1 GNU make NEWS -*-indented-text-*-
2 History of user-visible changes.
5 See the end of this file for copyrights and conditions.
7 All changes mentioned here are more fully described in the GNU make
8 manual, which is contained in this distribution as the file doc/make.texi.
9 See the README file and the GNU make manual for instructions for
14 A complete list of bugs fixed in this version is available here:
16 http://sv.gnu.org/bugs/index.php?group=make&report_id=111&fix_release_id=101&set=custom
18 * WARNING: Backward-incompatibility!
19 If .POSIX is specified, then make adheres to the POSIX backslash/newline
20 handling requirements, which introduces the following changes to the
21 standard backslash/newline handling in non-recipe lines:
22 * Any trailing space before the backslash is preserved
23 * Each backslash/newline (plus subsequent whitespace) is converted to a
26 * New command line option: --trace enables tracing of targets. When enabled
27 the recipe to be invoked is printed even if it would otherwise be suppressed
28 by .SILENT or a "@" prefix character. Also before each recipe is run the
29 makefile name and linenumber where it was defined are shown as well as the
30 prerequisites that caused the target to be considered out of date.
32 * New feature: The "job server" capability is now supported on Windows.
33 Implementation contributed by Troy Runkel <Troy.Runkel@mathworks.com>
35 * New feature: "!=" shell assignment operator as an alternative to the
36 $(shell ...) function. Implemented for compatibility with BSD makefiles.
37 WARNING: Backward-incompatibility!
38 Variables ending in "!" previously defined as "variable!= value" will now be
39 interpreted as shell assignment. Change your assignment to add whitespace
40 between the "!" and "=": "variable! = value"
42 * New feature: "::=" simple assignment operator as defined by POSIX in 2012.
43 This operator has identical functionality to ":=" in GNU make, but will be
44 portable to any implementation of make conforming to a sufficiently new
45 version of POSIX (see http://austingroupbugs.net/view.php?id=330). It is
46 not necessary to define the .POSIX target to access this operator.
48 * New feature: GNU Guile integration
49 This version of GNU make can be compiled with GNU Guile integration.
50 GNU Guile serves as an embedded extension language for make.
51 See the "Guile Function" section in the GNU Make manual for details.
53 * New feature: Loadable objects
54 This version of GNU make contains a "technology preview": the ability to
55 load dynamic objects into the make runtime. These objects can be created by
56 the user and can add extended functionality, usable by makefiles.
58 * New function: $(file ...) writes to a file.
60 * On failure, the makefile name and linenumber of the recipe that failed are
63 * A .RECIPEPREFIX setting is remembered per-recipe and variables expanded
64 in that recipe also use that recipe prefix setting.
66 * In -p output, .RECIPEPREFIX settings are shown and all target-specific
67 variables are output as if in a makefile, instead of as comments.
72 A complete list of bugs fixed in this version is available here:
74 http://sv.gnu.org/bugs/index.php?group=make&report_id=111&fix_release_id=104&set=custom
76 * Compiling GNU make now requires a conforming ISO C 1989 compiler and
77 standard runtime library.
79 * WARNING: Backward-incompatibility!
80 The POSIX standard for make was changed in the 2008 version in a
81 fundamentally incompatible way: make is required to invoke the shell as if
82 the '-e' flag were provided. Because this would break many makefiles that
83 have been written to conform to the original text of the standard, the
84 default behavior of GNU make remains to invoke the shell with simply '-c'.
85 However, any makefile specifying the .POSIX special target will follow the
86 new POSIX standard and pass '-e' to the shell. See also .SHELLFLAGS
89 * WARNING: Backward-incompatibility!
90 The '$?' variable now contains all prerequisites that caused the target to
91 be considered out of date, even if they do not exist (previously only
92 existing targets were provided in $?).
94 * WARNING: Backward-incompatibility!
95 Wildcards were not documented as returning sorted values, but the results
96 have been sorted up until this release.. If your makefiles require sorted
97 results from wildcard expansions, use the $(sort ...) function to request
100 * WARNING: Backward-incompatibility!
101 In previous versions of make it was acceptable to list one or more explicit
102 targets followed by one or more pattern targets in the same rule and it
103 worked "as expected". However, this was not documented as acceptable and if
104 you listed any explicit targets AFTER the pattern targets, the entire rule
105 would be mis-parsed. This release removes this ability completely: make
106 will generate an error message if you mix explicit and pattern targets in
109 * WARNING: Backward-incompatibility!
110 As a result of parser enhancements, three backward-compatibility issues
111 exist: first, a prerequisite containing an "=" cannot be escaped with a
112 backslash any longer. You must create a variable containing an "=" and
113 use that variable in the prerequisite. Second, variable names can no
114 longer contain whitespace, unless you put the whitespace in a variable and
115 use the variable. Third, in previous versions of make it was sometimes
116 not flagged as an error for explicit and pattern targets to appear in the
117 same rule. Now this is always reported as an error.
119 * WARNING: Backward-incompatibility!
120 The pattern-specific variables and pattern rules are now applied in the
121 shortest stem first order instead of the definition order (variables
122 and rules with the same stem length are still applied in the definition
123 order). This produces the usually-desired behavior where more specific
124 patterns are preferred. To detect this feature search for 'shortest-stem'
125 in the .FEATURES special variable.
127 * WARNING: Backward-incompatibility!
128 The library search behavior has changed to be compatible with the standard
129 linker behavior. Prior to this version for prerequisites specified using
130 the -lfoo syntax make first searched for libfoo.so in the current
131 directory, vpath directories, and system directories. If that didn't yield
132 a match, make then searched for libfoo.a in these directories. Starting
133 with this version make searches first for libfoo.so and then for libfoo.a
134 in each of these directories in order.
136 * New command line option: --eval=STRING causes STRING to be evaluated as
137 makefile syntax (akin to using the $(eval ...) function). The evaluation
138 is performed after all default rules and variables are defined, but before
139 any makefiles are read.
141 * New special variable: .RECIPEPREFIX allows you to reset the recipe
142 introduction character from the default (TAB) to something else. The
143 first character of this variable value is the new recipe introduction
144 character. If the variable is set to the empty string, TAB is used again.
145 It can be set and reset at will; recipes will use the value active when
146 they were first parsed. To detect this feature check the value of
149 * New special variable: .SHELLFLAGS allows you to change the options passed
150 to the shell when it invokes recipes. By default the value will be "-c"
151 (or "-ec" if .POSIX is set).
153 * New special target: .ONESHELL instructs make to invoke a single instance
154 of the shell and provide it with the entire recipe, regardless of how many
155 lines it contains. As a special feature to allow more straightforward
156 conversion of makefiles to use .ONESHELL, any recipe line control
157 characters ('@', '+', or '-') will be removed from the second and
158 subsequent recipe lines. This happens _only_ if the SHELL value is deemed
159 to be a standard POSIX-style shell. If not, then no interior line control
160 characters are removed (as they may be part of the scripting language used
161 with the alternate SHELL).
163 * New variable modifier 'private': prefixing a variable assignment with the
164 modifier 'private' suppresses inheritance of that variable by
165 prerequisites. This is most useful for target- and pattern-specific
168 * New make directive: 'undefine' allows you to undefine a variable so that
169 it appears as if it was never set. Both $(flavor) and $(origin) functions
170 will return 'undefined' for such a variable. To detect this feature search
171 for 'undefine' in the .FEATURES special variable.
173 * The parser for variable assignments has been enhanced to allow multiple
174 modifiers ('export', 'override', 'private') on the same line as variables,
175 including define/endef variables, and in any order. Also, it is possible
176 to create variables and targets named as these modifiers.
178 * The 'define' make directive now allows a variable assignment operator
179 after the variable name, to allow for simple, conditional, or appending
180 multi-line variable assignment.
185 * GNU make is ported to OS/2.
187 * GNU make is ported to MinGW. The MinGW build is only supported by
188 the build_w32.bat batch file; see the file README.W32 for more
191 * WARNING: Future backward-incompatibility!
192 Up to and including this release, the '$?' variable does not contain
193 any prerequisite that does not exist, even though that prerequisite
194 might have caused the target to rebuild. Starting with the _next_
195 release of GNU make, '$?' will contain all prerequisites that caused
196 the target to be considered out of date. See this Savannah bug:
197 http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/index.php?func=detailitem&item_id=16051
199 * WARNING: Backward-incompatibility!
200 GNU make now implements a generic "second expansion" feature on the
201 prerequisites of both explicit and implicit (pattern) rules. In order
202 to enable this feature, the special target '.SECONDEXPANSION' must be
203 defined before the first target which takes advantage of it. If this
204 feature is enabled then after all rules have been parsed the
205 prerequisites are expanded again, this time with all the automatic
206 variables in scope. This means that in addition to using standard
207 SysV $$@ in prerequisites lists, you can also use complex functions
208 such as $$(notdir $$@) etc. This behavior applies to implicit rules,
209 as well, where the second expansion occurs when the rule is matched.
210 However, this means that when '.SECONDEXPANSION' is enabled you must
211 double-quote any "$" in your filenames; instead of "foo: boo$$bar" you
212 now must write "foo: foo$$$$bar". Note that the SysV $$@ etc. feature,
213 which used to be available by default, is now ONLY available when the
214 .SECONDEXPANSION target is defined. If your makefiles take advantage
215 of this SysV feature you will need to update them.
217 * WARNING: Backward-incompatibility!
218 In order to comply with POSIX, the way in which GNU make processes
219 backslash-newline sequences in recipes has changed. If your makefiles
220 use backslash-newline sequences inside of single-quoted strings in
221 recipes you will be impacted by this change. See the GNU make manual
222 subsection "Splitting Recipe Lines" (node "Splitting Lines"), in
223 section "Recipe Syntax", chapter "Writing Recipe in Rules", for
226 * WARNING: Backward-incompatibility!
227 Some previous versions of GNU make had a bug where "#" in a function
228 invocation such as $(shell ...) was treated as a make comment. A
229 workaround was to escape these with backslashes. This bug has been
230 fixed: if your makefile uses "\#" in a function invocation the
231 backslash is now preserved, so you'll need to remove it.
233 * New command line option: -L (--check-symlink-times). On systems that
234 support symbolic links, if this option is given then GNU make will
235 use the most recent modification time of any symbolic links that are
236 used to resolve target files. The default behavior remains as it
237 always has: use the modification time of the actual target file only.
239 * The "else" conditional line can now be followed by any other valid
240 conditional on the same line: this does not increase the depth of the
241 conditional nesting, so only one "endif" is required to close the
244 * All pattern-specific variables that match a given target are now used
245 (previously only the first match was used).
247 * Target-specific variables can be marked as exportable using the
250 * In a recursive $(call ...) context, any extra arguments from the outer
251 call are now masked in the context of the inner call.
253 * Implemented a solution for the "thundering herd" problem with "-j -l".
254 This version of GNU make uses an algorithm suggested by Thomas Riedl
255 <thomas.riedl@siemens.com> to track the number of jobs started in the
256 last second and artificially adjust GNU make's view of the system's
257 load average accordingly.
259 * New special variables available in this release:
260 - .INCLUDE_DIRS: Expands to a list of directories that make searches
261 for included makefiles.
262 - .FEATURES: Contains a list of special features available in this
264 - .DEFAULT_GOAL: Set the name of the default goal make will
265 use if no goals are provided on the command line.
266 - MAKE_RESTARTS: If set, then this is the number of times this
267 instance of make has been restarted (see "How Makefiles Are Remade"
269 - New automatic variable: $| (added in 3.80, actually): contains all
270 the order-only prerequisites defined for the target.
272 * New functions available in this release:
273 - $(lastword ...) returns the last word in the list. This gives
274 identical results as $(word $(words ...) ...), but is much faster.
275 - $(abspath ...) returns the absolute path (all "." and ".."
276 directories resolved, and any duplicate "/" characters removed) for
278 - $(realpath ...) returns the canonical pathname for each path
279 provided. The canonical pathname is the absolute pathname, with
280 all symbolic links resolved as well.
281 - $(info ...) prints its arguments to stdout. No makefile name or
282 line number info, etc. is printed.
283 - $(flavor ...) returns the flavor of a variable.
284 - $(or ...) provides a short-circuiting OR conditional: each argument
285 is expanded. The first true (non-empty) argument is returned; no
286 further arguments are expanded. Expands to empty if there are no
288 - $(and ...) provides a short-circuiting AND conditional: each
289 argument is expanded. The first false (empty) argument is
290 returned; no further arguments are expanded. Expands to the last
291 argument if all arguments are true.
293 * Changes made for POSIX compatibility:
294 - Only touch targets (under -t) if they have a recipe.
295 - Setting the SHELL make variable does NOT change the value of the
296 SHELL environment variable given to programs invoked by make. As
297 an enhancement to POSIX, if you export the make variable SHELL then
298 it will be set in the environment, just as before.
300 * On MS Windows systems, explicitly setting SHELL to a pathname ending
301 in "cmd" or "cmd.exe" (case-insensitive) will force GNU make to use
302 the DOS command interpreter in batch mode even if a UNIX-like shell
303 could be found on the system.
305 * On VMS there is now support for case-sensitive filesystems such as ODS5.
306 See the readme.vms file for information.
308 * Parallel builds (-jN) no longer require a working Bourne shell on
309 Windows platforms. They work even with the stock Windows shells, such
310 as cmd.exe and command.com.
312 * Updated to autoconf 2.59, automake 1.9.5, and gettext 0.14.1. Users
313 should not be impacted.
315 * New translations for Swedish, Chinese (simplified), Ukrainian,
316 Belarusian, Finnish, Kinyarwandan, and Irish. Many updated
319 A complete list of bugs fixed in this version is available here:
321 http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/index.php?group=make&report_id=111&fix_release_id=103
326 * A new feature exists: order-only prerequisites. These prerequisites
327 affect the order in which targets are built, but they do not impact
328 the rebuild/no-rebuild decision of their dependents. That is to say,
329 they allow you to require target B be built before target A, without
330 requiring that target A will always be rebuilt if target B is updated.
331 Patch for this feature provided by Greg McGary <greg@mcgary.org>.
333 * For compatibility with SysV make, GNU make now supports the peculiar
334 syntax $$@, $$(@D), and $$(@F) in the prerequisites list of a rule.
335 This syntax is only valid within explicit and static pattern rules: it
336 cannot be used in implicit (suffix or pattern) rules. Edouard G. Parmelan
337 <egp@free.fr> provided a patch implementing this feature; however, I
338 decided to implement it in a different way.
340 * The argument to the "ifdef" conditional is now expanded before it's
341 tested, so it can be a constructed variable name.
343 Similarly, the arguments to "export" (when not used in a variable
344 definition context) and "unexport" are also now expanded.
346 * A new function is defined: $(value ...). The argument to this
347 function is the _name_ of a variable. The result of the function is
348 the value of the variable, without having been expanded.
350 * A new function is defined: $(eval ...). The arguments to this
351 function should expand to makefile commands, which will then be
352 evaluated as if they had appeared in the makefile. In combination
353 with define/endef multiline variable definitions this is an extremely
354 powerful capability. The $(value ...) function is also sometimes
357 * A new built-in variable is defined, $(MAKEFILE_LIST). It contains a
358 list of each makefile GNU make has read, or started to read, in the
359 order in which they were encountered. So, the last filename in the
360 list when a makefile is just being read (before any includes) is the
361 name of the current makefile.
363 * A new built-in variable is defined: $(.VARIABLES). When it is
364 expanded it returns a complete list of variable names defined by all
365 makefiles at that moment.
367 * A new command line option is defined, -B or --always-make. If
368 specified GNU make will consider all targets out-of-date even if they
369 would otherwise not be.
371 * The arguments to $(call ...) functions were being stored in $1, $2,
372 etc. as recursive variables, even though they are fully expanded
373 before assignment. This means that escaped dollar signs ($$ etc.)
374 were not behaving properly. Now the arguments are stored as simple
375 variables. This may mean that if you added extra escaping to your
376 $(call ...) function arguments you will need to undo it now.
378 * The variable invoked by $(call ...) can now be recursive: unlike other
379 variables it can reference itself and this will not produce an error
380 when it is used as the first argument to $(call ...) (but only then).
382 * New pseudo-target .LOW_RESOLUTION_TIME, superseding the configure
383 option --disable-nsec-timestamps. You might need this if your build
384 process depends on tools like "cp -p" preserving time stamps, since
385 "cp -p" (right now) doesn't preserve the subsecond portion of a time
388 * Updated translations for French, Galician, German, Japanese, Korean,
389 and Russian. New translations for Croatian, Danish, Hebrew, and
392 * Updated internationalization support to Gettext 0.11.5.
393 GNU make now uses Gettext's "external" feature, and does not include
394 any internationalization code itself. Configure will search your
395 system for an existing implementation of GNU Gettext (only GNU Gettext
396 is acceptable) and use it if it exists. If not, NLS will be disabled.
397 See ABOUT-NLS for more information.
399 * Updated to autoconf 2.54 and automake 1.7. Users should not be impacted.
401 A complete list of bugs fixed in this version is available here:
403 http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/index.php?group=make&report_id=111&fix_release_id=102
408 * .SECONDARY with no prerequisites now prevents any target from being
409 removed because make thinks it's an intermediate file, not just those
410 listed in the makefile.
412 * New configure option --disable-nsec-timestamps, but this was
413 superseded in later versions by the .LOW_RESOLUTION_TIME pseudo-target.
417 * GNU make optionally supports internationalization and locales via the
418 GNU gettext (or local gettext if suitable) package. See the ABOUT-NLS
419 file for more information on configuring GNU make for NLS.
421 * Previously, GNU make quoted variables such as MAKEFLAGS and
422 MAKEOVERRIDES for proper parsing by the shell. This allowed them to
423 be used within make build scripts. However, using them there is not
424 proper behavior: they are meant to be passed to subshells via the
425 environment. Unfortunately the values were not quoted properly to be
426 passed through the environment. This meant that make didn't properly
427 pass some types of command line values to submakes.
429 With this version we change that behavior: now these variables are
430 quoted properly for passing through the environment, which is the
431 correct way to do it. If you previously used these variables
432 explicitly within a make rule you may need to re-examine your use for
433 correctness given this change.
435 * A new pseudo-target .NOTPARALLEL is available. If defined, the
436 current makefile is run serially regardless of the value of -j.
437 However, submakes are still eligible for parallel execution.
439 * The --debug option has changed: it now allows optional flags
440 controlling the amount and type of debugging output. By default only
441 a minimal amount information is generated, displaying the names of
442 "normal" targets (not makefiles) that were deemed out of date and in
443 need of being rebuilt.
445 Note that the -d option behaves as before: it takes no arguments and
446 all debugging information is generated.
448 * The `-p' (print database) output now includes filename and linenumber
449 information for variable definitions, to aid debugging.
451 * The wordlist function no longer reverses its arguments if the "start"
452 value is greater than the "end" value. If that's true, nothing is
455 * Hartmut Becker provided many updates for the VMS port of GNU make.
456 See the readme.vms file for more details.
460 * Two new functions, $(error ...) and $(warning ...) are available. The
461 former will cause make to fail and exit immediately upon expansion of
462 the function, with the text provided as the error message. The latter
463 causes the text provided to be printed as a warning message, but make
466 * A new function $(call ...) is available. This allows users to create
467 their own parameterized macros and invoke them later. Original
468 implementation of this function was provided by Han-Wen Nienhuys
471 * A new function $(if ...) is available. It provides if-then-else
472 capabilities in a builtin function. Original implementation of this
473 function was provided by Han-Wen Nienhuys <hanwen@cs.uu.nl>.
475 * Make defines a new variable, .LIBPATTERNS. This variable controls how
476 library dependency expansion (dependencies like ``-lfoo'') is performed.
478 * Make accepts CRLF sequences as well as traditional LF, for
479 compatibility with makefiles created on other operating systems.
481 * Make accepts a new option: -R, or --no-builtin-variables. This option
482 disables the definition of the rule-specific builtin variables (CC,
483 LD, AR, etc.). Specifying this option forces -r (--no-builtin-rules)
486 * A "job server" feature, suggested by Howard Chu <hyc@highlandsun.com>.
488 On systems that support POSIX pipe(2) semantics, GNU make can now pass
489 -jN options to submakes rather than forcing them all to use -j1. The
490 top make and all its sub-make processes use a pipe to communicate with
491 each other to ensure that no more than N jobs are started across all
492 makes. To get the old behavior of -j back, you can configure make
493 with the --disable-job-server option.
495 * The confusing term "dependency" has been replaced by the more accurate
496 and standard term "prerequisite", both in the manual and in all GNU make
499 * GNU make supports the "big archive" library format introduced in AIX 4.3.
501 * GNU make supports large files on AIX, HP-UX, and IRIX. These changes
502 were provided by Paul Eggert <eggert@twinsun.com>. (Large file
503 support for Solaris and Linux was introduced in 3.77, but the
504 configuration had issues: these have also been resolved).
506 * The Windows 95/98/NT (W32) version of GNU make now has native support
507 for the Cygnus Cygwin release B20.1 shell (bash).
509 * The GNU make regression test suite, long available separately "under
510 the table", has been integrated into the release. You can invoke it
511 by running "make check" in the distribution. Note that it requires
512 Perl (either Perl 4 or Perl 5) to run.
516 * Implement BSD make's "?=" variable assignment operator. The variable
517 is assigned the specified value only if that variable is not already
520 * Make defines a new variable, "CURDIR", to contain the current working
521 directory (after the -C option, if any, has been processed).
522 Modifying this variable has no effect on the operation of make.
524 * Make defines a new default RCS rule, for new-style master file
525 storage: ``% :: RCS/%'' (note no ``,v'' suffix).
527 Make defines new default rules for DOS-style C++ file naming
528 conventions, with ``.cpp'' suffixes. All the same rules as for
529 ``.cc'' and ``.C'' suffixes are provided, along with LINK.cpp and
530 COMPILE.cpp macros (which default to the same value as LINK.cc and
531 COMPILE.cc). Note CPPFLAGS is still C preprocessor flags! You should
532 use CXXFLAGS to change C++ compiler flags.
534 * A new feature, "target-specific variable values", has been added.
535 This is a large change so please see the appropriate sections of the
536 manual for full details. Briefly, syntax like this:
538 TARGET: VARIABLE = VALUE
540 defines VARIABLE as VALUE within the context of TARGET. This is
541 similar to SunOS make's "TARGET := VARIABLE = VALUE" feature. Note
542 that the assignment may be of any type, not just recursive, and that
543 the override keyword is available.
545 COMPATIBILITY: This new syntax means that if you have any rules where
546 the first or second dependency has an equal sign (=) in its name,
547 you'll have to escape them with a backslash: "foo : bar\=baz".
548 Further, if you have any dependencies which already contain "\=",
549 you'll have to escape both of them: "foo : bar\\\=baz".
551 * A new appendix listing the most common error and warning messages
552 generated by GNU make, with some explanation, has been added to the
553 GNU make User's Manual.
555 * Updates to the GNU make Customs library support (see README.customs).
557 * Updates to the Windows 95/NT port from Rob Tulloh (see README.W32),
558 and to the DOS port from Eli Zaretski (see README.DOS).
562 * Small (but serious) bug fix. Quick rollout to get into the GNU source CD.
566 * GNU make now uses automake to control Makefile.in generation. This
567 should make it more consistent with the GNU standards.
569 * VPATH functionality has been changed to incorporate the VPATH+ patch,
570 previously maintained by Paul Smith <psmith@baynetworks.com>. See the
573 * Make defines a new variable, `MAKECMDGOALS', to contain the goals that
574 were specified on the command line, if any. Modifying this variable
575 has no effect on the operation of make.
577 * A new function, `$(wordlist S,E,TEXT)', is available: it returns a
578 list of words from number S to number E (inclusive) of TEXT.
580 * Instead of an error, detection of future modification times gives a
581 warning and continues. The warning is repeated just before GNU make
582 exits, so it is less likely to be lost.
584 * Fix the $(basename) and $(suffix) functions so they only operate on
585 the last filename, not the entire string:
587 Command Old Result New Result
588 ------- ---------- ----------
590 $(basename a.b/c) a a.b/c
592 $(suffix a.b/c) b/c <empty>
594 * The $(strip) function now removes newlines as well as TABs and spaces.
596 * The $(shell) function now changes CRLF (\r\n) pairs to a space as well
599 * Updates to the Windows 95/NT port from Rob Tulloh (see README.W32).
601 * Eli Zaretskii has updated the port to 32-bit protected mode on MSDOS
602 and MS-Windows, building with the DJGPP v2 port of GNU C/C++ compiler
603 and utilities. See README.DOS for details, and direct all questions
604 concerning this port to Eli Zaretskii <eliz@is.elta.co.il> or DJ
605 Delorie <dj@delorie.com>.
607 * John W. Eaton has updated the VMS port to support libraries and VPATH.
611 * The directory messages printed by `-w' and implicitly in sub-makes,
612 are now omitted if Make runs no commands and has no other messages to print.
614 * Make now detects files that for whatever reason have modification times
615 in the future and gives an error. Files with such impossible timestamps
616 can result from unsynchronized clocks, or archived distributions
617 containing bogus timestamps; they confuse Make's dependency engine
620 * The new directive `sinclude' is now recognized as another name for
621 `-include', for compatibility with some other Makes.
623 * Aaron Digulla has contributed a port to AmigaDOS. See README.Amiga for
624 details, and direct all Amiga-related questions to <digulla@fh-konstanz.de>.
626 * Rob Tulloh of Tivoli Systems has contributed a port to Windows NT or 95.
627 See README.W32 for details, and direct all Windows-related questions to
628 <rob_tulloh@tivoli.com>.
632 * Converted to use Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has some new options.
633 See INSTALL for details.
635 * You can now send a SIGUSR1 signal to Make to toggle printing of debugging
636 output enabled by -d, at any time during the run.
640 * DJ Delorie has ported Make to MS-DOS using the GO32 extender.
641 He is maintaining the DOS port, not the GNU Make maintainer;
642 please direct bugs and questions for DOS to <djgpp@sun.soe.clarkson.edu>.
643 MS-DOS binaries are available for FTP from ftp.simtel.net in
644 /pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/.
646 * The `MAKEFLAGS' variable (in the environment or in a makefile) can now
647 contain variable definitions itself; these are treated just like
648 command line variable definitions. Make will automatically insert any
649 variable definitions from the environment value of `MAKEFLAGS' or from
650 the command line, into the `MAKEFLAGS' value exported to children. The
651 `MAKEOVERRIDES' variable previously included in the value of `$(MAKE)'
652 for sub-makes is now included in `MAKEFLAGS' instead. As before, you can
653 reset `MAKEOVERRIDES' in your makefile to avoid putting all the variables
654 in the environment when its size is limited.
656 * If `.DELETE_ON_ERROR' appears as a target, Make will delete the target of
657 a rule if it has changed when its recipe exits with a nonzero status,
658 just as when the recipe gets a signal.
660 * The automatic variable `$+' is new. It lists all the dependencies like
661 `$^', but preserves duplicates listed in the makefile. This is useful
662 for linking rules, where library files sometimes need to be listed twice
665 * You can now specify the `.IGNORE' and `.SILENT' special targets with
666 dependencies to limit their effects to those files. If a file appears as
667 a dependency of `.IGNORE', then errors will be ignored while running the
668 recipe to update that file. Likewise if a file appears as a dependency
669 of `.SILENT', then the recipe to update that file will not be printed
670 before it is run. (This change was made to conform to POSIX.2.)
674 * The automatic variables `$(@D)', `$(%D)', `$(*D)', `$(<D)', `$(?D)', and
675 `$(^D)' now omit the trailing slash from the directory name. (This change
676 was made to comply with POSIX.2.)
678 * The source distribution now includes the Info files for the Make manual.
679 There is no longer a separate distribution containing Info and DVI files.
681 * You can now set the variables `binprefix' and/or `manprefix' in
682 Makefile.in (or on the command line when installing) to install GNU make
683 under a name other than `make' (i.e., ``make binprefix=g install''
684 installs GNU make as `gmake').
686 * The built-in Texinfo rules use the new variables `TEXI2DVI_FLAGS' for
687 flags to the `texi2dvi' script, and `MAKEINFO_FLAGS' for flags to the
690 * The exit status of Make when it runs into errors is now 2 instead of 1.
691 The exit status is 1 only when using -q and some target is not up to date.
692 (This change was made to comply with POSIX.2.)
696 * It is no longer a fatal error to have a NUL character in a makefile.
697 You should never put a NUL in a makefile because it can have strange
698 results, but otherwise empty lines full of NULs (such as produced by
699 the `xmkmf' program) will always work fine.
701 * The error messages for nonexistent included makefiles now refer to the
702 makefile name and line number where the `include' appeared, so Emacs's
703 C-x ` command takes you there (in case it's a typo you need to fix).
707 * Implicit rule search for archive member references is now done in the
708 opposite order from previous versions: the whole target name `LIB(MEM)'
709 first, and just the member name and parentheses `(MEM)' second.
711 * Make now gives an error for an unterminated variable or function reference.
712 For example, `$(foo' with no matching `)' or `${bar' with no matching `}'.
714 * The new default variable `MAKE_VERSION' gives the version number of
715 Make, and a string describing the remote job support compiled in (if any).
716 Thus the value (in this release) is something like `3.69' or `3.69-Customs'.
718 * Commands in an invocation of the `shell' function are no longer run
719 with a modified environment like recipes are. As in versions before
720 3.68, they now run with the environment that `make' started with. We
721 have reversed the change made in version 3.68 because it turned out to
722 cause a paradoxical situation in cases like:
724 export variable = $(shell echo value)
726 When Make attempted to put this variable in the environment for a
727 recipe, it would try expand the value by running the shell command
728 `echo value'. In version 3.68, because it constructed an environment
729 for that shell command in the same way, Make would begin to go into an
730 infinite loop and then get a fatal error when it detected the loop.
732 * The recipe given for `.DEFAULT' is now used for phony targets with no
737 * You can list several archive member names inside parenthesis:
738 `lib(mem1 mem2 mem3)' is equivalent to `lib(mem1) lib(mem2) lib(mem3)'.
740 * You can use wildcards inside archive member references. For example,
741 `lib(*.o)' expands to all existing members of `lib' whose names end in
742 `.o' (e.g. `lib(a.o) lib(b.o)'); `*.a(*.o)' expands to all such members
743 of all existing files whose names end in `.a' (e.g. `foo.a(a.o)
744 foo.a(b.o) bar.a(c.o) bar.a(d.o)'.
746 * A suffix rule `.X.a' now produces two pattern rules:
747 (%.o): %.X # Previous versions produced only this.
748 %.a: %.X # Now produces this as well, just like other suffixes.
750 * The new flag `--warn-undefined-variables' says to issue a warning message
751 whenever Make expands a reference to an undefined variable.
753 * The new `-include' directive is just like `include' except that there is
754 no error (not even a warning) for a nonexistent makefile.
756 * Commands in an invocation of the `shell' function are now run with a
757 modified environment like recipes are, so you can use `export' et al
758 to set up variables for them. They used to run with the environment
759 that `make' started with.
763 * `make --version' (or `make -v') now exits immediately after printing
768 * Make now supports long-named members in `ar' archive files.
772 * Make now supports the `+=' syntax for a variable definition which appends
773 to the variable's previous value. See the section `Appending More Text
774 to Variables' in the manual for full details.
776 * The new option `--no-print-directory' inhibits the `-w' or
777 `--print-directory' feature. Make turns on `--print-directory'
778 automatically if you use `-C' or `--directory', and in sub-makes; some
779 users have found this behavior undesirable.
781 * The built-in implicit rules now support the alternative extension
782 `.txinfo' for Texinfo files, just like `.texinfo' and `.texi'.
786 * Make now uses a standard GNU `configure' script. See the new file
787 INSTALL for the new (and much simpler) installation procedure.
789 * There is now a shell script to build Make the first time, if you have no
790 other `make' program. `build.sh' is created by `configure'; see README.
792 * GNU Make now completely conforms to the POSIX.2 specification for `make'.
794 * Elements of the `$^' and `$?' automatic variables that are archive
795 member references now list only the member name, as in Unix and POSIX.2.
797 * You should no longer ever need to specify the `-w' switch, which prints
798 the current directory before and after Make runs. The `-C' switch to
799 change directory, and recursive use of Make, now set `-w' automatically.
801 * Multiple double-colon rules for the same target will no longer have their
802 recipes run simultaneously under -j, as this could result in the two
803 recipes trying to change the file at the same time and interfering with
806 * The `SHELL' variable is now never taken from the environment.
807 Each makefile that wants a shell other than the default (/bin/sh) must
808 set SHELL itself. SHELL is always exported to child processes.
809 This change was made for compatibility with POSIX.2.
811 * Make now accepts long options. There is now an informative usage message
812 that tells you what all the options are and what they do. Try `make --help'.
814 * There are two new directives: `export' and `unexport'. All variables are
815 no longer automatically put into the environments of the recipe lines that
816 Make runs. Instead, only variables specified on the command line or in
817 the environment are exported by default. To export others, use:
819 or you can define variables with:
820 export VARIABLE = VALUE
822 export VARIABLE := VALUE
826 .EXPORT_ALL_VARIABLES:
827 to get the old behavior. See the node `Variables/Recursion' in the manual
828 for a full description.
830 * The recipe from the `.DEFAULT' special target is only applied to
831 targets which have no rules at all, not all targets with no recipe.
832 This change was made for compatibility with Unix make.
834 * All fatal error messages now contain `***', so they are easy to find in
837 * Dependency file names like `-lNAME' are now replaced with the actual file
838 name found, as with files found by normal directory search (VPATH).
839 The library file `libNAME.a' may now be found in the current directory,
840 which is checked before VPATH; the standard set of directories (/lib,
841 /usr/lib, /usr/local/lib) is now checked last.
842 See the node `Libraries/Search' in the manual for full details.
844 * A single `include' directive can now specify more than one makefile to
847 You can also use shell file name patterns in an `include' directive:
850 * The default directories to search for included makefiles, and for
851 libraries specified with `-lNAME', are now set by configuration.
853 * You can now use blanks as well as colons to separate the directories in a
854 search path for the `vpath' directive or the `VPATH' variable.
856 * You can now use variables and functions in the left hand side of a
857 variable assignment, as in "$(foo)bar = value".
859 * The `MAKE' variable is always defined as `$(MAKE_COMMAND) $(MAKEOVERRIDES)'.
860 The `MAKE_COMMAND' variable is now defined to the name with which make
863 * The built-in rules for C++ compilation now use the variables `$(CXX)' and
864 `$(CXXFLAGS)' instead of `$(C++)' and `$(C++FLAGS)'. The old names had
865 problems with shells that cannot have `+' in environment variable names.
867 * The value of a recursively expanded variable is now expanded when putting
868 it into the environment for child processes. This change was made for
869 compatibility with Unix make.
871 * A rule with no targets before the `:' is now accepted and ignored.
872 This change was made for compatibility with SunOS 4 make.
873 We do not recommend that you write your makefiles to take advantage of this.
875 * The `-I' switch can now be used in MAKEFLAGS, and are put there
876 automatically just like other switches.
880 * Built-in rules for C++ source files with the `.C' suffix.
881 We still recommend that you use `.cc' instead.
883 * If a recipe is given too many times for a single target, the last one
884 given is used, and a warning message is printed.
886 * Error messages about makefiles are in standard GNU error format,
887 so C-x ` in Emacs works on them.
889 * Dependencies of pattern rules which contain no % need not actually exist
890 if they can be created (just like dependencies which do have a %).
894 * A message is always printed when Make decides there is nothing to be done.
895 It used to be that no message was printed for top-level phony targets
896 (because "`phony' is up to date" isn't quite right). Now a different
897 message "Nothing to be done for `phony'" is printed in that case.
899 * Archives on AIX now supposedly work.
901 * When the recipes specified for .DEFAULT are used to update a target,
902 the $< automatic variable is given the same value as $@ for that target.
903 This is how Unix make behaves, and this behavior is mandated by POSIX.2.
907 * The -n, -q, and -t options are not put in the `MAKEFLAGS' and `MFLAG'
908 variables while remaking makefiles, so recursive makes done while remaking
909 makefiles will behave properly.
911 * If the special target `.NOEXPORT' is specified in a makefile,
912 only variables that came from the environment and variables
913 defined on the command line are exported.
917 * Suffix rules may have dependencies (which are ignored).
921 * Dependencies of the form `-lLIB' are searched for as /usr/local/lib/libLIB.a
922 as well as libLIB.a in /usr/lib, /lib, the current directory, and VPATH.
926 * There is now a Unix man page for GNU Make. It is certainly not a
927 replacement for the Texinfo manual, but it documents the basic
928 functionality and the switches. For full documentation, you should
929 still read the Texinfo manual. Thanks to Dennis Morse of Stanford
930 University for contributing the initial version of this.
932 * Variables which are defined by default (e.g., `CC') will no longer be
933 put into the environment for child processes. (If these variables are
934 reset by the environment, makefiles, or the command line, they will
935 still go into the environment.)
937 * Makefiles which have recipes but no dependencies (and thus are always
938 considered out of date and in need of remaking), will not be remade (if they
939 were being remade only because they were makefiles). This means that GNU
940 Make will no longer go into an infinite loop when fed the makefiles that
941 `imake' (necessary to build X Windows) produces.
943 * There is no longer a warning for using the `vpath' directive with an explicit
944 pathname (instead of a `%' pattern).
948 * When removing intermediate files, only one `rm' command line is printed,
949 listing all file names.
951 * There are now automatic variables `$(^D)', `$(^F)', `$(?D)', and `$(?F)'.
952 These are the directory-only and file-only versions of `$^' and `$?'.
954 * Library dependencies given as `-lNAME' will use "libNAME.a" in the current
955 directory if it exists.
957 * The automatic variable `$($/)' is no longer defined.
959 * Leading `+' characters on a recipe line make that line be executed even
960 under -n, -t, or -q (as if the line contained `$(MAKE)').
962 * For recipe lines containing `$(MAKE)', `${MAKE}', or leading `+' characters,
963 only those lines are executed, not the entire recipe.
964 (This is how Unix make behaves for lines containing `$(MAKE)' or `${MAKE}'.)
968 * Filenames in rules will now have ~ and ~USER expanded.
970 * The `-p' output has been changed so it can be used as a makefile.
971 (All information that isn't specified by makefiles is prefaced with comment
976 * The % character can be quoted with backslash in implicit pattern rules,
977 static pattern rules, `vpath' directives, and `patsubst', `filter', and
978 `filter-out' functions. A warning is issued if a `vpath' directive's
979 pattern contains no %.
981 * The `wildcard' variable expansion function now expands ~ and ~USER.
983 * Messages indicating failed recipe lines now contain the target name:
984 make: *** [target] Error 1
986 * The `-p' output format has been changed somewhat to look more like
987 makefile rules and to give all information that Make has about files.
993 * The `-l' switch with no argument removes any previous load-average limit.
995 * When the `-w' switch is in effect, and Make has updated makefiles,
996 it will write a `Leaving directory' message before re-executing itself.
997 This makes the `directory change tracking' changes to Emacs's compilation
998 commands work properly.
1002 * The automatic variable `$*' is now defined for explicit rules,
1003 as it is in Unix make.
1007 * The `-j' switch is now put in the MAKEFLAGS and MFLAGS variables when
1008 specified without an argument (indicating infinite jobs).
1009 The `-l' switch is not always put in the MAKEFLAGS and MFLAGS variables.
1011 * Make no longer checks hashed directories after running recipes.
1012 The behavior implemented in 3.41 caused too much slowdown.
1016 * A dependency is NOT considered newer than its dependent if
1017 they have the same modification time. The behavior implemented
1018 in 3.43 conflicts with RCS.
1022 * Dependency loops are no longer fatal errors.
1024 * A dependency is considered newer than its dependent if
1025 they have the same modification time.
1029 * The variables F77 and F77FLAGS are now set by default to $(FC) and
1030 $(FFLAGS). Makefiles designed for System V make may use these variables in
1031 explicit rules and expect them to be set. Unfortunately, there is no way to
1032 make setting these affect the Fortran implicit rules unless FC and FFLAGS
1033 are not used (and these are used by BSD make).
1037 * Make now checks to see if its hashed directories are changed by recipes.
1038 Other makes that hash directories (Sun, 4.3 BSD) don't do this.
1042 * The `shell' function no longer captures standard error output.
1046 * A file beginning with a dot can be the default target if it also contains
1047 a slash (e.g., `../bin/foo'). (Unix make allows this as well.)
1051 * Archive member names are truncated to 15 characters.
1053 * Yet more USG stuff.
1055 * Minimal support for Microport System V (a 16-bit machine and a
1056 brain-damaged compiler). This has even lower priority than other USG
1057 support, so if it gets beyond trivial, I will take it out completely.
1059 * Revamped default implicit rules (not much visible change).
1061 * The -d and -p options can come from the environment.
1065 * Improved support for USG and HPUX (hopefully).
1067 * A variable reference like `$(foo:a=b)', if `a' contains a `%', is
1068 equivalent to `$(patsubst a,b,$(foo))'.
1070 * Defining .DEFAULT with no deps or recipe clears its recipe.
1072 * New default implicit rules for .S (cpp, then as), and .sh (copy and
1073 make executable). All default implicit rules that use cpp (even
1074 indirectly), use $(CPPFLAGS).
1078 * Giving the -j option with no arguments gives you infinite jobs.
1082 * New option: "-l LOAD" says not to start any new jobs while others are
1083 running if the load average is not below LOAD (a floating-point number).
1085 * There is support in place for implementations of remote command execution
1086 in Make. See the file remote.c.
1090 * No more than 10 directories will be kept open at once.
1091 (This number can be changed by redefining MAX_OPEN_DIRECTORIES in dir.c.)
1095 * Archive files will have their modification times recorded before doing
1096 anything that might change their modification times by updating an archive
1101 * The `MAKELEVEL' variable is defined for use by makefiles.
1105 * The recursion level indications in error messages are much shorter than
1106 they were in version 3.14.
1110 * Leading spaces before directives are ignored (as documented).
1112 * Included makefiles can determine the default goal target.
1113 (System V Make does it this way, so we are being compatible).
1117 * Variables that are defaults built into Make will not be put in the
1118 environment for children. This just saves some environment space and,
1119 except under -e, will be transparent to sub-makes.
1121 * Error messages from sub-makes will indicate the level of recursion.
1123 * Hopefully some speed-up for large directories due to a change in the
1124 directory hashing scheme.
1126 * One child will always get a standard input that is usable.
1128 * Default makefiles that don't exist will be remade and read in.
1132 * Count parentheses inside expansion function calls so you can
1133 have nested calls: `$(sort $(foreach x,a b,$(x)))'.
1137 * Several bug fixes, including USG and Sun386i support.
1139 * `shell' function to expand shell commands a la `
1141 * If the `-d' flag is given, version information will be printed.
1143 * The `-c' option has been renamed to `-C' for compatibility with tar.
1145 * The `-p' option no longer inhibits other normal operation.
1147 * Makefiles will be updated and re-read if necessary.
1149 * Can now run several recipes at once (parallelism), -j option.
1151 * Error messages will contain the level of Make recursion, if any.
1153 * The `MAKEFLAGS' and `MFLAGS' variables will be scanned for options after
1156 * A double-colon rule with no dependencies will always have its recipe run.
1157 (This is how both the BSD and System V versions of Make do it.)
1161 (Changes from versions 1 through 3.05 were never recorded. Sorry.)
1163 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1164 Copyright (C) 1988-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1165 This file is part of GNU Make.
1167 GNU Make is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
1168 terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
1169 Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later
1172 GNU Make is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
1173 WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR
1174 A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
1176 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
1177 this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.