The GNU Make Book

GNU Make is the ultimate utility for automatically building programs from source files. But even though GNU Make is the go-to tool for developers and end users needing to build, update, and install packages, it remains notoriously tricky to understand and use correctly. Learners and regular users who run into problems face a long, confusing struggle, often leaving GNU Make's full potential untapped.

The GNU Make Book demystifies GNU Make and highlights its most powerful features. Author John Graham-Cumming combines a fast but thorough rundown of the basics with handy solutions to common problems and deeper insights into GNU Make's most useful capabilities. Part manual, part recipe book, The GNU Make Book fully equips you to use GNU Make confidently and effectively in the situations you'll inevitably encounter.

In this book, you'll learn about:

User-defined functions, macros, and path handling

Creating makefile assertions and debugging makefiles

The pitfalls and benefits of GNU Make parallelization

Automatic dependency generation, rebuilding targets, and non-recursive Make

Using the GNU Make Standard Library

The GNU Make Book is the first new guide to GNU Make in ten years, and comes recommended by the official GNU Make maintainer. With its easygoing, tutorial-like approach to teaching, solving issues, and helping you take advantage of what's great about this essential utility, The GNU Make Book will ensure that you know GNU Make inside and out.