GNU Make.md

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toc: no category: Linux ...

I (/who/astynax) use GNU make really often. Every time I need to remember some long command or two I prefer to add a Makefile with single .PHONY target instead.

Yes, "shortcut management" is not the main function of Make but nowadays most Linux newcomers are using it just this way. Even modern tutorials are keeping focus only on "command" execution. Sad but true.

I myself is trying to use Make as build toot when it is convenient. Most of the languages I use have their own build tools so I need to make something only in very specific situations, but when I need it Make can save the day!

Also I have some alternatives to choose from when I feel what my Makefile grows too large. /Shake (build system) is the one of such variants.

Fun stuff

Here is a "static site generator" that uses /pandoc to build simple static site from the bunch of /Markdown files.

.PHONY: markdown
markdown:
	find src/ -name *.md -print \
	| sed -e 's/\.md$$/\.html/' \
	| sed -e 's/src/_site/' \
	| xargs -n 1 make

_site/%.html: src/%.md
	test -d $(@D) || mkdir -p $(@D)
	pandoc -s -o "$@" "$<"

.PHONY: clean
clean: _site
	rm -r _site

(Yes, I know, this sed-dark-magic looks scary! :))