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How to Read This Documentation

If you are new to make, or are looking for a general introduction, read the first few paragraphs of each of the following discussions.

- An Introduction to Makefiles
- Writing Makefiles
- Writing Rules
- Writing the Commands in Rules
- How to Use Variables
- Conditional Parts of Makefiles
- Functions for Transforming Text
- How to Run make
- Using Implicit Rules
- Using make to Update Archive Files
- Features of GNU make
- Incompatibilities and Missing Features
- Makefile Conventions
- Quick Reference
- Complex Makefile Example

In each discussion, the first few paragraphs contain introductory or general information while the subsequent paragraphs contain specialized or technical information. The exception is An Introduction to Makefiles, all of which is overview. If you are familiar with other make programs, see Features of GNU make (which lists the enhancements GNU make has) and Incompatibilities and Missing Features (which explains the few things GNU make lacks that other programs provide).

For a quick summary, see:

- Summary of Options
- Quick Reference
- Special Built-in Target Names