `dist' Create a distribution tar file for this program. The tar file should be set up so that the file names in the tar file start with a subdirectory name which is the name of the package it is a distribution for. This name can include the version number. For example, the distribution tar file of GCC version 1.40 unpacks into a subdirectory named `gcc-1.40'. The easiest way to do this is to create a subdirectory appropriately named, use `ln' or `cp' to install the proper files in it, and then `tar' that subdirectory. Compress the tar file file with `gzip'. For example, the actual distribution file for GCC version 1.40 is called `gcc-1.40.tar.gz'. The `dist' target should explicitly depend on all non-source files that are in the distribution, to make sure they are up to date in the distribution. *Note Making Releases: (standards)Releases. `check' Perform self-tests (if any). The user must build the program before running the tests, but need not install the program; you should write the self-tests so that they work when the program is built but not installed. The following targets are suggested as conventional names, for programs in which they are useful. `installcheck' Perform installation tests (if any). The user must build and install the program before running the tests. You should not assume that `$(bindir)' is in the search path. `installdirs' It's useful to add a target named `installdirs' to create the directories where files are installed, and their parent directories. There is a script called `mkinstalldirs' which is convenient for this; you can find it in the Texinfo package. You can use a rule like this: # Make sure all installation directories (e.g. $(bindir)) # actually exist by making them if necessary. installdirs: mkinstalldirs $(srcdir)/mkinstalldirs $(bindir) $(datadir) \ $(libdir) $(infodir) \ $(mandir) This rule should not modify the directories where compilation is done. It should do nothing but create installation directories. ---------- Footnotes ---------- (1) `texi2dvi' uses TeX to do the real work of formatting. TeX is not distributed with Texinfo.