Make

Running Commands

GNU Make executes recipes from Makefiles. Learn essential invocation options for building projects, passing variables, and controlling parallel execution.

9 commands

Pro Tips

Use 'make -j$(nproc)' to use all CPU cores for parallel builds.

Use 'make -k' to continue building other targets after an error.

Common Mistakes

Command-line variables override Makefile definitions.

Commands

Run default target

$ make

Execute first target in Makefile.

Run specific target

$ make build

Execute named target.

Multiple targets

$ make clean build test

Run multiple targets in order.

Use specific Makefile

$ make -f custom.mk

Use alternative Makefile.

Change directory

$ make -C subdir

Run make in different directory.

Pass variable

$ make CFLAGS="-O2 -Wall" build

Override variable on command line.

Parallel jobs

$ make -j4

Run 4 jobs in parallel.

Keep going on error

$ make -k

Continue as much as possible after error.

Silent mode

$ make -s

Don't print commands as executed.