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3 .\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1993
4 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
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7 .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
9 .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
10 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
11 .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
12 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
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14 .\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
15 .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
16 .\" without specific prior written permission.
18 .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
19 .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
20 .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
21 .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
22 .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
23 .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
24 .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
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30 .\" from: @(#)make.1 8.4 (Berkeley) 3/19/94
37 .Nd maintain program dependencies
56 is a program designed to simplify the maintenance of other programs.
57 Its input is a list of specifications as to the files upon which programs
58 and other files depend.
61 makefile option is given,
67 in order to find the specifications.
70 exists, it is read (see
73 This manual page is intended as a reference document only.
74 For a more thorough description of
76 and makefiles, please refer to
77 .%T "PMake \- A Tutorial" .
80 will prepend the contents of the
82 environment variable to the command line arguments before parsing them.
84 The options are as follows:
87 Try to be backwards compatible by executing a single shell per command and
88 by executing the commands to make the sources of a dependency line in sequence.
92 before reading the makefiles or doing anything else.
95 options are specified, each is interpreted relative to the previous one:
96 .Fl C Pa / Fl C Pa etc
102 to be 1, in the global context.
104 Turn on debugging, and specify which portions of
106 are to print debugging information.
107 Unless the flags are preceded by
109 they are added to the
111 environment variable and will be processed by any child make processes.
112 By default, debugging information is printed to standard error,
113 but this can be changed using the
116 The debugging output is always unbuffered; in addition, if debugging
117 is enabled but debugging output is not directed to standard output,
118 then the standard output is line buffered.
120 is one or more of the following:
123 Print all possible debugging information;
124 equivalent to specifying all of the debugging flags.
126 Print debugging information about archive searching and caching.
128 Print debugging information about current working directory.
130 Print debugging information about conditional evaluation.
132 Print debugging information about directory searching and caching.
134 Print debugging information about failed commands and targets.
135 .It Ar F Ns Oo Sy \&+ Oc Ns Ar filename
136 Specify where debugging output is written.
137 This must be the last flag, because it consumes the remainder of
139 If the character immediately after the
143 then the file will be opened in append mode;
144 otherwise the file will be overwritten.
149 then debugging output will be written to the
150 standard output or standard error output file descriptors respectively
153 option has no effect).
154 Otherwise, the output will be written to the named file.
155 If the file name ends
159 is replaced by the pid.
161 Print debugging information about loop evaluation.
163 Print the input graph before making anything.
165 Print the input graph after making everything, or before exiting
168 Print the input graph before exiting on error.
170 Print debugging information about running multiple shells.
172 Print commands in Makefiles regardless of whether or not they are prefixed by
174 or other "quiet" flags.
175 Also known as "loud" behavior.
177 Print debugging information about "meta" mode decisions about targets.
179 Print debugging information about making targets, including modification
182 Don't delete the temporary command scripts created when running commands.
183 These temporary scripts are created in the directory
186 environment variable, or in
190 is unset or set to the empty string.
191 The temporary scripts are created by
193 and have names of the form
196 This can create many files in
202 Print debugging information about makefile parsing.
204 Print debugging information about suffix-transformation rules.
206 Print debugging information about target list maintenance.
210 option to print raw values of variables, overriding the default behavior
212 .Va .MAKE.EXPAND_VARIABLES .
214 Print debugging information about variable assignment.
216 Run shell commands with
218 so the actual commands are printed as they are executed.
221 Specify that environment variables override macro assignments within
224 Specify a makefile to read instead of the default
230 standard input is read.
231 Multiple makefiles may be specified, and are read in the order specified.
232 .It Fl I Ar directory
233 Specify a directory in which to search for makefiles and included makefiles.
234 The system makefile directory (or directories, see the
236 option) is automatically included as part of this list.
238 Ignore non-zero exit of shell commands in the makefile.
239 Equivalent to specifying
241 before each command line in the makefile.
245 be specified by the user.
249 option is in use in a recursive build, this option is passed by a make
250 to child makes to allow all the make processes in the build to
251 cooperate to avoid overloading the system.
253 Specify the maximum number of jobs that
255 may have running at any one time.
256 The value is saved in
258 Turns compatibility mode off, unless the
260 flag is also specified.
261 When compatibility mode is off, all commands associated with a
262 target are executed in a single shell invocation as opposed to the
263 traditional one shell invocation per line.
264 This can break traditional scripts which change directories on each
265 command invocation and then expect to start with a fresh environment
267 It is more efficient to correct the scripts rather than turn backwards
270 Continue processing after errors are encountered, but only on those targets
271 that do not depend on the target whose creation caused the error.
272 .It Fl m Ar directory
273 Specify a directory in which to search for sys.mk and makefiles included
275 .Li \&< Ns Ar file Ns Li \&> Ns -style
279 option can be used multiple times to form a search path.
280 This path will override the default system include path: /usr/share/mk.
281 Furthermore the system include path will be appended to the search path used
283 .Li \*q Ns Ar file Ns Li \*q Ns -style
284 include statements (see the
288 If a file or directory name in the
292 environment variable) starts with the string
296 will search for the specified file or directory named in the remaining part
297 of the argument string.
298 The search starts with the current directory of
299 the Makefile and then works upward towards the root of the file system.
300 If the search is successful, then the resulting directory replaces the
305 If used, this feature allows
307 to easily search in the current source tree for customized sys.mk files
312 Display the commands that would have been executed, but do not
313 actually execute them unless the target depends on the .MAKE special
316 Display the commands which would have been executed, but do not
317 actually execute any of them; useful for debugging top-level makefiles
318 without descending into subdirectories.
320 Do not execute any commands, but exit 0 if the specified targets are
321 up-to-date and 1, otherwise.
323 Do not use the built-in rules specified in the system makefile.
325 Do not echo any commands as they are executed.
326 Equivalent to specifying
328 before each command line in the makefile.
329 .It Fl T Ar tracefile
333 append a trace record to
335 for each job started and completed.
337 Rather than re-building a target as specified in the makefile, create it
338 or update its modification time to make it appear up-to-date.
342 Do not build any targets.
343 Multiple instances of this option may be specified;
344 the variables will be printed one per line,
345 with a blank line for each null or undefined variable.
346 The value printed is extracted from the global context after all
347 makefiles have been read.
348 By default, the raw variable contents (which may
349 include additional unexpanded variable references) are shown.
354 then the value will be recursively expanded to its complete resultant
355 text before printing.
356 The expanded value will also be printed if
357 .Va .MAKE.EXPAND_VARIABLES
361 option has not been used to override it.
362 Note that loop-local and target-local variables, as well as values
363 taken temporarily by global variables during makefile processing, are
364 not accessible via this option.
367 debug mode can be used to see these at the cost of generating
368 substantial extraneous output.
372 but the variable is always expanded to its complete value.
374 Treat any warnings during makefile parsing as errors.
376 Print entering and leaving directory messages, pre and post processing.
378 Don't export variables passed on the command line to the environment
380 Variables passed on the command line are still exported
383 environment variable.
384 This option may be useful on systems which have a small limit on the
385 size of command arguments.
386 .It Ar variable=value
387 Set the value of the variable
391 Normally, all values passed on the command line are also exported to
392 sub-makes in the environment.
395 flag disables this behavior.
396 Variable assignments should follow options for POSIX compatibility
397 but no ordering is enforced.
400 There are seven different types of lines in a makefile: file dependency
401 specifications, shell commands, variable assignments, include statements,
402 conditional directives, for loops, and comments.
404 In general, lines may be continued from one line to the next by ending
405 them with a backslash
407 The trailing newline character and initial whitespace on the following
408 line are compressed into a single space.
409 .Sh FILE DEPENDENCY SPECIFICATIONS
410 Dependency lines consist of one or more targets, an operator, and zero
412 This creates a relationship where the targets
415 and are usually created from them.
416 The exact relationship between the target and the source is determined
417 by the operator that separates them.
418 The three operators are as follows:
421 A target is considered out-of-date if its modification time is less than
422 those of any of its sources.
423 Sources for a target accumulate over dependency lines when this operator
425 The target is removed if
429 Targets are always re-created, but not until all sources have been
430 examined and re-created as necessary.
431 Sources for a target accumulate over dependency lines when this operator
433 The target is removed if
437 If no sources are specified, the target is always re-created.
438 Otherwise, a target is considered out-of-date if any of its sources has
439 been modified more recently than the target.
440 Sources for a target do not accumulate over dependency lines when this
442 The target will not be removed if
447 Targets and sources may contain the shell wildcard values
458 may only be used as part of the final
459 component of the target or source, and must be used to describe existing
463 need not necessarily be used to describe existing files.
464 Expansion is in directory order, not alphabetically as done in the shell.
466 Each target may have associated with it one or more lines of shell
468 used to create the target.
469 Each of the lines in this script
471 be preceded by a tab.
472 (For historical reasons, spaces are not accepted.)
473 While targets can appear in many dependency lines if desired, by
474 default only one of these rules may be followed by a creation
478 operator is used, however, all rules may include scripts and the
479 scripts are executed in the order found.
481 Each line is treated as a separate shell command, unless the end of
482 line is escaped with a backslash
484 in which case that line and the next are combined.
485 .\" The escaped newline is retained and passed to the shell, which
486 .\" normally ignores it.
487 .\" However, the tab at the beginning of the following line is removed.
488 If the first characters of the command are any combination of
493 the command is treated specially.
496 causes the command not to be echoed before it is executed.
499 causes the command to be executed even when
502 This is similar to the effect of the .MAKE special source,
503 except that the effect can be limited to a single line of a script.
506 in compatibility mode
507 causes any non-zero exit status of the command line to be ignored.
511 is run in jobs mode with
513 the entire script for the target is fed to a
514 single instance of the shell.
515 In compatibility (non-jobs) mode, each command is run in a separate process.
516 If the command contains any shell meta characters
517 .Pq Ql #=|^(){};&<>*?[]:$`\e\en
518 it will be passed to the shell; otherwise
520 will attempt direct execution.
521 If a line starts with
523 and the shell has ErrCtl enabled then failure of the command line
524 will be ignored as in compatibility mode.
527 affects the entire job;
528 the script will stop at the first command line that fails,
529 but the target will not be deemed to have failed.
531 Makefiles should be written so that the mode of
533 operation does not change their behavior.
534 For example, any command which needs to use
538 without potentially changing the directory for subsequent commands
539 should be put in parentheses so it executes in a subshell.
540 To force the use of one shell, escape the line breaks so as to make
541 the whole script one command.
543 .Bd -literal -offset indent
544 avoid-chdir-side-effects:
545 @echo Building $@ in `pwd`
546 @(cd ${.CURDIR} && ${MAKE} $@)
549 ensure-one-shell-regardless-of-mode:
550 @echo Building $@ in `pwd`; \e
551 (cd ${.CURDIR} && ${MAKE} $@); \e
561 before executing any targets, each child process
562 starts with that as its current working directory.
563 .Sh VARIABLE ASSIGNMENTS
564 Variables in make are much like variables in the shell, and, by tradition,
565 consist of all upper-case letters.
566 .Ss Variable assignment modifiers
567 The five operators that can be used to assign values to variables are as
571 Assign the value to the variable.
572 Any previous value is overridden.
574 Append the value to the current value of the variable.
576 Assign the value to the variable if it is not already defined.
578 Assign with expansion, i.e. expand the value before assigning it
580 Normally, expansion is not done until the variable is referenced.
582 References to undefined variables are
585 This can cause problems when variable modifiers are used.
587 Expand the value and pass it to the shell for execution and assign
588 the result to the variable.
589 Any newlines in the result are replaced with spaces.
592 Any white-space before the assigned
594 is removed; if the value is being appended, a single space is inserted
595 between the previous contents of the variable and the appended value.
597 Variables are expanded by surrounding the variable name with either
602 and preceding it with
605 If the variable name contains only a single letter, the surrounding
606 braces or parentheses are not required.
607 This shorter form is not recommended.
609 If the variable name contains a dollar, then the name itself is expanded first.
610 This allows almost arbitrary variable names, however names containing dollar,
611 braces, parenthesis, or whitespace are really best avoided!
613 If the result of expanding a variable contains a dollar sign
615 the string is expanded again.
617 Variable substitution occurs at three distinct times, depending on where
618 the variable is being used.
621 Variables in dependency lines are expanded as the line is read.
623 Variables in shell commands are expanded when the shell command is
627 loop index variables are expanded on each loop iteration.
628 Note that other variables are not expanded inside loops so
629 the following example code:
630 .Bd -literal -offset indent
644 .Bd -literal -offset indent
649 Because while ${a} contains
651 after the loop is executed, ${b}
656 since after the loop completes ${j} contains
660 The four different classes of variables (in order of increasing precedence)
663 .It Environment variables
664 Variables defined as part of
668 Variables defined in the makefile or in included makefiles.
669 .It Command line variables
670 Variables defined as part of the command line.
672 Variables that are defined specific to a certain target.
675 Local variables are all built in and their values vary magically from
677 It is not currently possible to define new local variables.
678 The seven local variables are as follows:
679 .Bl -tag -width ".ARCHIVE" -offset indent
681 The list of all sources for this target; also known as
684 The name of the archive file; also known as
687 In suffix-transformation rules, the name/path of the source from which the
688 target is to be transformed (the
690 source); also known as
692 It is not defined in explicit rules.
694 The name of the archive member; also known as
697 The list of sources for this target that were deemed out-of-date; also
701 The file prefix of the target, containing only the file portion, no suffix
702 or preceding directory components; also known as
704 The suffix must be one of the known suffixes declared with
706 or it will not be recognized.
708 The name of the target; also known as
710 For compatibility with other makes this is an alias for
712 in archive member rules.
724 are permitted for backward
725 compatibility with historical makefiles and legacy POSIX make and are
728 Variants of these variables with the punctuation followed immediately by
734 are legacy forms equivalent to using the
739 These forms are accepted for compatibility with
741 makefiles and POSIX but are not recommended.
743 Four of the local variables may be used in sources on dependency lines
744 because they expand to the proper value for each target on the line.
751 .Ss Additional built-in variables
754 sets or knows about the following variables:
755 .Bl -tag -width .MAKEOVERRIDES
761 expands to a single dollar
764 The list of all targets encountered in the Makefile.
766 Makefile parsing, lists only those targets encountered thus far.
768 A path to the directory where
771 Refer to the description of
774 .It Va .INCLUDEDFROMDIR
775 The directory of the file this Makefile was included from.
776 .It Va .INCLUDEDFROMFILE
777 The filename of the file this Makefile was included from.
788 The preferred variable to use is the environment variable
790 because it is more compatible with other versions of
792 and cannot be confused with the special target with the same name.
793 .It Va .MAKE.DEPENDFILE
794 Names the makefile (default
796 from which generated dependencies are read.
797 .It Va .MAKE.EXPAND_VARIABLES
798 A boolean that controls the default behavior of the
801 If true, variable values printed with
803 are fully expanded; if false, the raw variable contents (which may
804 include additional unexpanded variable references) are shown.
805 .It Va .MAKE.EXPORTED
806 The list of variables exported by
812 .It Va .MAKE.JOB.PREFIX
817 then output for each target is prefixed with a token
819 the first part of which can be controlled via
820 .Va .MAKE.JOB.PREFIX .
823 is empty, no token is printed.
826 .Li .MAKE.JOB.PREFIX=${.newline}---${.MAKE:T}[${.MAKE.PID}]
827 would produce tokens like
828 .Ql ---make[1234] target ---
829 making it easier to track the degree of parallelism being achieved.
831 The environment variable
833 may contain anything that
837 Anything specified on
839 command line is appended to the
841 variable which is then
842 entered into the environment for all programs which
846 The recursion depth of
848 The initial instance of
850 will be 0, and an incremented value is put into the environment
851 to be seen by the next generation.
852 This allows tests like:
853 .Li .if ${.MAKE.LEVEL} == 0
854 to protect things which should only be evaluated in the initial instance of
856 .It Va .MAKE.MAKEFILE_PREFERENCE
857 The ordered list of makefile names
864 .It Va .MAKE.MAKEFILES
865 The list of makefiles read by
867 which is useful for tracking dependencies.
868 Each makefile is recorded only once, regardless of the number of times read.
870 Processed after reading all makefiles.
871 Can affect the mode that
874 It can contain a number of keywords:
875 .Bl -hang -width missing-filemon=bf.
885 into "meta" mode, where meta files are created for each target
886 to capture the command run, the output generated and if
888 is available, the system calls which are of interest to
890 The captured output can be very useful when diagnosing errors.
891 .It Pa curdirOk= Ar bf
894 will not create .meta files in
896 This can be overridden by setting
898 to a value which represents True.
899 .It Pa missing-meta= Ar bf
902 is True, then a missing .meta file makes the target out-of-date.
903 .It Pa missing-filemon= Ar bf
906 is True, then missing filemon data makes the target out-of-date.
911 For debugging, it can be useful to include the environment
914 If in "meta" mode, print a clue about the target being built.
915 This is useful if the build is otherwise running silently.
916 The message printed the value of:
917 .Va .MAKE.META.PREFIX .
919 Some makefiles have commands which are simply not stable.
920 This keyword causes them to be ignored for
921 determining whether a target is out of date in "meta" mode.
927 is True, when a .meta file is created, mark the target
930 .It Va .MAKE.META.BAILIWICK
931 In "meta" mode, provides a list of prefixes which
932 match the directories controlled by
934 If a file that was generated outside of
936 but within said bailiwick is missing,
937 the current target is considered out-of-date.
938 .It Va .MAKE.META.CREATED
939 In "meta" mode, this variable contains a list of all the meta files
941 If not empty, it can be used to trigger processing of
942 .Va .MAKE.META.FILES .
943 .It Va .MAKE.META.FILES
944 In "meta" mode, this variable contains a list of all the meta files
945 used (updated or not).
946 This list can be used to process the meta files to extract dependency
948 .It Va .MAKE.META.IGNORE_PATHS
949 Provides a list of path prefixes that should be ignored;
950 because the contents are expected to change over time.
951 The default list includes:
952 .Ql Pa /dev /etc /proc /tmp /var/run /var/tmp
953 .It Va .MAKE.META.IGNORE_PATTERNS
954 Provides a list of patterns to match against pathnames.
955 Ignore any that match.
956 .It Va .MAKE.META.IGNORE_FILTER
957 Provides a list of variable modifiers to apply to each pathname.
958 Ignore if the expansion is an empty string.
959 .It Va .MAKE.META.PREFIX
960 Defines the message printed for each meta file updated in "meta verbose" mode.
961 The default value is:
962 .Dl Building ${.TARGET:H:tA}/${.TARGET:T}
963 .It Va .MAKEOVERRIDES
964 This variable is used to record the names of variables assigned to
965 on the command line, so that they may be exported as part of
967 This behavior can be disabled by assigning an empty value to
968 .Ql Va .MAKEOVERRIDES
970 Extra variables can be exported from a makefile
971 by appending their names to
972 .Ql Va .MAKEOVERRIDES .
974 is re-exported whenever
975 .Ql Va .MAKEOVERRIDES
977 .It Va .MAKE.PATH_FILEMON
982 support, this is set to the path of the device node.
983 This allows makefiles to test for this support.
988 The parent process-id of
990 .It Va .MAKE.BUILT.BY
991 The compiler CCVER that built the
994 .It Va .MAKE.DF.OSREL
997 version when the world was built. It is in the "<major>.<minor>"
998 format and it used by DPorts.
999 .It Va .MAKE.DF.VERSION
1000 The value of __DragonFly_version when the
1002 world was built. It is used by DPorts.
1003 .It Va .MAKE.SAVE_DOLLARS
1004 value should be a boolean that controls whether
1006 are preserved when doing
1009 The default is false, for backwards compatibility.
1010 Set to true for compatibility with other makes.
1015 per normal evaluation rules.
1016 .It Va MAKE_PRINT_VAR_ON_ERROR
1019 stops due to an error, it sets
1020 .Ql Va .ERROR_TARGET
1021 to the name of the target that failed,
1023 to the commands of the failed target,
1024 and in "meta" mode, it also sets
1029 .Ql Va .ERROR_META_FILE
1030 to the path of the meta file (if any) describing the failed target.
1031 It then prints its name and the value of
1033 as well as the value of any variables named in
1034 .Ql Va MAKE_PRINT_VAR_ON_ERROR .
1036 This variable is simply assigned a newline character as its value.
1037 This allows expansions using the
1039 modifier to put a newline between
1040 iterations of the loop rather than a space.
1041 For example, the printing of
1042 .Ql Va MAKE_PRINT_VAR_ON_ERROR
1043 could be done as ${MAKE_PRINT_VAR_ON_ERROR:@v@$v='${$v}'${.newline}@}.
1045 A path to the directory where the targets are built.
1046 Its value is determined by trying to
1048 to the following directories in order and using the first match:
1051 .Ev ${MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX}${.CURDIR}
1054 .Ql Ev MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX
1055 is set in the environment or on the command line.)
1061 is set in the environment or on the command line.)
1063 .Ev ${.CURDIR} Ns Pa /obj. Ns Ev ${MACHINE}
1065 .Ev ${.CURDIR} Ns Pa /obj
1067 .Pa /usr/obj/ Ns Ev ${.CURDIR}
1072 Variable expansion is performed on the value before it's used,
1073 so expressions such as
1074 .Dl ${.CURDIR:S,^/usr/src,/var/obj,}
1076 This is especially useful with
1080 may be modified in the makefile via the special target
1086 to the specified directory if it exists, and set
1090 to that directory before executing any targets.
1093 A path to the directory of the current
1097 The basename of the current
1102 are both set only while the
1105 If you want to retain their current values, assign them to a variable
1106 using assignment with expansion:
1109 A variable that represents the list of directories that
1111 will search for files.
1112 The search list should be updated using the target
1114 rather than the variable.
1116 Alternate path to the current directory.
1120 to the canonical path given by
1122 However, if the environment variable
1124 is set and gives a path to the current directory, then
1131 This behavior is disabled if
1132 .Ql Ev MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX
1135 contains a variable transform.
1137 is set to the value of
1139 for all programs which
1143 The list of targets explicitly specified on the command line, if any.
1147 lists of directories that
1149 will search for files.
1150 The variable is supported for compatibility with old make programs only,
1155 .Ss Variable modifiers
1156 Variable expansion may be modified to select or modify each word of the
1159 is white-space delimited sequence of characters).
1160 The general format of a variable expansion is as follows:
1162 .Dl ${variable[:modifier[:...]]}
1164 Each modifier begins with a colon,
1165 which may be escaped with a backslash
1168 A set of modifiers can be specified via a variable, as follows:
1170 .Dl modifier_variable=modifier[:...]
1171 .Dl ${variable:${modifier_variable}[:...]}
1173 In this case the first modifier in the modifier_variable does not
1174 start with a colon, since that must appear in the referencing
1176 If any of the modifiers in the modifier_variable contain a dollar sign
1178 these must be doubled to avoid early expansion.
1180 The supported modifiers are:
1183 Replaces each word in the variable with its suffix.
1185 Replaces each word in the variable with everything but the last component.
1186 .It Cm \&:M Ns Ar pattern
1187 Select only those words that match
1189 The standard shell wildcard characters
1196 The wildcard characters may be escaped with a backslash
1198 As a consequence of the way values are split into words, matched,
1199 and then joined, a construct like
1201 will normalize the inter-word spacing, removing all leading and
1202 trailing space, and converting multiple consecutive spaces
1205 .It Cm \&:N Ns Ar pattern
1206 This is identical to
1208 but selects all words which do not match
1211 Order every word in variable alphabetically.
1213 Order every word in variable in reverse alphabetical order.
1215 Randomize words in variable.
1216 The results will be different each time you are referring to the
1217 modified variable; use the assignment with expansion
1219 to prevent such behavior.
1221 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1222 LIST= uno due tre quattro
1223 RANDOM_LIST= ${LIST:Ox}
1224 STATIC_RANDOM_LIST:= ${LIST:Ox}
1227 @echo "${RANDOM_LIST}"
1228 @echo "${RANDOM_LIST}"
1229 @echo "${STATIC_RANDOM_LIST}"
1230 @echo "${STATIC_RANDOM_LIST}"
1232 may produce output similar to:
1233 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1240 Quotes every shell meta-character in the variable, so that it can be passed
1241 safely to the shell.
1243 Quotes every shell meta-character in the variable, and also doubles
1245 characters so that it can be passed
1246 safely through recursive invocations of
1248 This is equivalent to:
1249 .Sq \&:S/\e\&$/&&/g:Q .
1251 Replaces each word in the variable with everything but its suffix.
1252 .It Cm \&:range[=count]
1253 The value is an integer sequence representing the words of the original
1254 value, or the supplied
1256 .It Cm \&:gmtime[=utc]
1257 The value is a format string for
1263 value is not provided or is 0, the current time is used.
1265 Compute a 32-bit hash of the value and encode it as hex digits.
1266 .It Cm \&:localtime[=utc]
1267 The value is a format string for
1273 value is not provided or is 0, the current time is used.
1275 Attempt to convert variable to an absolute path using
1277 if that fails, the value is unchanged.
1279 Converts variable to lower-case letters.
1280 .It Cm \&:ts Ns Ar c
1281 Words in the variable are normally separated by a space on expansion.
1282 This modifier sets the separator to the character
1286 is omitted, then no separator is used.
1287 The common escapes (including octal numeric codes), work as expected.
1289 Converts variable to upper-case letters.
1291 Causes the value to be treated as a single word
1292 (possibly containing embedded white space).
1296 Causes the value to be treated as a sequence of
1297 words delimited by white space.
1301 .It Cm \&:S No \&/ Ar old_string No \&/ Ar new_string No \&/ Op Cm 1gW
1303 Modify the first occurrence of
1305 in the variable's value, replacing it with
1309 is appended to the last slash of the pattern, all occurrences
1310 in each word are replaced.
1313 is appended to the last slash of the pattern, only the first word
1317 is appended to the last slash of the pattern,
1318 then the value is treated as a single word
1319 (possibly containing embedded white space).
1325 is anchored at the beginning of each word.
1328 ends with a dollar sign
1330 it is anchored at the end of each word.
1341 Any character may be used as a delimiter for the parts of the modifier
1343 The anchoring, ampersand and delimiter characters may be escaped with a
1347 Variable expansion occurs in the normal fashion inside both
1351 with the single exception that a backslash is used to prevent the expansion
1354 not a preceding dollar sign as is usual.
1356 .It Cm \&:C No \&/ Ar pattern No \&/ Ar replacement No \&/ Op Cm 1gW
1360 modifier is just like the
1362 modifier except that the old and new strings, instead of being
1363 simple strings, are an extended regular expression (see
1371 Normally, the first occurrence of the pattern
1373 in each word of the value is substituted with
1377 modifier causes the substitution to apply to at most one word; the
1379 modifier causes the substitution to apply to as many instances of the
1382 as occur in the word or words it is found in; the
1384 modifier causes the value to be treated as a single word
1385 (possibly containing embedded white space).
1390 are orthogonal; the former specifies whether multiple words are
1391 potentially affected, the latter whether multiple substitutions can
1392 potentially occur within each affected word.
1400 are subjected to variable expansion before being parsed as
1401 regular expressions.
1403 Replaces each word in the variable with its last component.
1405 Remove adjacent duplicate words (like
1408 .It Cm \&:\&? Ar true_string Cm \&: Ar false_string
1410 If the variable name (not its value), when parsed as a .if conditional
1411 expression, evaluates to true, return as its value the
1413 otherwise return the
1415 Since the variable name is used as the expression, \&:\&? must be the
1416 first modifier after the variable name itself - which will, of course,
1417 usually contain variable expansions.
1418 A common error is trying to use expressions like
1419 .Dl ${NUMBERS:M42:?match:no}
1420 which actually tests defined(NUMBERS),
1421 to determine is any words match "42" you need to use something like:
1422 .Dl ${"${NUMBERS:M42}" != \&"\&":?match:no} .
1423 .It Ar :old_string=new_string
1426 style variable substitution.
1427 It must be the last modifier specified.
1432 do not contain the pattern matching character
1434 then it is assumed that they are
1435 anchored at the end of each word, so only suffixes or entire
1436 words may be replaced.
1445 contains the pattern matching character
1449 matches, then the result is the
1453 contains the pattern matching character
1455 then it is not treated specially and it is printed as a literal
1458 If there is more than one pattern matching character
1464 only the first instance is treated specially (as the pattern character);
1465 all subsequent instances are treated as regular characters
1467 Variable expansion occurs in the normal fashion inside both
1471 with the single exception that a backslash is used to prevent the
1472 expansion of a dollar sign
1474 not a preceding dollar sign as is usual.
1476 .It Cm \&:@ Ar temp Cm @ Ar string Cm @
1478 This is the loop expansion mechanism from the OSF Development
1479 Environment (ODE) make.
1482 loops expansion occurs at the time of
1486 to each word in the variable and evaluate
1488 The ODE convention is that
1490 should start and end with a period.
1492 .Dl ${LINKS:@.LINK.@${LN} ${TARGET} ${.LINK.}@}
1494 However a single character variable is often more readable:
1495 .Dl ${MAKE_PRINT_VAR_ON_ERROR:@v@$v='${$v}'${.newline}@}
1497 Save the current variable value in
1501 for later reference.
1503 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1504 M_cmpv.units = 1 1000 1000000
1505 M_cmpv = S,., ,g:_:range:@i@+ $${_:[-$$i]} \&\\
1506 \\* $${M_cmpv.units:[$$i]}@:S,^,expr 0 ,1:sh
1508 .Dv .if ${VERSION:${M_cmpv}} < ${3.1.12:L:${M_cmpv}}
1513 is used to save the result of the
1515 modifier which is later referenced using the index values from
1517 .It Cm \&:U Ns Ar newval
1518 If the variable is undefined
1521 If the variable is defined, the existing value is returned.
1522 This is another ODE make feature.
1523 It is handy for setting per-target CFLAGS for instance:
1524 .Dl ${_${.TARGET:T}_CFLAGS:U${DEF_CFLAGS}}
1525 If a value is only required if the variable is undefined, use:
1526 .Dl ${VAR:D:Unewval}
1527 .It Cm \&:D Ns Ar newval
1528 If the variable is defined
1532 The name of the variable is the value.
1534 The path of the node which has the same name as the variable
1536 If no such node exists or its path is null, then the
1537 name of the variable is used.
1538 In order for this modifier to work, the name (node) must at least have
1539 appeared on the rhs of a dependency.
1541 .It Cm \&:\&! Ar cmd Cm \&!
1543 The output of running
1547 If the variable is non-empty it is run as a command and the output
1548 becomes the new value.
1549 .It Cm \&::= Ns Ar str
1550 The variable is assigned the value
1553 This modifier and its variations are useful in
1554 obscure situations such as wanting to set a variable when shell commands
1556 These assignment modifiers always expand to
1557 nothing, so if appearing in a rule line by themselves should be
1558 preceded with something to keep
1564 helps avoid false matches with the
1568 modifier and since substitution always occurs the
1570 form is vaguely appropriate.
1571 .It Cm \&::?= Ns Ar str
1574 but only if the variable does not already have a value.
1575 .It Cm \&::+= Ns Ar str
1579 .It Cm \&::!= Ns Ar cmd
1580 Assign the output of
1583 .It Cm \&:\&[ Ns Ar range Ns Cm \&]
1584 Selects one or more words from the value,
1585 or performs other operations related to the way in which the
1586 value is divided into words.
1588 Ordinarily, a value is treated as a sequence of words
1589 delimited by white space.
1590 Some modifiers suppress this behavior,
1591 causing a value to be treated as a single word
1592 (possibly containing embedded white space).
1593 An empty value, or a value that consists entirely of white-space,
1594 is treated as a single word.
1595 For the purposes of the
1597 modifier, the words are indexed both forwards using positive integers
1598 (where index 1 represents the first word),
1599 and backwards using negative integers
1600 (where index \-1 represents the last word).
1604 is subjected to variable expansion, and the expanded result is
1605 then interpreted as follows:
1606 .Bl -tag -width index
1609 Selects a single word from the value.
1611 .It Ar start Ns Cm \&.. Ns Ar end
1612 Selects all words from
1619 selects all words from the second word to the last word.
1624 then the words are output in reverse order.
1627 selects all the words from last to first.
1628 If the list is already ordered, then this effectively reverses
1629 the list, but it is more efficient to use
1632 .Ql Cm \&:O:[-1..1] .
1635 Causes subsequent modifiers to treat the value as a single word
1636 (possibly containing embedded white space).
1637 Analogous to the effect of
1646 Causes subsequent modifiers to treat the value as a sequence of words
1647 delimited by white space.
1648 Analogous to the effect of
1653 Returns the number of words in the value.
1656 .Sh INCLUDE STATEMENTS, CONDITIONALS AND FOR LOOPS
1657 Makefile inclusion, conditional structures and for loops reminiscent
1658 of the C programming language are provided in
1660 All such structures are identified by a line beginning with a single
1664 Files are included with either
1665 .Cm \&.include \&< Ns Ar file Ns Cm \&>
1667 .Cm \&.include \&\*q Ns Ar file Ns Cm \&\*q .
1668 Variables between the angle brackets or double quotes are expanded
1669 to form the file name.
1670 If angle brackets are used, the included makefile is expected to be in
1671 the system makefile directory.
1672 If double quotes are used, the including makefile's directory and any
1673 directories specified using the
1675 option are searched before the system
1677 For compatibility with other versions of
1679 .Ql include file ...
1682 If the include statement is written as
1686 then errors locating and/or opening include files are ignored.
1688 If the include statement is written as
1690 not only are errors locating and/or opening include files ignored,
1691 but stale dependencies within the included file will be ignored
1693 .Va .MAKE.DEPENDFILE .
1695 Conditional expressions are also preceded by a single dot as the first
1696 character of a line.
1697 The possible conditionals are as follows:
1699 .It Ic .error Ar message
1700 The message is printed along with the name of the makefile and line number,
1704 .It Ic .export Ar variable ...
1705 Export the specified global variable.
1706 If no variable list is provided, all globals are exported
1707 except for internal variables (those that start with
1709 This is not affected by the
1711 flag, so should be used with caution.
1712 For compatibility with other
1715 .Ql export variable=value
1718 Appending a variable name to
1720 is equivalent to exporting a variable.
1721 .It Ic .export-env Ar variable ...
1724 except that the variable is not appended to
1725 .Va .MAKE.EXPORTED .
1726 This allows exporting a value to the environment which is different from that
1730 .It Ic .export-literal Ar variable ...
1733 except that variables in the value are not expanded.
1734 .It Ic .info Ar message
1735 The message is printed along with the name of the makefile and line number.
1736 .It Ic .undef Ar variable
1737 Un-define the specified global variable.
1738 Only global variables may be un-defined.
1739 .It Ic .unexport Ar variable ...
1742 The specified global
1744 will be removed from
1745 .Va .MAKE.EXPORTED .
1746 If no variable list is provided, all globals are unexported,
1750 .It Ic .unexport-env
1751 Unexport all globals previously exported and
1752 clear the environment inherited from the parent.
1753 This operation will cause a memory leak of the original environment,
1754 so should be used sparingly.
1757 being 0, would make sense.
1758 Also note that any variables which originated in the parent environment
1759 should be explicitly preserved if desired.
1761 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1762 .Li .if ${.MAKE.LEVEL} == 0
1769 Would result in an environment containing only
1771 which is the minimal useful environment.
1774 will also be pushed into the new environment.
1775 .It Ic .warning Ar message
1776 The message prefixed by
1778 is printed along with the name of the makefile and line number.
1779 .It Ic \&.if Oo \&! Oc Ns Ar expression Op Ar operator expression ...
1780 Test the value of an expression.
1781 .It Ic .ifdef Oo \&! Oc Ns Ar variable Op Ar operator variable ...
1782 Test the value of a variable.
1783 .It Ic .ifndef Oo \&! Oc Ns Ar variable Op Ar operator variable ...
1784 Test the value of a variable.
1785 .It Ic .ifmake Oo \&! Oc Ns Ar target Op Ar operator target ...
1786 Test the target being built.
1787 .It Ic .ifnmake Oo \&! Ns Oc Ar target Op Ar operator target ...
1788 Test the target being built.
1790 Reverse the sense of the last conditional.
1791 .It Ic .elif Oo \&! Ns Oc Ar expression Op Ar operator expression ...
1796 .It Ic .elifdef Oo \&! Oc Ns Ar variable Op Ar operator variable ...
1801 .It Ic .elifndef Oo \&! Oc Ns Ar variable Op Ar operator variable ...
1806 .It Ic .elifmake Oo \&! Oc Ns Ar target Op Ar operator target ...
1811 .It Ic .elifnmake Oo \&! Oc Ns Ar target Op Ar operator target ...
1817 End the body of the conditional.
1822 may be any one of the following:
1823 .Bl -tag -width "Cm XX"
1829 of higher precedence than
1835 will only evaluate a conditional as far as is necessary to determine
1837 Parentheses may be used to change the order of evaluation.
1838 The boolean operator
1840 may be used to logically negate an entire
1842 It is of higher precedence than
1847 may be any of the following:
1848 .Bl -tag -width defined
1850 Takes a variable name as an argument and evaluates to true if the variable
1853 Takes a target name as an argument and evaluates to true if the target
1854 was specified as part of
1856 command line or was declared the default target (either implicitly or
1859 before the line containing the conditional.
1861 Takes a variable, with possible modifiers, and evaluates to true if
1862 the expansion of the variable would result in an empty string.
1864 Takes a file name as an argument and evaluates to true if the file exists.
1865 The file is searched for on the system search path (see
1868 Takes a target name as an argument and evaluates to true if the target
1871 Takes a target name as an argument and evaluates to true if the target
1872 has been defined and has commands associated with it.
1876 may also be an arithmetic or string comparison.
1877 Variable expansion is
1878 performed on both sides of the comparison, after which the integral
1879 values are compared.
1880 A value is interpreted as hexadecimal if it is
1881 preceded by 0x, otherwise it is decimal; octal numbers are not supported.
1882 The standard C relational operators are all supported.
1884 variable expansion, either the left or right hand side of a
1888 operator is not an integral value, then
1889 string comparison is performed between the expanded
1891 If no relational operator is given, it is assumed that the expanded
1892 variable is being compared against 0 or an empty string in the case
1893 of a string comparison.
1897 is evaluating one of these conditional expressions, and it encounters
1898 a (white-space separated) word it doesn't recognize, either the
1902 expression is applied to it, depending on the form of the conditional.
1910 expression is applied.
1911 Similarly, if the form is
1917 expression is applied.
1919 If the conditional evaluates to true the parsing of the makefile continues
1921 If it evaluates to false, the following lines are skipped.
1922 In both cases this continues until a
1928 For loops are typically used to apply a set of rules to a list of files.
1929 The syntax of a for loop is:
1931 .Bl -tag -compact -width Ds
1932 .It Ic \&.for Ar variable Oo Ar variable ... Oc Ic in Ar expression
1939 is evaluated, it is split into words.
1940 On each iteration of the loop, one word is taken and assigned to each
1944 are substituted into the
1946 inside the body of the for loop.
1947 The number of words must come out even; that is, if there are three
1948 iteration variables, the number of words provided must be a multiple
1951 Comments begin with a hash
1953 character, anywhere but in a shell
1954 command line, and continue to the end of an unescaped new line.
1955 .Sh SPECIAL SOURCES (ATTRIBUTES)
1956 .Bl -tag -width .IGNOREx
1958 Target is never out of date, but always execute commands anyway.
1960 Ignore any errors from the commands associated with this target, exactly
1961 as if they all were preceded by a dash
1963 .\" .It Ic .INVISIBLE
1968 Mark all sources of this target as being up-to-date.
1970 Execute the commands associated with this target even if the
1974 options were specified.
1975 Normally used to mark recursive
1978 Create a meta file for the target, even if it is flagged as
1983 Usage in conjunction with
1985 is the most likely case.
1986 In "meta" mode, the target is out-of-date if the meta file is missing.
1988 Do not create a meta file for the target.
1989 Meta files are also not created for
1996 Ignore differences in commands when deciding if target is out of date.
1997 This is useful if the command contains a value which always changes.
1998 If the number of commands change, though, the target will still be out of date.
1999 The same effect applies to any command line that uses the variable
2001 which can be used for that purpose even when not otherwise needed or desired:
2002 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2004 skip-compare-for-some:
2005 @echo this will be compared
2006 @echo this will not ${.OODATE:M.NOMETA_CMP}
2007 @echo this will also be compared
2012 pattern suppresses any expansion of the unwanted variable.
2014 Do not search for the target in the directories specified by
2019 selects the first target it encounters as the default target to be built
2020 if no target was specified.
2021 This source prevents this target from being selected.
2023 If a target is marked with this attribute and
2025 can't figure out how to create it, it will ignore this fact and assume
2026 the file isn't needed or already exists.
2029 correspond to an actual file; it is always considered to be out of date,
2030 and will not be created with the
2033 Suffix-transformation rules are not applied to
2039 is interrupted, it normally removes any partially made targets.
2040 This source prevents the target from being removed.
2045 Do not echo any of the commands associated with this target, exactly
2046 as if they all were preceded by an at sign
2049 Turn the target into
2052 When the target is used as a source for another target, the other target
2053 acquires the commands, sources, and attributes (except for
2057 If the target already has commands, the
2059 target's commands are appended
2066 target commands to the target.
2070 appears in a dependency line, the sources that precede it are
2071 made before the sources that succeed it in the line.
2072 Since the dependents of files are not made until the file itself
2073 could be made, this also stops the dependents being built unless they
2074 are needed for another branch of the dependency tree.
2087 the output is always
2093 The ordering imposed by
2095 is only relevant for parallel makes.
2098 Special targets may not be included with other targets, i.e. they must be
2099 the only target specified.
2100 .Bl -tag -width .BEGINx
2102 Any command lines attached to this target are executed before anything
2107 rule for any target (that was used only as a
2110 can't figure out any other way to create.
2111 Only the shell script is used.
2114 variable of a target that inherits
2117 to the target's own name.
2118 .It Ic .DELETE_ON_ERROR
2119 If this target is present in the makefile, it globally causes make to
2120 delete targets whose commands fail.
2121 (By default, only targets whose commands are interrupted during
2122 execution are deleted.
2123 This is the historical behavior.)
2124 This setting can be used to help prevent half-finished or malformed
2125 targets from being left around and corrupting future rebuilds.
2127 Any command lines attached to this target are executed after everything
2130 Any command lines attached to this target are executed when another target fails.
2133 variable is set to the target that failed.
2135 .Ic MAKE_PRINT_VAR_ON_ERROR .
2137 Mark each of the sources with the
2140 If no sources are specified, this is the equivalent of specifying the
2146 is interrupted, the commands for this target will be executed.
2148 If no target is specified when
2150 is invoked, this target will be built.
2152 This target provides a way to specify flags for
2154 when the makefile is used.
2155 The flags are as if typed to the shell, though the
2159 .\" XXX: NOT YET!!!!
2160 .\" .It Ic .NOTPARALLEL
2161 .\" The named targets are executed in non parallel mode.
2162 .\" If no targets are
2163 .\" specified, then all targets are executed in non parallel mode.
2167 attribute to any specified sources.
2169 Disable parallel mode.
2173 for compatibility with other pmake variants.
2175 The source is a new value for
2181 to it and update the value of
2184 The named targets are made in sequence.
2185 This ordering does not add targets to the list of targets to be made.
2186 Since the dependents of a target do not get built until the target itself
2187 could be built, unless
2189 is built by another part of the dependency graph,
2190 the following is a dependency loop:
2196 The ordering imposed by
2198 is only relevant for parallel makes.
2199 .\" XXX: NOT YET!!!!
2200 .\" .It Ic .PARALLEL
2201 .\" The named targets are executed in parallel mode.
2202 .\" If no targets are
2203 .\" specified, then all targets are executed in parallel mode.
2205 The sources are directories which are to be searched for files not
2206 found in the current directory.
2207 If no sources are specified, any previously specified directories are
2209 If the source is the special
2211 target, then the current working
2212 directory is searched last.
2213 .It Ic .PATH. Ns Va suffix
2216 but applies only to files with a particular suffix.
2217 The suffix must have been previously declared with
2222 attribute to any specified sources.
2226 attribute to any specified sources.
2227 If no sources are specified, the
2229 attribute is applied to every
2234 will use to execute commands.
2235 The sources are a set of
2238 .Bl -tag -width hasErrCtls
2240 This is the minimal specification, used to select one of the built-in
2247 Specifies the path to the shell.
2249 Indicates whether the shell supports exit on error.
2251 The command to turn on error checking.
2253 The command to disable error checking.
2255 The command to turn on echoing of commands executed.
2257 The command to turn off echoing of commands executed.
2259 The output to filter after issuing the
2262 It is typically identical to
2265 The flag to pass the shell to enable error checking.
2267 The flag to pass the shell to enable command echoing.
2269 The string literal to pass the shell that results in a single newline
2270 character when used outside of any quoting characters.
2274 \&.SHELL: name=ksh path=/bin/ksh hasErrCtl=true \e
2275 check="set \-e" ignore="set +e" \e
2276 echo="set \-v" quiet="set +v" filter="set +v" \e
2277 echoFlag=v errFlag=e newline="'\en'"
2282 attribute to any specified sources.
2283 If no sources are specified, the
2285 attribute is applied to every
2286 command in the file.
2288 This target gets run when a dependency file contains stale entries, having
2290 set to the name of that dependency file.
2292 Each source specifies a suffix to
2294 If no sources are specified, any previously specified suffixes are deleted.
2295 It allows the creation of suffix-transformation rules.
2301 cc \-o ${.TARGET} \-c ${.IMPSRC}
2306 uses the following environment variables, if they exist:
2312 .Ev MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX ,
2318 .Ev MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX
2321 may only be set in the environment or on the command line to
2323 and not as makefile variables;
2324 see the description of
2328 .Bl -tag -width /usr/share/mk -compact
2330 list of dependencies
2332 list of dependencies
2334 list of dependencies
2338 system makefile directory
2341 The basic make syntax is compatible between different versions of make;
2342 however the special variables, variable modifiers and conditionals are not.
2344 An incomplete list of changes in older versions of
2347 The way that .for loop variables are substituted changed after
2349 so that they still appear to be variable expansions.
2350 In particular this stops them being treated as syntax, and removes some
2351 obscure problems using them in .if statements.
2353 The way that parallel makes are scheduled changed in
2355 so that .ORDER and .WAIT apply recursively to the dependent nodes.
2356 The algorithms used may change again in the future.
2357 .Ss Other make dialects
2358 Other make dialects (GNU make, SVR4 make, POSIX make, etc.) do not
2359 support most of the features of
2361 as described in this manual.
2363 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
2369 declarations and most functionality pertaining to parallelization.
2370 (GNU make supports parallelization but lacks these features needed to
2371 control it effectively.)
2373 Directives, including for loops and conditionals and most of the
2374 forms of include files.
2375 (GNU make has its own incompatible and less powerful syntax for
2378 All built-in variables that begin with a dot.
2380 Most of the special sources and targets that begin with a dot,
2381 with the notable exception of
2387 Variable modifiers, except for the
2389 string substitution, which does not portably support globbing with
2391 and historically only works on declared suffixes.
2395 variable even in its short form; most makes support this functionality
2396 but its name varies.
2399 Some features are somewhat more portable, such as assignment with
2406 functionality is based on an older feature
2408 found in GNU make and many versions of SVR4 make; however,
2409 historically its behavior is too ill-defined (and too buggy) to rely
2416 variables are more or less universally portable, as is the
2419 Basic use of suffix rules (for files only in the current directory,
2420 not trying to chain transformations together, etc.) is also reasonably
2426 is derived from NetBSD
2428 It uses autoconf to facilitate portability to other platforms.
2436 implementation is based on Adam De Boor's pmake program which was written
2437 for Sprite at Berkeley.
2438 It was designed to be a parallel distributed make running jobs on different
2439 machines using a daemon called
2442 Historically the target/dependency
2444 has been used to FoRCe rebuilding (since the target/dependency
2445 does not exist... unless someone creates an
2451 syntax is difficult to parse without actually acting on the data.
2452 For instance, finding the end of a variable's use should involve scanning
2453 each of the modifiers, using the correct terminator for each field.
2456 just counts {} and () in order to find the end of a variable expansion.
2458 There is no way of escaping a space character in a filename.