Managing Projects with GNU Make, Third Edition

The utility simply known as "make" is one of the most enduring features of both Unix and other operating systems. First invented in the 1970s, "make" still turns up to this day as the central engine in most programming projects; it even builds the Linux kernel. In the third edition of the classic "Managing Projects with GNU make," readers will learn why this utility continues to hold its top position in project build software, despite many younger competitors.

The premise behind "make" is simple: after you change source files and want to rebuild your program or other output files, "make" checks timestamps to see what has changed and rebuilds just what you need, without wasting time rebuilding other files. But on top of this simple principle, "make" layers a rich collection of options that lets you manipulate multiple directories, build different versions of programs for different platforms, and customize your builds in other ways.

Open Book Content

License/Copyright
Table of Contents
About the Author/Colophon

Part I. Basic Concepts
Chapter 1: How to write a Simple Makefile
Chapter 2: Rules
Chapter 3: Variables and Macros
Chapter 4: Functions
Chapter 5: Commands

Part II. Advanced and Specialized Topics
Chapter 6: Managing Large Projects
Chapter 7: Portable Makefiles
Chapter 8: C and C++
Chapter 9: Java
Chapter 10: Improving the Performance of make
Chapter 11: Example Makefiles
Chapter 12: Debugging Makefiles

Part III. Appendixes
A. Running make
B. The Outer Limits
C. GNU Free Documentation License--GNU Project--Free Software Foundation (FSF)