Is there any way to create multiline functions out of Makefile commands?
I know we can do something like this to encapsulate a recipe (of shell commands) as a function:
define function
#echo 'First argument: $1'
#echo 'Second argument: $2'
endef
.PHONY test-function
test-function:
$(call function, a, b)
With this, running make test-function will give the output:
First argument: a
Second argument: b
I also know we can use the call directive with one-line macros consisting of make syntax/directives (example taken from here):
pathsearch = $(firstword $(wildcard $(addsuffix /$(1),$(subst :, ,$(PATH)))))
LS := $(call pathsearch,ls)
But let's say I wanted to call a macro made up of multiple make commands, including conditionals. How would I achieve that?
When I run make build-type=API build with the following Makefile:
define check-arguments
ifeq ($1, api)
#echo 'Building API'
else ifeq ($1, service)
#echo 'Building Service'
else
$$(error 'Build type must be API or Service')
endif
endef
.PHONY: build
build:
$(call check-arguments, $(build-type))
#echo 'Starting build'
...
...
I keep getting the error Makefile:13: *** missing separator. Stop..
You can use eval. The GNU Make Manual states:
...it [eval] allows you to define new makefile constructs that are not constant; which are the result of evaluating other variables and functions.
eval will parse ifeq and $(error) as part of the makefile instead of as commands for the recipe.
One thing to keep in mind is that eval parses its input by itself, without regard for the surrounding syntax of the makefile. This means that you cannot use it to define only part of a rule, like in your example:
build:
$(call check-arguments, $(build-type))
If we use $(eval $(call check-arguments, $(build-type))), then eval will parse the expansion of check-arguments by itself and complain because the recipe has no target. (See this answer.) The solution here is to include build: in check-arguments somehow.
While having $(eval) is fine, I would like to recommend a different approach, based on target resolution instead of conditionals, like so:
$ cat Makefile
supported_build_types := api service
.PHONY: build
build: build-$(build-type)
.PHONY: $(addprefix build-,$(supported_build_types))
$(addprefix build-,$(supported_build_types)): build-%:
#echo 'Building $*'
#echo 'Starting build'
.PHONY: build-
build-:
$(error Must provide build-type of: $(supported_build_types))
.PHONY: build-%
build-%:
$(error Unsupported build type: $*. Must be one of: $(supported_build_types))
This can allow easier extensibility and maintenance while keeping away nuisances of $(eval)s, $(call)s and appropriate escaping.
Running supported build types:
$ make build build-type=api
Building api
Starting build
$ make build build-type=service
Building service
Starting build
Invalid build type:
$ make build build-type=foo
Makefile:17: *** Unsupported build type: foo. Must be one of: api service. Stop.
Missing build type:
$ make build
Makefile:13: *** Must provide build-type of: api service. Stop.
I'm writing a macro that creates an empty target file name from a given name. And also redirects the named target to that empty target name.
After running this function I'm expecting my Makefile to look like this:
a:./build/._a
./build/._a:
#echo building $#
However I constantly get this:
$ make a
a:./build/._a
Makefile:7: *** missing separator. Stop.
Here's my Makefile:
define empty_target
$(eval $2:=./build/._$1)
$(info $1:$($2))
$(eval $1:$($2))
endef
$(call empty_target,a,_A)
$(_A):
#echo building $#
This will do it:
define empty_target
$(eval $2:=./build/._$1)
$1:$($2)
endef
$(eval $(call empty_target,a,_A))
$(info _A=$(_A))
$(_A):
#echo building $#
And yes, there's a nested eval, which you need if you want the variable assignment to take effect inside of the eval call (otherwise $2 is expanded before it is set, and expands to blank).
As to your original code, I agree, it's somewhat confusing why it raises that error. I can reproduce, and if I add the line blah:blah2 in the middle of empty_target, it seems to get rid of the message. I'm guessing it is a bug in how make colapses whitespace/newlines between the $(eval) calls.
In a makefile I'm trying to compare the target name with a string, and depending on this set a variable with a string or another.
This example illustrates what I'm trying to do:
ifeq ($#,"Target_A")
THE_PATH="Path_a"
THE_TARGET=$#
else
THE_PATH="Path_b"
THE_TARGET=$#
endif
Target_A:
#echo $(THE_PATH)
#echo $(THE_TARGET)
Target_B:
#echo $(THE_PATH)
#echo $(THE_TARGET)
This is the output when I call make passing Target_A and when I call it passing Target_B:
$ make Target_A
Path_b
Target_A
$ make Target_B
Path_b
Target_B
The fact that I always get "Path_b" indicates the ifeq always evaluates to false, but you can see that $# contained the right string.
Why doesn't this work?
You probably want target-specific variables:
Target_A: THE_PATH="Path_a"
Target_A:
#echo $(THE_PATH)
Since contents of a (regular) variable are expanded each time it's used, THE_TARGET=$# can be made global.
Target-specific variables are only accesible in a target they belong to, and its dependencies.
Normally this is enough, but if you need to have global variables, you can use the same code you have in the question, with the condition changed to this:
ifneq ($(filter Target_A,$(MAKECMDGOALS)),)
$# (which you tried to use) only works inside of a recipe, and expands to a target name that the recipe builds.
$(MAKECMDGOALS) is a global variable that contains all targets specified (as command-line parameters) when invoking make.
This option will only work if the target you're looking for was specified as a command-line parameter.
I am trying to compile for different software directories with different optimization levels etc. I created the following makefile to do so:
OWNER = betsy molly fred
DOG = poodle mutt doberman
COLOUR = brown red yellow
ATTR = big small
LEGS = 0 3
#we want every possible combination to be excercised
OUTPUT_STUFF = $(foreach own,$(OWNER),$(foreach dog,$(DOG),$(foreach col,$(COLOUR),$(foreach attr,$(ATTR),$(foreach legs,$(LEGS),new/$(own)/$(dog)/$(col)/$(attr)/$(legs)/dogInfo.txt)))))
.PHONY: all
all: $(OUTPUT_STUFF)
define PROGRAM_template
own = $(1)
dog = $(2)
col = $(3)
attr = $(4)
legs = $(5)
BUILD_DIR = new/$(own)/$(dog)/$(col)/$(attr)/$(legs)
#for each build directory, we are going to put a file in it containing the build dir. string
$$(BUILD_DIR)/dogInfo.txt:
#echo "$$#"
mkdir $$(BUILD_DIR)
#echo "$$(BUILD_DIR)" > $$(BUILD_DIR)/dogInfo.txt
endef
#call the function many times
$(foreach own,$(OWNER),$(foreach dog,$(DOG),$(foreach col,$(COLOUR),$(foreach attr,$(ATTR),$(foreach legs,$(LEGS),$(eval $(call PROGRAM_template,$(own),$(dog),$(col),$(attr),$(legs))))))))
As you can see, this simple test program loops through different combinations of owner, dog etc. The end goal is to have a directory, new, that has all owners as dirs, and in those, all dogs, etc. At the bottom is just a file with the path in it.
When I run this, the output is:
new/betsy/poodle/brown/big/0/dogInfo.txt
mkdir new/fred/doberman/yellow/small/3
mkdir: cannot create directory `new/fred/doberman/yellow/small/3': No such file or directory
make: *** [new/betsy/poodle/brown/big/0/dogInfo.txt] Error 1
So, for some reason, the target is ok, but the seemingly exact same variable is the last in my loops. Fundamentally, I don't understand what is happening that well.
Weird foreach + user-defined function behavior in Makefiles seems to answer, but I don't fully get it. In my mind, when the function is called, it fills in all instances with one $, and the escaped ones become $(BUILD_DIR). It then 'pastes' the code to the temporary file, and after it's done all the calls it evaluates the file, substituting the variables as normal.
One (ugly) solution I thought of is to make the BUILD_DIR variable different every time like so:
B_D_$(1)_$(2)_$(3)_$(4)_$(5) = ~~~
Alex is correct (although I think he means recipe, not receipt :-)). The best way to debug complex eval issues is to replace the eval function with a call to info instead. So if you have something like:
$(foreach A,$(STUFF),$(eval $(call func,$A)))
then you can rewrite this as:
$(foreach A,$(STUFF),$(info $(call func,$A)))
Now make will print out to you exactly what the eval is going to parse. It's usually pretty clear, looking at the makefile output, what the problem is. In your case you'll see something like this in the output (leaving out all the extra variable settings):
BUILD_DIR = new/betsy/poodle/brown/big/0
$(BUILD_DIR)/dogInfo.txt:
#echo "$$#"
mkdir $(BUILD_DIR)
#echo "$(BUILD_DIR)" > $(BUILD_DIR)/dogInfo.txt
BUILD_DIR = new/betsy/poodle/brown/big/3
$(BUILD_DIR)/dogInfo.txt:
#echo "$$#"
mkdir $(BUILD_DIR)
#echo "$(BUILD_DIR)" > $(BUILD_DIR)/dogInfo.txt
etc. Notice how you're setting the global variable BUILD_DIR every time. In make, variables have only one value (at a time). While make is reading the makefile it expands the target and prerequisite lists immediately, so whatever value BUILD_DIR has at that time will be used for targets/prerequisites, so this works for you.
But when make finishes reading the makefile, the value of BUILD_DIR will always be the last thing you set it to; in this case new/fred/doberman/yellow/small/3. Now make starts to invoke the recipes for each target, and when it does that it will expand BUILD_DIR in the recipes then, and so ALL the recipes will get that same value.
As Alex points out, you should ensure that your recipe uses only automatic variables like $#, which are set correctly for each rule. If you do that you'll notice that you don't really need to redefine the rule at all because it's actually the same recipe for all the targets. And if you notice THAT, you'll notice you don't need the whole eval or call complexity in the first place.
All you have to do is compute the names of all the targets, then write a single rule:
ALLDOGINFO = $(foreach own,$(OWNER),$(foreach dog,$(DOG),$(foreach col,$(COLOUR),$(foreach attr,$(ATTR),$(foreach legs,$(LEGS),new/$(own)/$(dog)/$(col)/$(attr)/$(legs)/dogInfo.txt)))))
$(ALLDOGINFO):
#echo "$#"
mkdir $(dir $#)
#echo "$(dir $#)" > $#
If you don't want the trailing slash you have to use $(patsubst %/,%,$(dir $#)) instead.
The problem is that when $$(BUILD_DIR) is evaluated in receipt, the loop is already complete. The solution is to rewrite the receipt:
$$(BUILD_DIR)/dogInfo.txt:
#echo "$$#"
mkdir $$(#D)
#echo "$$(#D)" > $$#
I don't think your problem is necessarily with something to do with make. This command:
mkdir new/fred/doberman/yellow/small/3
will fail if one of the parent directories (for example, yellow) doesn't already exist. The error it spits out in this case is the one you're getting, so it seems likely this is the case. If you want a command that makes all parent directories of a given directory as needed, you should run mkdir -p, like this:
mkdir -p $$(BUILD_DIR)
See the mkdir man page for a full description of what -p does.
I've written a fairly simple test Makefile where I define two targets, all & clean. I've got two different conditional statements. One checks for the existence of the $(MAKECMDGOALS) special variable and the other detects whether any of the command line targets matched those listed in a variable (NODEPS). The problem I'm having is that none of the branches within my conditionals get executed. Ultimately I want to use a conditional to decide whether the target I'm supplying should include some autogenerated dependency files but at the moment I'm struggling to get either expression to even evaluate. I'm running GNU make version 3.81 and I've tried it under Ubuntu and Mac OS X to no avail.
NODEPS := clean
INCLUDE = $(filter $(NODEPS),$(MAKECMDGOALS))
.PHONY : all clean
ifndef $(MAKECMDGOALS)
#echo "$$(MAKECMDGOALS) is not defined"
else
#echo "$(MAKECMDGOALS) is defined"
endif
ifneq (0, $(words $(INCLUDE)))
#echo "INCLUDE = $(INCLUDE) != 0"
else
#echo "INCLUDE = $(INCLUDE) == 0"
endif
all :
#echo "all : $(MAKECMDGOALS)"
clean :
#echo "clean : $(MAKECMDGOALS)"
I eventually managed to work out what was wrong. #eriktous was right, pointing out that I should be using $(info) rather than #echo. More subtly though, part of the problem was that I'd indented the #echos with a tab. It seems that tabs are mandatory for rules but not allowed in conditionals. The other mistake was I'd expanded the $(MAKECMDGOALS) variable in the test condition when it should have been written as just ifndef MAKECMDGOALS.
https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/html_node/Make-Control-Functions.html
A makefile is not a shell script. You can not "randomly" place executable statements anywhere you like and expect them to be executed.
There are various ways of communicating with the outside world from within a makefile: $(info ...), $(warning ...), $(error ...) and $(shell #echo ...) (some or all of these may be GNU make extensions).
Ps: you misspelled PHONY.