The example below is directly from the GNU make manual:
program: $(OBJECTS)
$(file >$#.in,$^)
$(CMD) $(CMDFLAGS) #$#.in
#rm $#.in
This works perfectly. However, if I reverse the order of $(file) and the external tool, the behavior is still the same: $(file) is executed first, and only then the external tool.
Is it possible to call an external tool in a recipe, and after the successful completion of the tool, use $(file) to process the log and create further files?
The external tool is a code generator that produces an unknown set of files. The recipe should parse the log file and create make include files. Works with echo/$(shell), but that's limited by the system command line length. Using a separate rule would certainly work, but can it be done in the same recipe?
GNU make will always expand all variables and functions in the entire recipe up front, before it starts to invoke any commands in the recipe. So you cannot have a $(file ...) function (for example) operate on the results of running some command in the same recipe.
So the short answer to your question is no, it can't be done in a single recipe the way you want.
It's possible, if you run the shell command using $(shell ) rather than directly putting it in a recipe. I've been using following wrapper for it, which checks the error code and discards the result:
# Same as `$(shell ...)`, but triggers a error on failure.
ifeq ($(filter --trace,$(MAKEFLAGS)),)
override safe_shell = $(shell $1)$(if $(filter-out 0,$(.SHELLSTATUS)),$(error Unable to execute `$1`, status $(.SHELLSTATUS)))
else
override safe_shell = $(info Shell command: $1)$(shell $1)$(if $(filter-out 0,$(.SHELLSTATUS)),$(error Unable to execute `$1`, status $(.SHELLSTATUS)))
endif
# Same as `safe_shell`, but discards the output and expands to a single space.
override safe_shell_exec = $(call space,$(call safe_shell,$1))
Then $(CMD) $(CMDFLAGS) #$#.in becomes $(call safe_shell_exec,$(CMD) $(CMDFLAGS) #$#.in).
How to show the makefile after it's been preprocessed? For example, if we have two makefiles:
# Makefile
include Makefile2
# Makefile2
a:a.c
gcc -o a a.c
Then <preprocessor> Makefile should give:
a:a.c
gcc -o a a.c
It's similar to what a C preprocessor does (gcc -E). Is there such a makefile preprocessor?
You didn't specify for which make tool you are writing makefile. Assuming that it is GNU make, you can try running makefile with -n (--just-print) option See Command-Line Options chapter here. That will show what make is going to execute without execution (however, the commands needed for evaluation of variables will be executed). This is probably the closest to what you want to see.
This causes make to read the makefile and print every command it would
normally execute to update the target but without executing them.
Apart from that there is $(warning ) function to debug makefiles. You can place it almost to any part in makefile and the following will show you the values of all defined variables in that place:
$(warning Variables HERE: .VARIABLES)
In my makefile, I have a variable 'NDK_PROJECT_PATH', my question is how can I print it out when it compiles?
I read Make file echo displaying "$PATH" string and I tried:
#echo $(NDK_PROJECT_PATH)
#echo $(value NDK_PROJECT_PATH)
Both gives me
"build-local.mk:102: *** missing separator. Stop."
Any one knows why it is not working for me?
You can print out variables as the makefile is read (assuming GNU make as you have tagged this question appropriately) using this method (with a variable named "var"):
$(info $$var is [${var}])
You can add this construct to any recipe to see what make will pass to the shell:
.PHONY: all
all: ; $(info $$var is [${var}])echo Hello world
Now, what happens here is that make stores the entire recipe ($(info $$var is [${var}])echo Hello world) as a single recursively expanded variable. When make decides to run the recipe (for instance when you tell it to build all), it expands the variable, and then passes each resulting line separately to the shell.
So, in painful detail:
It expands $(info $$var is [${var}])echo Hello world
To do this it first expands $(info $$var is [${var}])
$$ becomes literal $
${var} becomes :-) (say)
The side effect is that $var is [:-)] appears on standard out
The expansion of the $(info...) though is empty
Make is left with echo Hello world
Make prints echo Hello world on stdout first to let you know what it's going to ask the shell to do
The shell prints Hello world on stdout.
As per the GNU Make manual and also pointed by 'bobbogo' in the below answer,
you can use info / warning / error to display text.
$(error text…)
$(warning text…)
$(info text…)
To print variables,
$(error VAR is $(VAR))
$(warning VAR is $(VAR))
$(info VAR is $(VAR))
'error' would stop the make execution, after showing the error string
from a "Mr. Make post"
https://www.cmcrossroads.com/article/printing-value-makefile-variable
Add the following rule to your Makefile:
print-% : ; #echo $* = $($*)
Then, if you want to find out the value of a makefile variable, just:
make print-VARIABLE
and it will return:
VARIABLE = the_value_of_the_variable
If you simply want some output, you want to use $(info) by itself. You can do that anywhere in a Makefile, and it will show when that line is evaluated:
$(info VAR="$(VAR)")
Will output VAR="<value of VAR>" whenever make processes that line. This behavior is very position dependent, so you must make sure that the $(info) expansion happens AFTER everything that could modify $(VAR) has already happened!
A more generic option is to create a special rule for printing the value of a variable. Generally speaking, rules are executed after variables are assigned, so this will show you the value that is actually being used. (Though, it is possible for a rule to change a variable.) Good formatting will help clarify what a variable is set to, and the $(flavor) function will tell you what kind of a variable something is. So in this rule:
print-% : ; $(info $* is a $(flavor $*) variable set to [$($*)]) #true
$* expands to the stem that the % pattern matched in the rule.
$($*) expands to the value of the variable whose name is given by by $*.
The [ and ] clearly delineate the variable expansion.
You could also use " and " or similar.
$(flavor $*) tells you what kind of variable it is. NOTE: $(flavor)
takes a variable name, and not its expansion.
So if you say make print-LDFLAGS, you get $(flavor LDFLAGS),
which is what you want.
$(info text) provides output.
Make prints text on its stdout as a side-effect of the expansion.
The expansion of $(info) though is empty.
You can think of it like #echo,
but importantly it doesn't use the shell,
so you don't have to worry about shell quoting rules.
#true is there just to provide a command for the rule.
Without that,
make will also output print-blah is up to date. I feel #true makes it more clear that it's meant to be a no-op.
Running it, you get
$ make print-LDFLAGS
LDFLAGS is a recursive variable set to [-L/Users/...]
All versions of make require that command lines be indented with a TAB (not space) as the first character in the line. If you showed us the entire rule instead of just the two lines in question we could give a clearer answer, but it should be something like:
myTarget: myDependencies
#echo hi
where the first character in the second line must be TAB.
#echo $(NDK_PROJECT_PATH) is the good way to do it.
I don't think the error comes from there.
Generally this error appears when you mistyped the intendation : I think you have spaces where you should have a tab.
No need to modify the Makefile.
$ cat printvars.mak
print-%:
#echo '$*=$($*)'
$ cd /to/Makefile/dir
$ make -f ~/printvars.mak -f Makefile print-VARIABLE
Run make -n; it shows you the value of the variable..
Makefile...
all:
#echo $(NDK_PROJECT_PATH)
Command:
export NDK_PROJECT_PATH=/opt/ndk/project
make -n
Output:
echo /opt/ndk/project
This makefile will generate the 'missing separator' error message:
all
#echo NDK_PROJECT_PATH=$(NDK_PROJECT_PATH)
done:
#echo "All done"
There's a tab before the #echo "All done" (though the done: rule and action are largely superfluous), but not before the #echo PATH=$(PATH).
The trouble is that the line starting all should either have a colon : or an equals = to indicate that it is a target line or a macro line, and it has neither, so the separator is missing.
The action that echoes the value of a variable must be associated with a target, possibly a dummy or PHONEY target. And that target line must have a colon on it. If you add a : after all in the example makefile and replace the leading blanks on the next line by a tab, it will work sanely.
You probably have an analogous problem near line 102 in the original makefile. If you showed 5 non-blank, non-comment lines before the echo operations that are failing, it would probably be possible to finish the diagnosis. However, since the question was asked in May 2013, it is unlikely that the broken makefile is still available now (August 2014), so this answer can't be validated formally. It can only be used to illustrate a plausible way in which the problem occurred.
The problem is that echo works only under an execution block. i.e. anything after "xx:"
So anything above the first execution block is just initialization so no execution command can used.
So create a execution blocl
If you don't want to modify the Makefile itself, you can use --eval to add a new target, and then execute the new target, e.g.
make --eval='print-tests:
#echo TESTS $(TESTS)
' print-tests
You can insert the required TAB character in the command line using CTRL-V, TAB
example Makefile from above:
all: do-something
TESTS=
TESTS+='a'
TESTS+='b'
TESTS+='c'
do-something:
#echo "doing something"
#echo "running tests $(TESTS)"
#exit 1
This can be done in a generic way and can be very useful when debugging a complex makefile. Following the same technique as described in another answer, you can insert the following into any makefile:
# if the first command line argument is "print"
ifeq ($(firstword $(MAKECMDGOALS)),print)
# take the rest of the arguments as variable names
VAR_NAMES := $(wordlist 2,$(words $(MAKECMDGOALS)),$(MAKECMDGOALS))
# turn them into do-nothing targets
$(eval $(VAR_NAMES):;#:))
# then print them
.PHONY: print
print:
#$(foreach var,$(VAR_NAMES),\
echo '$(var) = $($(var))';)
endif
Then you can just do "make print" to dump the value of any variable:
$ make print CXXFLAGS
CXXFLAGS = -g -Wall
You could create a vars rule in your make file, like this:
dispvar = echo $(1)=$($(1)) ; echo
.PHONY: vars
vars:
#$(call dispvar,SOMEVAR1)
#$(call dispvar,SOMEVAR2)
There are some more robust ways to dump all variables here: gnu make: list the values of all variables (or "macros") in a particular run.
if you use android make (mka) #echo $(NDK_PROJECT_PATH) will not work and gives you error *** missing separator. Stop."
use this answer if you are trying to print variables in android make
NDK_PROJECT_PATH := some_value
$(warning $(NDK_PROJECT_PATH))
that worked for me
I usually echo with an error if I wanted to see the variable value.(Only if you wanted to see the value. It will stop execution.)
#echo $(error NDK_PROJECT_PATH= $(NDK_PROJECT_PATH))
The following command does it for me on Windows:
Path | tr ; "\n"
All,
I'm trying to pass variables to make from the command line. My command is below
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/my_dir/bin/arm-openwrt-linux-g++
The error I received is
g++: error: arm: No such file or directory
But the file 'arm-openwrt-linux-g++' does exist.
I think the problem is I need to pass varibale to sub-make files. Can some help with an example of how to pass varialbes to sub-makefile from the command-line. I have tried using the -e and export options for make, but can't seen to get anything to work.
Thanks
Content of makefile:
# GNU Make solution makefile autogenerated by Premake
# Type "make help" for usage help
ifndef config
config=debug
endif
export config
PROJECTS := json openjaus
.PHONY: all clean help $(PROJECTS)
all: $(PROJECTS)
json:
#echo "==== Building json ($(config)) ===="
#${MAKE} --no-print-directory -C .build -f json.make
openjaus: json
#echo "==== Building openjaus ($(config)) ===="
#${MAKE} --no-print-directory -C .build -f openjaus.make
So, your problem is not related to sending variables over the command line.
Your problem is that in one of the makefiles in your sub-directories, which you haven't shown us, you're using the variable $(ARCH) in an incorrect way such that the expansion of the command line is not a legal g++ command line.
Based on the error message, most likely you're adding a space somewhere where it shouldn't be, so instead of something like -fmarch=arm you're getting -fmarch= arm. Obviously this is just an example because you didn't provide nearly enough information.
One other note: we can't know how your makefiles work but typically makefiles that support a variable like CROSS_COMPILE expect it to be set to just the prefix of the cross-compilation command; in your case it would be CROSS_COMPILE=/my_dir/bin/arm-openwrt-linux-. But, your makefiles might be different.
When asking questions, it's best to if you don't immediately jump to a guess about what the answer is. First describe the problem, and that includes showing the error line as well as a few lines before it. For example in this case you're getting an error from g++ so the command line that make printed out showing you how it invoked g++ would have helped greatly.
Once you've given the underlying detail, then if you think you have an idea about what the problem is go ahead and suggest it, and/or ask about it.
If you provide the rule that invokes g++ and/or the output from make showing the g++ command line, then we can help more.
Cheers!
Here's what I think needs to happen:
You need to make sure that your sub-makefiles actually respect the $(ARCH) and $(CROSS_COMPILE) variables. Are they also generated by Premake? If so, is that how it handles cross-compilation? Check the docs.
In my test (below), I found that variables set on the command line are propagated to sub-makes, which makes me think that your sub-makefiles aren't respecting $(ARCH):
Makefile:
a:
$(MAKE) -C z
z/Makefile:
a:
#echo "MAKE=$(MAKE)"
#echo "ARCH=$(ARCH)"
Running make with no arguments:
$ make
make -C z
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/foo/test/z'
MAKE=make
ARCH=
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/foo/test/z'
Running make ARCH=bar:
$ make ARCH=bar
make -C z
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/foo/z/z'
MAKE=make
ARCH=bar
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/foo/z/z'
I am using Makefiles.
However, there is a command (zsh script) I want executed before any targets is executed.
How do I do this?
Thanks!
There are several techniques to have code executed before targets are built. Which one you should choose depends a little on exactly what you want to do, and why you want to do it. (What does the zsh script do? Why do you have to execute it?)
You can either do like #John suggests; placing the zsh script as the first dependency. You should then mark the zsh target as .PHONY unless it actually generates a file named zsh.
Another solution (in GNU make, at least) is to invoke the $(shell ...) function as part of a variable assignment:
ZSH_RESULT:=$(shell zsh myscript.zsh)
This will execute the script as soon as the makefile is parsed, and before any targets are executed. It will also execute the script if you invoke the makefile recursively.
Just make that a dependancy of one of the other targets
foo.obj : zsh foo.c
rule for compileing foo.c
zsh:
rule for running zsh script.
or alternatively, make your first target depend on it
goal: zsh foo.exe
Solution for both preprocessing and postprocessing in makefiles using MAKECMDGOALS and double colon rules.
MAKECMDGOALS are the targets listed on the command line.
First step is to get the first and last targets from the command line,
or if there are no targets listed, use the default target.
ifneq ($(MAKECMDGOALS),)
FIRST_GOAL := $(word 1, $(MAKECMDGOALS))
LAST_GOAL := $(word $(words $(MAKECMDGOALS)), $(MAKECMDGOALS))
else
FIRST_GOAL := all
LAST_GOAL := all
endif
Double colon rules allow multiple recipes for the same target executed in order. You'll have to change all command line targets to double colon rules.
#Dummy rule to set the default
.PHONY: all
all ::
#Preprocessing
$(FIRST_GOAL) ::
echo "Starting make..."
all :: normal_prerequistes
normal_recipe
other_stuff
#Postprocessing
$(LAST_GOAL) ::
echo "All done..."
There is a solution without modifying your existing Makefile (main difference with the accepted answer). Just create a makefile containing:
.PHONY: all
all:
pre-script
#$(MAKE) -f Makefile --no-print-directory $(MAKECMDGOALS) MAKE='$(MAKE) -f Makefile'
post-script
$(MAKECMDGOALS): all ;
The only drawback is that the pre- and post- scripts will always be run, even if there is nothing else to do. But they will not be run if you invoke make with one of the --dry-run options (other difference with the accepted answer).