The utility simply known as make is one of the most enduring features of both Unix and other operating systems. First invented in the 1970s, make still turns up to this day as the central engine in most programming projects; it even builds the Linux kernel. In the third edition of the classic Managing Projects with make, you will learn why this utility continues to hold its top position in project build software, despite many younger competitors.

The premise behind make is simple: after you change source files and want to rebuild your program or other output files, make checks timestamps to see what has changed and rebuilds just what you need, without wasting time rebuilding other files. But on top of this simple principle, make layers a rich collection of options that lets you manipulate multiple directories, build different versions of programs for different platforms, and customize your builds in other ways.

This edition focuses on the GNU version of make, which has deservedly become the industry standard. GNU make contains powerful extensions that are fully explored in this book. GNU make is also popular because it is free software and provides a version for almost every platform, including a version for Microsoft Windows, as part of the free Cygwin project.

• Basic Concepts
  • How to Write a Simple Makefile
  • Rules
  • Variables and Macros
  • Functions
  • Commands
• Advanced and Specialized Topics
  • Managing Large Projects
  • Portable Makefiles
  • C and C++
  • Java
  • Improving the Performance of make
  • Example Makefiles
  • Debugging Makefiles
• Appendixes
  • A. Running make
  • B. The Outer Limits
  • C. GNU Free Documentation License-GNU Project-Free Software Foundation (FSF)