Handling of complex tasks with make

MAKE AND BAKE

Article from Issue 75/2007
Author(s):

Developers, LaTeX users, and system administrators can all harness the power of make.

Anyone who has compiled a program from the source code will be familiar with the make tool, the central part of the configure, make, make install three-card trick for building and installing software on Linux. This is not the only situation in which make provides useful service. Make can also assist with other tasks, for example, in larger projects, LaTeX users can use make to automatically recompile and create a Postscript or PDF document if one or multiple source files have changed. Make also helps sysadmins, and it can automatically launch a backup script if you have modified one or more files. A control file, makefile, describes the chores you want make to handle. After setting up the makefile, you can simply call make – and let it do all the work.

Buy this article as PDF

Express-Checkout as PDF
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
 
SUBSCRIPTIONS
 
TABLET & SMARTPHONE APPS
Get it on Google Play

US / Canada

Get it on Google Play

UK / Australia

Related content

  • Command Line: Data Flow

    Working in the shell has many benefits. Pipelines, redirectors, and chains of commands give users almost infinite options.

  • Books
  • Perl: CPAN Additions

    Many people have declared the granddaddy of scripting, Perl, to be dead. A look at new items in the CPAN software repository, however, shows that the community is still quite active.

  • Tailored

    Go is not only suitable for complex server programs, but it also cuts a fine figure with simple command-line tools for automating everyday life. Mike Schilli restructures the signature of a PDF manipulation tool.

  • KTools: KreetingKard

    If you want to send your friends birthday greetings or a personalized picture postcard, KreetingKard can help.

comments powered by Disqus
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters

Support Our Work

Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

Learn More

News