Makefile Grammar - makefile

Question

Is there anywhere a precise makefile grammar definition? Or at least some common subset since I guess that there are some flavors. Such a grammar that could be used for writing a parser.
GNU Make manual doesn't seem to be that precise. It would require some guessing and trial-and-error to write a parser for makefile based on that document.
I also found a similar question on ANTLR mail list. But it remained unanswered which kind of suggests the answer...

Answer 1

I made GNU Make's grammar for myself, you can find the grammar and overview of lexer below. It's not perfect, but it can serve as a starting point for someone who wants something better. Some additional and background information is in the post.
Implementation: lexer and parser.
Bison's dump of the grammar
/* Assign lower precedence to NL. */
/* %precedence NL */
/* %precedence COMMENT "ifdef" "ifndef" "ifeq" "ifneq" */
1 makefile: statements "end of file"
2 | "end of file"
3 statements: br
4 | statement
5 | statements br
6 | statements statement
7 conditional: if_eq_kw condition statements_opt "endif" comment_opt br
8 | if_eq_kw condition statements_opt "else" statements_opt "endif" comment_opt br
9 | if_eq_kw condition statements_opt "else" conditional
10 | if_def_kw identifier statements_opt "endif" comment_opt br
11 | if_def_kw identifier statements_opt "else" statements_opt "endif" comment_opt br
12 | if_def_kw identifier statements_opt "else" conditional
13 conditional_in_recipe: if_eq_kw condition recipes_opt "endif" comment_opt
14 | if_eq_kw condition recipes_opt "else" recipes_opt "endif" comment_opt
15 | if_eq_kw condition recipes_opt "else" conditional_in_recipe
16 | if_def_kw identifier recipes_opt "endif" comment_opt
17 | if_def_kw identifier recipes_opt "else" recipes_opt "endif" comment_opt
18 | if_def_kw identifier recipes_opt "else" conditional_in_recipe
19 condition: '(' expressions_opt ',' expressions_opt ')'
20 | SLIT SLIT
21 define: "define" pattern definition "endef" br
22 | specifiers "define" pattern definition "endef" br
23 | "define" pattern ASSIGN_OP definition "endef" br
24 | specifiers "define" pattern ASSIGN_OP definition "endef" br
25 definition: comment_opt br
26 | comment_opt br exprs_in_def br
27 include: "include" expressions br
28 statements_opt: comment_opt br
29 | comment_opt br statements
30 if_def_kw: "ifdef"
31 | "ifndef"
32 if_eq_kw: "ifeq"
33 | "ifneq"
34 statement: COMMENT
35 | assignment br
36 | function br
37 | rule
38 | conditional
39 | define
40 | include
41 | export br
42 export: "export"
43 | "unexport"
44 | assignment_prefix
45 | assignment_prefix WS targets
46 assignment: pattern ASSIGN_OP comment_opt
47 | pattern ASSIGN_OP exprs_in_assign comment_opt
48 | assignment_prefix ASSIGN_OP comment_opt
49 | assignment_prefix ASSIGN_OP exprs_in_assign comment_opt
50 assignment_prefix: specifiers pattern
51 specifiers: "override"
52 | "export"
53 | "unexport"
54 | "override" "export"
55 | "export" "override"
56 | "undefine"
57 | "override" "undefine"
58 | "undefine" "override"
59 expressions_opt: %empty
60 | expressions
61 expressions: expression
62 | expressions WS expression
63 exprs_nested: expr_nested
64 | exprs_nested WS expr_nested
65 exprs_in_assign: expr_in_assign
66 | exprs_in_assign WS expr_in_assign
67 exprs_in_def: first_expr_in_def
68 | br
69 | br first_expr_in_def
70 | exprs_in_def br
71 | exprs_in_def WS expr_in_recipe
72 | exprs_in_def br first_expr_in_def
73 first_expr_in_def: char_in_def expr_in_recipe
74 | function expr_in_recipe
75 | char_in_def
76 | function
77 exprs_in_recipe: expr_in_recipe
78 | exprs_in_recipe WS expr_in_recipe
79 expression: expression_text
80 | expression_function
81 expr_nested: expr_text_nested
82 | expr_func_nested
83 expr_in_assign: expr_text_in_assign
84 | expr_func_in_assign
85 expr_in_recipe: expr_text_in_recipe
86 | expr_func_in_recipe
87 expression_text: text
88 | expression_function text
89 expr_text_nested: text_nested
90 | expr_func_nested text_nested
91 expr_text_in_assign: text_in_assign
92 | expr_func_in_assign text_in_assign
93 expr_text_in_recipe: text_in_recipe
94 | expr_func_in_recipe text_in_recipe
95 expression_function: function
96 | '(' exprs_nested ')'
97 | expression_text function
98 | expression_function function
99 expr_func_nested: function
100 | '(' exprs_nested ')'
101 | expr_func_nested function
102 | expr_text_nested function
103 expr_func_in_assign: function
104 | expr_func_in_assign function
105 | expr_text_in_assign function
106 expr_func_in_recipe: function
107 | expr_func_in_recipe function
108 | expr_text_in_recipe function
109 function: VAR
110 | "$(" function_name ")"
111 | "$(" function_name WS arguments ")"
112 | "$(" function_name ',' arguments ")"
113 | "$(" function_name ':' expressions ")"
114 | "$(" function_name ASSIGN_OP expressions ")"
115 function_name: function_name_text
116 | function_name_function
117 function_name_text: function_name_piece
118 | function_name_function function_name_piece
119 function_name_piece: CHARS
120 | function_name_piece CHARS
121 function_name_function: function
122 | function_name_text function
123 arguments: %empty
124 | argument
125 | arguments ','
126 | arguments ',' argument
127 argument: expressions
128 rule: targets colon prerequisites NL
129 | targets colon prerequisites recipes NL
130 | targets colon assignment NL
131 target: pattern
132 pattern: pattern_text
133 | pattern_function
134 pattern_text: identifier
135 | pattern_function identifier
136 pattern_function: function
137 | pattern_text function
138 | pattern_function function
139 prerequisites: %empty
140 | targets
141 targets: target
142 | targets WS target
143 recipes: recipe
144 | recipes recipe
145 recipes_opt: comment_opt NL
146 | comment_opt recipes NL
147 recipe: LEADING_TAB exprs_in_recipe
148 | NL conditional_in_recipe
149 | NL COMMENT
150 identifier: CHARS
151 | ','
152 | '('
153 | ')'
154 | identifier CHARS
155 | identifier keywords
156 | identifier ','
157 | identifier '('
158 | identifier ')'
159 text: char
160 | text char
161 text_nested: char_nested
162 | text_nested char_nested
163 text_in_assign: char_in_assign
164 | text_in_assign char_in_assign
165 text_in_recipe: char_in_recipe
166 | text_in_recipe char_in_recipe
167 char: CHARS
168 | SLIT
169 | ASSIGN_OP
170 | ':'
171 char_nested: char
172 | ','
173 char_in_assign: char_nested
174 | '('
175 | ')'
176 | keywords
177 char_in_def: char
178 | '('
179 | ')'
180 | ','
181 | COMMENT
182 | "include"
183 | "override"
184 | "export"
185 | "unexport"
186 | "ifdef"
187 | "ifndef"
188 | "ifeq"
189 | "ifneq"
190 | "else"
191 | "endif"
192 | "define"
193 | "undefine"
194 char_in_recipe: char_in_assign
195 | COMMENT
196 keywords: "include"
197 | "override"
198 | "export"
199 | "unexport"
200 | "ifdef"
201 | "ifndef"
202 | "ifeq"
203 | "ifneq"
204 | "else"
205 | "endif"
206 | "define"
207 | "endef"
208 | "undefine"
209 br: NL
210 | LEADING_TAB
211 colon: ':'
212 | ':' ':'
213 comment_opt: %empty
214 | COMMENT
Some lexer details
All in ' and almost all in " quotes are literals.
')' ::= <unpaired )>
'}' ::= <unpaired }>
"$(" ::= "$(" | "${" – beginning of an expansion
")" ::= ")" | "}" – ending of an expansion
"end of file" ::= <end of file>
COMMENT ::= <# comment (can be multiline)>
ASSIGN_OP ::= "=" | "?=" | ":=" | "::=" | "+=" | "!="
CHARS ::= <sequence of non-whitespace>
WS ::= <sequence of whitespace>
NL ::= "\n" | "\r" | "\r\n"
VAR ::= /\$./
SLIT ::= <single- or double-quote literal>
LEADING_TAB ::= <tabulation at the first position in a line (eats NL)>
Whitespace handling is tricky: lexer should ignore it unless previously
returned token needs that whitespace after it.
Unpaired closing parts of expansions () or }) are just themselves.
While contents of $(...) or ${...} is never a keyword.
Addressing confusion
Two comments express the same question:
On the other hand thou make somehow does parse the makefiles and allows some and rejects others...
You don't need a grammar to parse a languages. However, it's a nice thing to have.
In general, there are more possible languages than there are formal grammars, because grammars have constraints which exclude some languages.
I guess that make reads input and processes it at the same time while managing state, such that at every point it knows what kind of input it can accept next and what to do with it. Formal languages lean to being context-free, which means that they don't keep much record about their state. It's this gap, which makes it hard to formalize make's language, even though implementing it without a grammar is still possible.

Answer 2

It seems there is no official grammar for gnu make, and ...
It would be tricky to write a grammar for make, since the grammar is
extremely context-dependent.
As said by Paul D. Smith in a message in the gnu make mailing list. Paul D. Smith is the official maintainer of gnu make.