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makefilenaming-conventionsgnu-make

Is there a naming convention for makefile targets and variables

I couldn't find anything in the GNU Makefile Conventions.

Solution

  • This is the implicit naming convention followed by GNU Makefile documentation:

    Targets

    Target names should use lower case letters. Words are separated with a hyphen - or not separated. E.g.:

    test-debug:
    $(build_dir)/debug/bin

    or

    testdebug:
    $(build_dir)/debug/bin

    Variables

    Variables that are not special to make, and that are not inherited from the environment, should be in lowercase. Words should be separated with underscore symbol _. E.g.:

    src_dir = $(CURDIR)/src
build_dir = $(CURDIR)/build

    References:

    Makefile style guide (based on GNU Makefile documentation)

    GNU Makefile Standard Targets

    • targets: you can find targets like install, install-strip, installcheck

    • variables: you can read "This includes the directories specified as the values of the variables prefix and exec_prefix" within the install target documentation