This is make.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.0 from make.texinfo.
INFO-DIR-SECTION GNU Packages
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Make: (make). Remake files automatically.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
This file documents the GNU Make utility, which determines
automatically which pieces of a large program need to be recompiled,
and issues the commands to recompile them.
This is Edition 0.55, last updated 04 April 2000, of `The GNU Make
Manual', for `make', Version 3.79.
Copyright (C) 1988, '89, '90, '91, '92, '93, '94, '95, '96, '97,
'98, '99, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that
the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
permission notice identical to this one.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
versions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a
translation approved by the Free Software Foundation.
File: make.info, Node: Archive Members, Next: Archive Update, Up: Archives
Archive Members as Targets
==========================
An individual member of an archive file can be used as a target or
prerequisite in `make'. You specify the member named MEMBER in archive
file ARCHIVE as follows:
ARCHIVE(MEMBER)
This construct is available only in targets and prerequisites, not in
commands! Most programs that you might use in commands do not support
this syntax and cannot act directly on archive members. Only `ar' and
other programs specifically designed to operate on archives can do so.
Therefore, valid commands to update an archive member target probably
must use `ar'. For example, this rule says to create a member `hack.o'
in archive `foolib' by copying the file `hack.o':
foolib(hack.o) : hack.o
ar cr foolib hack.o
In fact, nearly all archive member targets are updated in just this
way and there is an implicit rule to do it for you. *Note:* The `c'
flag to `ar' is required if the archive file does not already exist.
To specify several members in the same archive, you can write all the
member names together between the parentheses. For example:
foolib(hack.o kludge.o)
is equivalent to:
foolib(hack.o) foolib(kludge.o)
You can also use shell-style wildcards in an archive member
reference. *Note Using Wildcard Characters in File Names: Wildcards.
For example, `foolib(*.o)' expands to all existing members of the
`foolib' archive whose names end in `.o'; perhaps `foolib(hack.o)
foolib(kludge.o)'.
File: make.info, Node: Archive Update, Next: Archive Pitfalls, Prev: Archive Members, Up: Archives
Implicit Rule for Archive Member Targets
========================================
Recall that a target that looks like `A(M)' stands for the member
named M in the archive file A.
When `make' looks for an implicit rule for such a target, as a
special feature it considers implicit rules that match `(M)', as well as
those that match the actual target `A(M)'.
This causes one special rule whose target is `(%)' to match. This
rule updates the target `A(M)' by copying the file M into the archive.
For example, it will update the archive member target `foo.a(bar.o)' by
copying the _file_ `bar.o' into the archive `foo.a' as a _member_ named
`bar.o'.
When this rule is chained with others, the result is very powerful.
Thus, `make "foo.a(bar.o)"' (the quotes are needed to protect the `('
and `)' from being interpreted specially by the shell) in the presence
of a file `bar.c' is enough to cause the following commands to be run,
even without a makefile:
cc -c bar.c -o bar.o
ar r foo.a bar.o
rm -f bar.o
Here `make' has envisioned the file `bar.o' as an intermediate file.
*Note Chains of Implicit Rules: Chained Rules.
Implicit rules such as this one are written using the automatic
variable `$%'. *Note Automatic Variables: Automatic.
An archive member name in an archive cannot contain a directory
name, but it may be useful in a makefile to pretend that it does. If
you write an archive member target `foo.a(dir/file.o)', `make' will
perform automatic updating with this command:
ar r foo.a dir/file.o
which has the effect of copying the file `dir/file.o' into a member
named `file.o'. In connection with such usage, the automatic variables
`%D' and `%F' may be useful.
* Menu:
* Archive Symbols:: How to update archive symbol directories.
File: make.info, Node: Archive Symbols, Up: Archive Update
Updating Archive Symbol Directories
-----------------------------------
An archive file that is used as a library usually contains a special
member named `__.SYMDEF' that contains a directory of the external
symbol names defined by all the other members. After you update any
other members, you need to update `__.SYMDEF' so that it will summarize
the other members properly. This is done by running the `ranlib'
program:
ranlib ARCHIVEFILE
Normally you would put this command in the rule for the archive file,
and make all the members of the archive file prerequisites of that rule.
For example,
libfoo.a: libfoo.a(x.o) libfoo.a(y.o) ...
ranlib libfoo.a
The effect of this is to update archive members `x.o', `y.o', etc., and
then update the symbol directory member `__.SYMDEF' by running
`ranlib'. The rules for updating the members are not shown here; most
likely you can omit them and use the implicit rule which copies files
into the archive, as described in the preceding section.
This is not necessary when using the GNU `ar' program, which updates
the `__.SYMDEF' member automatically.
File: make.info, Node: Archive Pitfalls, Next: Archive Suffix Rules, Prev: Archive Update, Up: Archives
Dangers When Using Archives
===========================
It is important to be careful when using parallel execution (the
`-j' switch; *note Parallel Execution: Parallel.) and archives. If
multiple `ar' commands run at the same time on the same archive file,
they will not know about each other and can corrupt the file.
Possibly a future version of `make' will provide a mechanism to
circumvent this problem by serializing all commands that operate on the
same archive file. But for the time being, you must either write your
makefiles to avoid this problem in some other way, or not use `-j'.
File: make.info, Node: Archive Suffix Rules, Prev: Archive Pitfalls, Up: Archives
Suffix Rules for Archive Files
==============================
You can write a special kind of suffix rule for dealing with archive
files. *Note Suffix Rules::, for a full explanation of suffix rules.
Archive suffix rules are obsolete in GNU `make', because pattern rules
for archives are a more general mechanism (*note Archive Update::).
But they are retained for compatibility with other `make's.
To write a suffix rule for archives, you simply write a suffix rule
using the target suffix `.a' (the usual suffix for archive files). For
example, here is the old-fashioned suffix rule to update a library
archive from C source files:
.c.a:
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(CPPFLAGS) -c $< -o $*.o
$(AR) r $@ $*.o
$(RM) $*.o
This works just as if you had written the pattern rule:
(%.o): %.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(CPPFLAGS) -c $< -o $*.o
$(AR) r $@ $*.o
$(RM) $*.o
In fact, this is just what `make' does when it sees a suffix rule
with `.a' as the target suffix. Any double-suffix rule `.X.a' is
converted to a pattern rule with the target pattern `(%.o)' and a
prerequisite pattern of `%.X'.
Since you might want to use `.a' as the suffix for some other kind
of file, `make' also converts archive suffix rules to pattern rules in
the normal way (*note Suffix Rules::). Thus a double-suffix rule
`.X.a' produces two pattern rules: `(%.o): %.X' and `%.a: %.X'.
File: make.info, Node: Features, Next: Missing, Prev: Archives, Up: Top
Features of GNU `make'
**********************
Here is a summary of the features of GNU `make', for comparison with
and credit to other versions of `make'. We consider the features of
`make' in 4.2 BSD systems as a baseline. If you are concerned with
writing portable makefiles, you should not use the features of `make'
listed here, nor the ones in *Note Missing::.
Many features come from the version of `make' in System V.
* The `VPATH' variable and its special meaning. *Note Searching
Directories for Prerequisites: Directory Search. This feature
exists in System V `make', but is undocumented. It is documented
in 4.3 BSD `make' (which says it mimics System V's `VPATH'
feature).
* Included makefiles. *Note Including Other Makefiles: Include.
Allowing multiple files to be included with a single directive is
a GNU extension.
* Variables are read from and communicated via the environment.
*Note Variables from the Environment: Environment.
* Options passed through the variable `MAKEFLAGS' to recursive
invocations of `make'. *Note Communicating Options to a
Sub-`make': Options/Recursion.
* The automatic variable `$%' is set to the member name in an
archive reference. *Note Automatic Variables: Automatic.
* The automatic variables `$@', `$*', `$<', `$%', and `$?' have
corresponding forms like `$(@F)' and `$(@D)'. We have generalized
this to `$^' as an obvious extension. *Note Automatic Variables:
Automatic.
* Substitution variable references. *Note Basics of Variable
References: Reference.
* The command-line options `-b' and `-m', accepted and ignored. In
System V `make', these options actually do something.
* Execution of recursive commands to run `make' via the variable
`MAKE' even if `-n', `-q' or `-t' is specified. *Note Recursive
Use of `make': Recursion.
* Support for suffix `.a' in suffix rules. *Note Archive Suffix
Rules::. This feature is obsolete in GNU `make', because the
general feature of rule chaining (*note Chains of Implicit Rules:
Chained Rules.) allows one pattern rule for installing members in
an archive (*note Archive Update::) to be sufficient.
* The arrangement of lines and backslash-newline combinations in
commands is retained when the commands are printed, so they appear
as they do in the makefile, except for the stripping of initial
whitespace.
The following features were inspired by various other versions of
`make'. In some cases it is unclear exactly which versions inspired
which others.
* Pattern rules using `%'. This has been implemented in several
versions of `make'. We're not sure who invented it first, but
it's been spread around a bit. *Note Defining and Redefining
Pattern Rules: Pattern Rules.
* Rule chaining and implicit intermediate files. This was
implemented by Stu Feldman in his version of `make' for AT&T
Eighth Edition Research Unix, and later by Andrew Hume of AT&T
Bell Labs in his `mk' program (where he terms it "transitive
closure"). We do not really know if we got this from either of
them or thought it up ourselves at the same time. *Note Chains of
Implicit Rules: Chained Rules.
* The automatic variable `$^' containing a list of all prerequisites
of the current target. We did not invent this, but we have no
idea who did. *Note Automatic Variables: Automatic. The
automatic variable `$+' is a simple extension of `$^'.
* The "what if" flag (`-W' in GNU `make') was (as far as we know)
invented by Andrew Hume in `mk'. *Note Instead of Executing the
Commands: Instead of Execution.
* The concept of doing several things at once (parallelism) exists in
many incarnations of `make' and similar programs, though not in the
System V or BSD implementations. *Note Command Execution:
Execution.
* Modified variable references using pattern substitution come from
SunOS 4. *Note Basics of Variable References: Reference. This
functionality was provided in GNU `make' by the `patsubst'
function before the alternate syntax was implemented for
compatibility with SunOS 4. It is not altogether clear who
inspired whom, since GNU `make' had `patsubst' before SunOS 4 was
released.
* The special significance of `+' characters preceding command lines
(*note Instead of Executing the Commands: Instead of Execution.) is
mandated by `IEEE Standard 1003.2-1992' (POSIX.2).
* The `+=' syntax to append to the value of a variable comes from
SunOS 4 `make'. *Note Appending More Text to Variables: Appending.
* The syntax `ARCHIVE(MEM1 MEM2...)' to list multiple members in a
single archive file comes from SunOS 4 `make'. *Note Archive
Members::.
* The `-include' directive to include makefiles with no error for a
nonexistent file comes from SunOS 4 `make'. (But note that SunOS 4
`make' does not allow multiple makefiles to be specified in one
`-include' directive.) The same feature appears with the name
`sinclude' in SGI `make' and perhaps others.
The remaining features are inventions new in GNU `make':
* Use the `-v' or `--version' option to print version and copyright
information.
* Use the `-h' or `--help' option to summarize the options to `make'.
* Simply-expanded variables. *Note The Two Flavors of Variables:
Flavors.
* Pass command-line variable assignments automatically through the
variable `MAKE' to recursive `make' invocations. *Note Recursive
Use of `make': Recursion.
* Use the `-C' or `--directory' command option to change directory.
*Note Summary of Options: Options Summary.
* Make verbatim variable definitions with `define'. *Note Defining
Variables Verbatim: Defining.
* Declare phony targets with the special target `.PHONY'.
Andrew Hume of AT&T Bell Labs implemented a similar feature with a
different syntax in his `mk' program. This seems to be a case of
parallel discovery. *Note Phony Targets: Phony Targets.
* Manipulate text by calling functions. *Note Functions for
Transforming Text: Functions.
* Use the `-o' or `--old-file' option to pretend a file's
modification-time is old. *Note Avoiding Recompilation of Some
Files: Avoiding Compilation.
* Conditional execution.
This feature has been implemented numerous times in various
versions of `make'; it seems a natural extension derived from the
features of the C preprocessor and similar macro languages and is
not a revolutionary concept. *Note Conditional Parts of
Makefiles: Conditionals.
* Specify a search path for included makefiles. *Note Including
Other Makefiles: Include.
* Specify extra makefiles to read with an environment variable.
*Note The Variable `MAKEFILES': MAKEFILES Variable.
* Strip leading sequences of `./' from file names, so that `./FILE'
and `FILE' are considered to be the same file.
* Use a special search method for library prerequisites written in
the form `-lNAME'. *Note Directory Search for Link Libraries:
Libraries/Search.
* Allow suffixes for suffix rules (*note Old-Fashioned Suffix Rules:
Suffix Rules.) to contain any characters. In other versions of
`make', they must begin with `.' and not contain any `/'
characters.
* Keep track of the current level of `make' recursion using the
variable `MAKELEVEL'. *Note Recursive Use of `make': Recursion.
* Provide any goals given on the command line in the variable
`MAKECMDGOALS'. *Note Arguments to Specify the Goals: Goals.
* Specify static pattern rules. *Note Static Pattern Rules: Static
Pattern.
* Provide selective `vpath' search. *Note Searching Directories for
Prerequisites: Directory Search.
* Provide computed variable references. *Note Basics of Variable
References: Reference.
* Update makefiles. *Note How Makefiles Are Remade: Remaking
Makefiles. System V `make' has a very, very limited form of this
functionality in that it will check out SCCS files for makefiles.
* Various new built-in implicit rules. *Note Catalogue of Implicit
Rules: Catalogue of Rules.
* The built-in variable `MAKE_VERSION' gives the version number of
`make'.
File: make.info, Node: Missing, Next: Makefile Conventions, Prev: Features, Up: Top
Incompatibilities and Missing Features
**************************************
The `make' programs in various other systems support a few features
that are not implemented in GNU `make'. The POSIX.2 standard (`IEEE
Standard 1003.2-1992') which specifies `make' does not require any of
these features.
* A target of the form `FILE((ENTRY))' stands for a member of
archive file FILE. The member is chosen, not by name, but by
being an object file which defines the linker symbol ENTRY.
This feature was not put into GNU `make' because of the
nonmodularity of putting knowledge into `make' of the internal
format of archive file symbol tables. *Note Updating Archive
Symbol Directories: Archive Symbols.
* Suffixes (used in suffix rules) that end with the character `~'
have a special meaning to System V `make'; they refer to the SCCS
file that corresponds to the file one would get without the `~'.
For example, the suffix rule `.c~.o' would make the file `N.o' from
the SCCS file `s.N.c'. For complete coverage, a whole series of
such suffix rules is required. *Note Old-Fashioned Suffix Rules:
Suffix Rules.
In GNU `make', this entire series of cases is handled by two
pattern rules for extraction from SCCS, in combination with the
general feature of rule chaining. *Note Chains of Implicit Rules:
Chained Rules.
* In System V `make', the string `$$@' has the strange meaning that,
in the prerequisites of a rule with multiple targets, it stands
for the particular target that is being processed.
This is not defined in GNU `make' because `$$' should always stand
for an ordinary `$'.
It is possible to get portions of this functionality through the
use of static pattern rules (*note Static Pattern Rules: Static
Pattern.). The System V `make' rule:
$(targets): $$@.o lib.a
can be replaced with the GNU `make' static pattern rule:
$(targets): %: %.o lib.a
* In System V and 4.3 BSD `make', files found by `VPATH' search
(*note Searching Directories for Prerequisites: Directory Search.)
have their names changed inside command strings. We feel it is
much cleaner to always use automatic variables and thus make this
feature obsolete.
* In some Unix `make's, the automatic variable `$*' appearing in the
prerequisites of a rule has the amazingly strange "feature" of
expanding to the full name of the _target of that rule_. We cannot
imagine what went on in the minds of Unix `make' developers to do
this; it is utterly inconsistent with the normal definition of
`$*'.
* In some Unix `make's, implicit rule search (*note Using Implicit
Rules: Implicit Rules.) is apparently done for _all_ targets, not
just those without commands. This means you can do:
foo.o:
cc -c foo.c
and Unix `make' will intuit that `foo.o' depends on `foo.c'.
We feel that such usage is broken. The prerequisite properties of
`make' are well-defined (for GNU `make', at least), and doing such
a thing simply does not fit the model.
* GNU `make' does not include any built-in implicit rules for
compiling or preprocessing EFL programs. If we hear of anyone who
is using EFL, we will gladly add them.
* It appears that in SVR4 `make', a suffix rule can be specified with
no commands, and it is treated as if it had empty commands (*note
Empty Commands::). For example:
.c.a:
will override the built-in `.c.a' suffix rule.
We feel that it is cleaner for a rule without commands to always
simply add to the prerequisite list for the target. The above
example can be easily rewritten to get the desired behavior in GNU
`make':
.c.a: ;
* Some versions of `make' invoke the shell with the `-e' flag,
except under `-k' (*note Testing the Compilation of a Program:
Testing.). The `-e' flag tells the shell to exit as soon as any
program it runs returns a nonzero status. We feel it is cleaner to
write each shell command line to stand on its own and not require
this special treatment.
File: make.info, Node: Makefile Conventions, Next: Quick Reference, Prev: Missing, Up: Top
Makefile Conventions
********************
This node describes conventions for writing the Makefiles for GNU
programs. Using Automake will help you write a Makefile that follows
these conventions.
* Menu:
* Makefile Basics:: General Conventions for Makefiles
* Utilities in Makefiles:: Utilities in Makefiles
* Command Variables:: Variables for Specifying Commands
* Directory Variables:: Variables for Installation Directories
* Standard Targets:: Standard Targets for Users
* Install Command Categories:: Three categories of commands in the `install'
rule: normal, pre-install and post-install.
File: make.info, Node: Makefile Basics, Next: Utilities in Makefiles, Up: Makefile Conventions
General Conventions for Makefiles
=================================
Every Makefile should contain this line:
SHELL = /bin/sh
to avoid trouble on systems where the `SHELL' variable might be
inherited from the environment. (This is never a problem with GNU
`make'.)
Different `make' programs have incompatible suffix lists and
implicit rules, and this sometimes creates confusion or misbehavior. So
it is a good idea to set the suffix list explicitly using only the
suffixes you need in the particular Makefile, like this:
.SUFFIXES:
.SUFFIXES: .c .o
The first line clears out the suffix list, the second introduces all
suffixes which may be subject to implicit rules in this Makefile.
Don't assume that `.' is in the path for command execution. When
you need to run programs that are a part of your package during the
make, please make sure that it uses `./' if the program is built as
part of the make or `$(srcdir)/' if the file is an unchanging part of
the source code. Without one of these prefixes, the current search
path is used.
The distinction between `./' (the "build directory") and
`$(srcdir)/' (the "source directory") is important because users can
build in a separate directory using the `--srcdir' option to
`configure'. A rule of the form:
foo.1 : foo.man sedscript
sed -e sedscript foo.man > foo.1
will fail when the build directory is not the source directory, because
`foo.man' and `sedscript' are in the the source directory.
When using GNU `make', relying on `VPATH' to find the source file
will work in the case where there is a single dependency file, since
the `make' automatic variable `$<' will represent the source file
wherever it is. (Many versions of `make' set `$<' only in implicit
rules.) A Makefile target like
foo.o : bar.c
$(CC) -I. -I$(srcdir) $(CFLAGS) -c bar.c -o foo.o
should instead be written as
foo.o : bar.c
$(CC) -I. -I$(srcdir) $(CFLAGS) -c $< -o $@
in order to allow `VPATH' to work correctly. When the target has
multiple dependencies, using an explicit `$(srcdir)' is the easiest way
to make the rule work well. For example, the target above for `foo.1'
is best written as:
foo.1 : foo.man sedscript
sed -e $(srcdir)/sedscript $(srcdir)/foo.man > $@
GNU distributions usually contain some files which are not source
files--for example, Info files, and the output from Autoconf, Automake,
Bison or Flex. Since these files normally appear in the source
directory, they should always appear in the source directory, not in the
build directory. So Makefile rules to update them should put the
updated files in the source directory.
However, if a file does not appear in the distribution, then the
Makefile should not put it in the source directory, because building a
program in ordinary circumstances should not modify the source directory
in any way.
Try to make the build and installation targets, at least (and all
their subtargets) work correctly with a parallel `make'.
File: make.info, Node: Utilities in Makefiles, Next: Command Variables, Prev: Makefile Basics, Up: Makefile Conventions
Utilities in Makefiles
======================
Write the Makefile commands (and any shell scripts, such as
`configure') to run in `sh', not in `csh'. Don't use any special
features of `ksh' or `bash'.
The `configure' script and the Makefile rules for building and
installation should not use any utilities directly except these:
cat cmp cp diff echo egrep expr false grep install-info
ln ls mkdir mv pwd rm rmdir sed sleep sort tar test touch true
The compression program `gzip' can be used in the `dist' rule.
Stick to the generally supported options for these programs. For
example, don't use `mkdir -p', convenient as it may be, because most
systems don't support it.
It is a good idea to avoid creating symbolic links in makefiles,
since a few systems don't support them.
The Makefile rules for building and installation can also use
compilers and related programs, but should do so via `make' variables
so that the user can substitute alternatives. Here are some of the
programs we mean:
ar bison cc flex install ld ldconfig lex
make makeinfo ranlib texi2dvi yacc
Use the following `make' variables to run those programs:
$(AR) $(BISON) $(CC) $(FLEX) $(INSTALL) $(LD) $(LDCONFIG) $(LEX)
$(MAKE) $(MAKEINFO) $(RANLIB) $(TEXI2DVI) $(YACC)
When you use `ranlib' or `ldconfig', you should make sure nothing
bad happens if the system does not have the program in question.
Arrange to ignore an error from that command, and print a message before
the command to tell the user that failure of this command does not mean
a problem. (The Autoconf `AC_PROG_RANLIB' macro can help with this.)
If you use symbolic links, you should implement a fallback for
systems that don't have symbolic links.
Additional utilities that can be used via Make variables are:
chgrp chmod chown mknod
It is ok to use other utilities in Makefile portions (or scripts)
intended only for particular systems where you know those utilities
exist.
File: make.info, Node: Command Variables, Next: Directory Variables, Prev: Utilities in Makefiles, Up: Makefile Conventions
Variables for Specifying Commands
=================================
Makefiles should provide variables for overriding certain commands,
options, and so on.
In particular, you should run most utility programs via variables.
Thus, if you use Bison, have a variable named `BISON' whose default
value is set with `BISON = bison', and refer to it with `$(BISON)'
whenever you need to use Bison.
File management utilities such as `ln', `rm', `mv', and so on, need
not be referred to through variables in this way, since users don't
need to replace them with other programs.
Each program-name variable should come with an options variable that
is used to supply options to the program. Append `FLAGS' to the
program-name variable name to get the options variable name--for
example, `BISONFLAGS'. (The names `CFLAGS' for the C compiler,
`YFLAGS' for yacc, and `LFLAGS' for lex, are exceptions to this rule,
but we keep them because they are standard.) Use `CPPFLAGS' in any
compilation command that runs the preprocessor, and use `LDFLAGS' in
any compilation command that does linking as well as in any direct use
of `ld'.
If there are C compiler options that _must_ be used for proper
compilation of certain files, do not include them in `CFLAGS'. Users
expect to be able to specify `CFLAGS' freely themselves. Instead,
arrange to pass the necessary options to the C compiler independently
of `CFLAGS', by writing them explicitly in the compilation commands or
by defining an implicit rule, like this:
CFLAGS = -g
ALL_CFLAGS = -I. $(CFLAGS)
.c.o:
$(CC) -c $(CPPFLAGS) $(ALL_CFLAGS) $<
Do include the `-g' option in `CFLAGS', because that is not
_required_ for proper compilation. You can consider it a default that
is only recommended. If the package is set up so that it is compiled
with GCC by default, then you might as well include `-O' in the default
value of `CFLAGS' as well.
Put `CFLAGS' last in the compilation command, after other variables
containing compiler options, so the user can use `CFLAGS' to override
the others.
`CFLAGS' should be used in every invocation of the C compiler, both
those which do compilation and those which do linking.
Every Makefile should define the variable `INSTALL', which is the
basic command for installing a file into the system.
Every Makefile should also define the variables `INSTALL_PROGRAM'
and `INSTALL_DATA'. (The default for each of these should be
`$(INSTALL)'.) Then it should use those variables as the commands for
actual installation, for executables and nonexecutables respectively.
Use these variables as follows:
$(INSTALL_PROGRAM) foo $(bindir)/foo
$(INSTALL_DATA) libfoo.a $(libdir)/libfoo.a
Optionally, you may prepend the value of `DESTDIR' to the target
filename. Doing this allows the installer to create a snapshot of the
installation to be copied onto the real target filesystem later. Do not
set the value of `DESTDIR' in your Makefile, and do not include it in
any installed files. With support for `DESTDIR', the above examples
become:
$(INSTALL_PROGRAM) foo $(DESTDIR)$(bindir)/foo
$(INSTALL_DATA) libfoo.a $(DESTDIR)$(libdir)/libfoo.a
Always use a file name, not a directory name, as the second argument of
the installation commands. Use a separate command for each file to be
installed.
File: make.info, Node: Directory Variables, Next: Standard Targets, Prev: Command Variables, Up: Makefile Conventions
Variables for Installation Directories
======================================
Installation directories should always be named by variables, so it
is easy to install in a nonstandard place. The standard names for these
variables are described below. They are based on a standard filesystem
layout; variants of it are used in SVR4, 4.4BSD, Linux, Ultrix v4, and
other modern operating systems.
These two variables set the root for the installation. All the other
installation directories should be subdirectories of one of these two,
and nothing should be directly installed into these two directories.
`prefix'
A prefix used in constructing the default values of the variables
listed below. The default value of `prefix' should be
`/usr/local'. When building the complete GNU system, the prefix
will be empty and `/usr' will be a symbolic link to `/'. (If you
are using Autoconf, write it as `@prefix@'.)
Running `make install' with a different value of `prefix' from the
one used to build the program should NOT recompile the program.
`exec_prefix'
A prefix used in constructing the default values of some of the
variables listed below. The default value of `exec_prefix' should
be `$(prefix)'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as
`@exec_prefix@'.)
Generally, `$(exec_prefix)' is used for directories that contain
machine-specific files (such as executables and subroutine
libraries), while `$(prefix)' is used directly for other
directories.
Running `make install' with a different value of `exec_prefix'
from the one used to build the program should NOT recompile the
program.
Executable programs are installed in one of the following
directories.
`bindir'
The directory for installing executable programs that users can
run. This should normally be `/usr/local/bin', but write it as
`$(exec_prefix)/bin'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as
`@bindir@'.)
`sbindir'
The directory for installing executable programs that can be run
from the shell, but are only generally useful to system
administrators. This should normally be `/usr/local/sbin', but
write it as `$(exec_prefix)/sbin'. (If you are using Autoconf,
write it as `@sbindir@'.)
`libexecdir'
The directory for installing executable programs to be run by other
programs rather than by users. This directory should normally be
`/usr/local/libexec', but write it as `$(exec_prefix)/libexec'.
(If you are using Autoconf, write it as `@libexecdir@'.)
Data files used by the program during its execution are divided into
categories in two ways.
* Some files are normally modified by programs; others are never
normally modified (though users may edit some of these).
* Some files are architecture-independent and can be shared by all
machines at a site; some are architecture-dependent and can be
shared only by machines of the same kind and operating system;
others may never be shared between two machines.
This makes for six different possibilities. However, we want to
discourage the use of architecture-dependent files, aside from object
files and libraries. It is much cleaner to make other data files
architecture-independent, and it is generally not hard.
Therefore, here are the variables Makefiles should use to specify
directories:
`datadir'
The directory for installing read-only architecture independent
data files. This should normally be `/usr/local/share', but write
it as `$(prefix)/share'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as
`@datadir@'.) As a special exception, see `$(infodir)' and
`$(includedir)' below.
`sysconfdir'
The directory for installing read-only data files that pertain to a
single machine-that is to say, files for configuring a host.
Mailer and network configuration files, `/etc/passwd', and so
forth belong here. All the files in this directory should be
ordinary ASCII text files. This directory should normally be
`/usr/local/etc', but write it as `$(prefix)/etc'. (If you are
using Autoconf, write it as `@sysconfdir@'.)
Do not install executables here in this directory (they probably
belong in `$(libexecdir)' or `$(sbindir)'). Also do not install
files that are modified in the normal course of their use (programs
whose purpose is to change the configuration of the system
excluded). Those probably belong in `$(localstatedir)'.
`sharedstatedir'
The directory for installing architecture-independent data files
which the programs modify while they run. This should normally be
`/usr/local/com', but write it as `$(prefix)/com'. (If you are
using Autoconf, write it as `@sharedstatedir@'.)
`localstatedir'
The directory for installing data files which the programs modify
while they run, and that pertain to one specific machine. Users
should never need to modify files in this directory to configure
the package's operation; put such configuration information in
separate files that go in `$(datadir)' or `$(sysconfdir)'.
`$(localstatedir)' should normally be `/usr/local/var', but write
it as `$(prefix)/var'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as
`@localstatedir@'.)
`libdir'
The directory for object files and libraries of object code. Do
not install executables here, they probably ought to go in
`$(libexecdir)' instead. The value of `libdir' should normally be
`/usr/local/lib', but write it as `$(exec_prefix)/lib'. (If you
are using Autoconf, write it as `@libdir@'.)
`infodir'
The directory for installing the Info files for this package. By
default, it should be `/usr/local/info', but it should be written
as `$(prefix)/info'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as
`@infodir@'.)
`lispdir'
The directory for installing any Emacs Lisp files in this package.
By default, it should be `/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp', but
it should be written as `$(prefix)/share/emacs/site-lisp'.
If you are using Autoconf, write the default as `@lispdir@'. In
order to make `@lispdir@' work, you need the following lines in
your `configure.in' file:
lispdir='${datadir}/emacs/site-lisp'
AC_SUBST(lispdir)
`includedir'
The directory for installing header files to be included by user
programs with the C `#include' preprocessor directive. This
should normally be `/usr/local/include', but write it as
`$(prefix)/include'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it as
`@includedir@'.)
Most compilers other than GCC do not look for header files in
directory `/usr/local/include'. So installing the header files
this way is only useful with GCC. Sometimes this is not a problem
because some libraries are only really intended to work with GCC.
But some libraries are intended to work with other compilers.
They should install their header files in two places, one
specified by `includedir' and one specified by `oldincludedir'.
`oldincludedir'
The directory for installing `#include' header files for use with
compilers other than GCC. This should normally be `/usr/include'.
(If you are using Autoconf, you can write it as `@oldincludedir@'.)
The Makefile commands should check whether the value of
`oldincludedir' is empty. If it is, they should not try to use
it; they should cancel the second installation of the header files.
A package should not replace an existing header in this directory
unless the header came from the same package. Thus, if your Foo
package provides a header file `foo.h', then it should install the
header file in the `oldincludedir' directory if either (1) there
is no `foo.h' there or (2) the `foo.h' that exists came from the
Foo package.
To tell whether `foo.h' came from the Foo package, put a magic
string in the file--part of a comment--and `grep' for that string.
Unix-style man pages are installed in one of the following:
`mandir'
The top-level directory for installing the man pages (if any) for
this package. It will normally be `/usr/local/man', but you should
write it as `$(prefix)/man'. (If you are using Autoconf, write it
as `@mandir@'.)
`man1dir'
The directory for installing section 1 man pages. Write it as
`$(mandir)/man1'.
`man2dir'
The directory for installing section 2 man pages. Write it as
`$(mandir)/man2'
`...'
*Don't make the primary documentation for any GNU software be a
man page. Write a manual in Texinfo instead. Man pages are just
for the sake of people running GNU software on Unix, which is a
secondary application only.*
`manext'
The file name extension for the installed man page. This should
contain a period followed by the appropriate digit; it should
normally be `.1'.
`man1ext'
The file name extension for installed section 1 man pages.
`man2ext'
The file name extension for installed section 2 man pages.
`...'
Use these names instead of `manext' if the package needs to
install man pages in more than one section of the manual.
And finally, you should set the following variable:
`srcdir'
The directory for the sources being compiled. The value of this
variable is normally inserted by the `configure' shell script.
(If you are using Autconf, use `srcdir = @srcdir@'.)
For example:
# Common prefix for installation directories.
# NOTE: This directory must exist when you start the install.
prefix = /usr/local
exec_prefix = $(prefix)
# Where to put the executable for the command `gcc'.
bindir = $(exec_prefix)/bin
# Where to put the directories used by the compiler.
libexecdir = $(exec_prefix)/libexec
# Where to put the Info files.
infodir = $(prefix)/info
If your program installs a large number of files into one of the
standard user-specified directories, it might be useful to group them
into a subdirectory particular to that program. If you do this, you
should write the `install' rule to create these subdirectories.
Do not expect the user to include the subdirectory name in the value
of any of the variables listed above. The idea of having a uniform set
of variable names for installation directories is to enable the user to
specify the exact same values for several different GNU packages. In
order for this to be useful, all the packages must be designed so that
they will work sensibly when the user does so.