how to make simple makefile for c program

If some other rule is not depended on by the goal, that rule is not processed, unless we tell make to do so with a command such as make clean.Īfter recompiling whichever object files needed, make decides whether to relink myprogram. The other rules are processed because their targets appear as prerequisites of the goal. The recompilation should be done if the source file, or any of the header files named as prerequisites, is more recent than the object file, or if the object file does not exist. Each of these files is processed according to its own rule. However, before make can fully process this rule, it must process the rules for the files that myprogram depends on, which in this case are the object files.

In our case, this rule is for relinking myprogram. Make reads the makefile in the current directory and starts by processing the first rule.

In the example above, the default goal is to update the executable program myprogram therefore, we put that rule first. The make starts with the first target (not targets whose names start with '.'). īy default, when make looks for the makefile, it tries the following names, in order:

How to make simple makefile for c program