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Learning source: 20-Minute Lightning Fast Makefile Tutorial By: GeekHour
Recommendation: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Build

Definition

Process

How to build

1. For a single file, we can directly use a compilation command to build the program.
2. For multiple source files and resources, using an automated build system is a better choice.

Learning Make

Repository: Code Repo

Compiling and Running Source Files with Commands

Create a file main.c with a simple C program:

#include <stdio.h>

int main(){
    printf("Hello, World!\n");
    return 0;
}

In the shell¹, enter:

gcc main.c -o hello

This uses GCC² to compile main.c into an executable.

Run with:

./hello

Simple Usage of Make

1. Create a header file message.h

void message();

1. Create message.c

#include <stdio.h>

void message() {
    printf("Hello, World!\n");
}

1. Modify main.c

#include <stdio.h>
#include "message.h"

int main(){
+    message();
-    printf("Hello, World!\n");
    return 0;
}

1. Add a Makefile

hello: main.c message.c
    gcc main.c message.c -o hello

Make Best Practices

1. Step-by-step compilation

hello: main.o message.o
    gcc main.o message.o -o hello

main.o: main.c
    gcc -c main.c

message.o: message.c
    gcc -c message.c

Advantage: If only message.c is modified, then main.c will not be recompiled.

2. Phony targets

clean:
    rm -f *.o hello

Note: There must not be an actual file with the same name as the phony target.