makefile


makefile

A script which tells the Unix program "make" how to build aparticular computer program or set of programs. A makefilecontains variable assignments and rules of the form

target: inputscommands

which say if any of the files in "inputs" has been modifiedmore recently than file "target" (or if the target does notexist) then execute "commands", which will normally bulid"target" from "inputs".

If make is run with no arguments, it looks for a makefilecalled "Makefile" or "makefile".