Make is a powerful build system with the simple concept of transforming files in other files based on a recipe
flowchart LR
A[source files]
B(( recipe ))
C[output files]
A --> B --> C
Special chars #
The makefile syntax involves some character that expands to specific files when make is executed, such as:
$%the target member name$@expands to the target file$<expands to the first requisite$^expands to all requisites
makefile vars #
A var in a makefile is defined as follows:
BUILDDIR = ./build
And is referred with the $() notations
mytarget:
some_long_command $(BUILDDIR)
💡 ENVIRONMENT variables are automatic exposed with the same notation
$(), example$(HOME)
PHONY targets #
Phony targets are targets that doesn’t generate any file, they are a useful way to group other targets together
.PHONY: build clean
Examples #
- makefile with build directory that generates png from mermaid graph files
BUILDDIR = ./build
%.png: %.mmd
mkdir -p $(BUILDDIR)
mmdc -i $< -o $(BUILDDIR)/$@
clean:
rm -rf $(BUILDDIR)
build: $(patsubst %.mmd,%.png,$(wildcard *.mmd))
