The GNU make bookJohn Graham-Cumming
The GNU make book
by John Graham-Cumming · first published 2015
12mentions
6recommended by
9HN commenters
2015–2024first – last mentioned
67% recommend22% neutral11% critical
Why HN recommends it
Goes beyond the GNU Make manual into advanced techniques like rule patterns, functions, and clever Makefile tricks; praised as a treasure trove for working engineers who already know the basics.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Covers GNU Make basics through advanced topics, including: user-defined functions, macros, and path handling; creating makefile assertions and debugging makefiles; parallelization; automatic dependency generation, rebuilding targets, and non-recursive Make; and using the GNU Make Standard Library"--
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The GNU Make manual is excellent. For learning advanced techniques: "The GNU Make Book" by John Graham-Cumming.
on “Ask HN: What overlooked class of tools should a self-taught programmer look into” ↗John, Even though this HN post is about GMSL specifically, I want to use it to thank you for writing "The GNU Make Book"[0]. It was a veritable treasure trove that greatly increased my competency with GNU Make. The experience of using that book, and playing with GMSL, was one of the sparks that inspired me to start…
on “GNU Make Standard Library v1.2.1 released” ↗"GNU Make Book" by John Graham-Cumming https://nostarch.com/gnumake
on “Ask HN: What overlooked class of tools should a self-taught programmer look into” ↗…for almost a year now. (And others, such as Travis-CI, used it by default right up until it was EOL). Oh, if you appreciate gmsl, you might also appreciate a book by the same author ('jgrahamc), The GNU Make Book. Some of the things in gmsl are certainly hacks, but a lot of it is quite reasonable if you start reading Make macros as "lisp, but with a bunch of extra dollar-signs and commas".
on “GNU Make Guile Integration” ↗…decade of messing with shiny new build tools, I finally learned to stop worrying and love the bomb (make). It's weird and warty but surprisingly capable. Worth the learning investment. Oh and jgrahamc's "GNU Make Book" is great. [2] [0] https://github.com/apenwarr/redo [1] https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/redo-list [2] https://www.nostarch.com/gnumake
on “Tup – A file-based build system for Linux, OS X, and Windows” ↗…by default uses the file change timestamp to trigger actions. But this is definitely not the only way, and you can code your Makefile so that rebuilds happen when a file's checksum changes. IIRC, the GNU Make Book has the code ready for you to study... Or, you might get more clever and say "when only a comment is changed, I don't want to rebuild"; file checksums are not the correct solution for this, so you can…
on “Using Landlock to Sandbox GNU Make” ↗…DOS, OS/2, and UNIX systems. Prentice Hall. * Robert Mecklenburg (2004). Managing Projects with GNU Make. Nutshell Handbooks. O'Reilly Media. ISBN 9780596552541. * John Graham-Cumming (2015). The GNU Make Book. No Starch Press. ISBN 9781593276492.
on “Afraid of Makefiles? Don't be” ↗I wrote "the GNU Make Book has the code ready for you to study." I'm currently traveling, without access to my books, but a quick online search at the contents of this book https://nostarch.com/download/GNU_Make_dTOC.pdf shows…
on “Content based change detection with Make” ↗From the top review: > The GNU Make Book is intended for people who already have an understanding of GNU Make, what it is, and the basics of how and why someone would use it. So a whole book about the Make tool, and yet it still requires prior…
on “The GNU Make Book” ↗…by default uses the file change timestamp to trigger actions. But this is definitely not the only way, and you can code your Makefile so that rebuilds happen when a file's checksum changes. IIRC, the GNU Make Book has the code ready for you to study... Or, you might get more clever and say "when only a comment is changed, I don't want to rebuild"; file checksums are not the correct solution for this, so you can…
on “Content based change detection with Make” ↗I do not get the impression that the “The GNU Make Book” has any substantial similarity with the freely available “Ask Mr. Make” articles – I get the impression that the book is a wholly new work, aimed at being a general manual for GNU Make. The title is…
on “Make: Theory and Practice” ↗…such should really be allowed, and I don’t see any consensus forming around disallowing them. Your point about trademarks is much more interesting, though; how many people have paid money for this “The GNU Make Book”, thinking that they have somehow supported the GNU Make project? Isn’t this exactly what trademarks are supposed to prevent?
on “Make: Theory and Practice” ↗