It can be said that the “Makefile” is a machine-readable documentation that captures the desired workflow in the form of certain syntaxes. It can be used to compile java files, run a couple of shell commands, etc. It is a multi-purpose tool and not specific to any languages.A built-in tool natively available in all the distributions of ‘Linux’ and ‘Unix’ Operating Systems except the ones that need to be small in size (Like alpine linux, etc.) as much as possible.Essential in compiling the code written in “C” or “C++” language.Not just a tool to build large binaries.At most places, the “Makefile” will be given the same name. By default, the “Make” command searches for a file named “Makefile” if the “Makefile” is not explicitly specified.The “Make” command uses this “Makefile” to know the steps to build the binaries from the source code.MakeĪn automation tool predominantly used to compile and construct the binary executable files from a complex source code involving multiple imports and libraries. We have taken a look at any example as well to clear the concepts.

In this article, we have explained the concepts behind Make tool and Makefile which forms the basics of compiling and building executables for a C/ C++ project codebase. Reading time: 30 minutes | Coding time: 5 minutes

Makefile for c program