🚧 Under Construction

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

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Build

Definition

\\{ \\text{Source files, resource files} \\} \\rightarrow \\text{Executable file}

Process

\\{ \\text{Source file} \\} \\rightarrow \\{ \\text{Preprocessing} \\} \\rightarrow \\{ \\text{Compilation} \\} \\rightarrow \\{ \\text{Assembly} \\} \\rightarrow \\{ \\text{Linking} \\} \\rightarrow \\{ \\text{Packaging/Deployment} \\}

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.

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Learning Make

Repository: Code Repo

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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 shell^[1], enter:

gcc main.c -o hello

This uses GCC^[2] to compile main.c into an executable.

Run with:

./hello

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Simple Usage of Make

1. Create a header file message.h

void message();

2. Create message.c

#include <stdio.h>

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

3. Modify main.c

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

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

4. Add a Makefile

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

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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.

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2. Phony targets

clean:
    rm -f *.o hello

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

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[1] The author uses Windows 11; here "Shell" generally refers to the Command Prompt. See Microsoft official support.

[2] For installing GCC, see FreeCodeCamp - How to Install C and C++ Compilers on Windows.