In what order prerequisites will be made by the GNU make?

Question

Assuming we have the rule:

a: b c d e

and b, c, d and e are independent of each other.

Is the order of making b, c, d, e defined? It seems that generally they will be made in order b, c, d, e, but may it sometimes happen, that the order will be different?

Answer 1

Sure, if I use make -j a, they might all get built at the same time (depending on whether b, c, d, or e in turn have other/interrelated dependencies).