make –

maintain groups
determine need, issue commands.

examples are very common,
use make with any language.

In fact, make is not limited to programs.

use it to describe any task where some
must be updated automatically
whenever others change.

To use make, you must write a makefile
that describes the relationships

Once a suitable makefile exists,
each time you change, this simple command:
make
suffices to perform all necessary recompilations.

Print information. The information says
which are being considered,
which are being compared,
which actually need to be remade,
which rules are applied—everything interesting
about how make decides what to do.

Ignore all errors.

Continue as much as possible after an error,
then execute as usual or as otherwise specified.

Eliminate use of the built-in implicit rules.

Touch them without really changing them.

This is used to pretend
that the commands were done,
in order to fool
future invocations of make.

Information about the disposition of each target is printed
plus a notice
that there is no warranty.

Pretend that the target has just been modified.
this shows you what would happen.

it is almost the same as a touch,
except that the modification is only in the
imagination of make.

See the chapter “Problems and Bugs”
—
Found poem (erasure) from the Linux Man Pages. Original text at:
https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/make.1.html
This manual page contributed by Dennis Morse of Stanford University. Further updates contributed by Mike Frysinger. It has been reworked by Roland McGrath. Maintained by Paul Smith.