outline makefiles

2025-02-07 23:40:13 +01:00
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--- a/system/Makefiles.md
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+---
+title: "Makefiles"
+tags: [ "system", "makefiles" ]
+---
+
+The `make` system wants to know:
+
+1. What file you want to make,
+1. Which other files it depends on, and
+1. How to build the file.
+
+Start with a basic test-area.
+
+```bash
+mkdir make_test ; cd $_
+printf "%s:\n" README.md > Makefile
+printf "\t%s\n" 'echo "Basic makefile example." > $@' >> Makefile
+make
+```
+
+**NB:** Always tell `make` how to build files with a `\t` (tab) character.
+Using four spaces will not work!
+
+## Dependency Files
+
+Now we've made a `README.md` file, we can show how a makefile looks in the README:
+
+```make
+README.md: Makefile
+	echo "Basic makefile example." > $@
+	echo "" >> $@
+	echo '```' >> $@
+	cat $< >> $@
+	echo '```' >> $@
+
+
+```
+
+Note the order:
+
+1. The first thing is the file you want, then a colon (`:`).
+1. After the colon, any file it depends on.
+1. Finally, the shell commands to execute.
+
+# Strange Sigils
+
+Notice that the file above can print into the README by using `echo "" >> $@`.
+The `$@` stands for 'the file which we want', and `$<` stands for 'the first dependency file'.
+The `make` program starts by replacing those variables, and the result it:
+
+```make
+README.md: Makefile
+	echo "Basic makefile example." > README.md
+	echo "" >> README.md
+	echo '```' >> README.md
+	cat Makefile >> README.md
+	echo '```' >> README.md
+
+
+```
+
+|  Sigil  | Meaning                                |
+|:-------:|:--------------------------------------:|
+| `$@`    | The file we want                       |
+| `$<`    | First dependency file                  |
+| `$^`    | All dependency files                   |
+| `$(@F)` | Filename of the file we want           |
+| `$(@D)` | Directory path of the file we want     |
+| `$(<F)` | Filename of the first dependency       |
+| `$(@D)` | Directory path of the first dependency |
+
+## Basic Variables
+
+You can assign a variable normally, but must refer to it in brackets.
+
+
+```make
+storage_directory = backups
+
+README.md: Makefile
+	echo "Basic makefile example." > $@
+	echo "" >> $@
+	echo '```' >> $@
+	cat $< >> $@
+	echo '```' >> $@
+
+$(storage_directory)/README.md: README.md
+    mkdir $(@D)
+    cp $< $@
+
+```
+
+Now you can tell `make` to create the backup:
+
+```bash
+make backups/README.md
+```
+
+## Command Variables
+
+The backup `README.md` could be named after the current minute of the day, using `date +%M`.
+This allows up-to-the-minute backups:
+
+```make
+current_minute != date +%M
+
+storage_directory = backups
+
+README.md: Makefile
+	echo "Basic makefile example." > $@
+	echo "" >> $@
+	echo '```' >> $@
+	cat $< >> $@
+	echo '```' >> $@
+
+$(storage_directory)/backup_$(current_minute).md: README.md
+	mkdir $(@D)
+	cp $< $@
+
+```
+
+...but the repeated use of `mkdir` is causing an error, because that directory already exists.
+
+We can solve this by using `mkdir -p`.
+
+## Phony Targets
+
+But we don't want to look up the current minute of the day to make backups.
+Better to just say `make backup`.
+However, this will confuse `make`, because `make` thinks everything is a file, so it would try to make a file called `backup`.
+
+The solution is to tell `make` that `backup` is a phony target.
+
+```make
+  [ ... ]
+
+.PHONY: backup
+backup: $(storage_directory)/backup_$(current_minute).md
+$(storage_directory)/backup_$(current_minute).md: README.md
+	mkdir -p $(@D)
+	cp $< $@
+
+```
+
+Now run `make backup` to create an up-to-date backup.
+
+# Order
+
+Makefile thinks like this:
+
+1. Fill in all the variables in the file, from top to bottom.
+1. If variables are missing, go through the file again.
+1. Figure out the order the files should be built in.
+
+In this case, the makefile can see that `backup` depends on the current backup file (with the minute in the filename), which depends on the `README.md` file, which depends on the Makefile itself.
+
+```graph
+
+┌──────────────────────┐
+│       Makefile       │
+└──────────────────────┘
+  │
+  │
+  ▼
+┌──────────────────────┐
+│      README.md       │
+└──────────────────────┘
+  │
+  │
+  ▼
+┌──────────────────────┐
+│ backups/backup_06.md │
+└──────────────────────┘
+  │
+  │
+  ▼
+┌──────────────────────┐
+│        backup        │
+└──────────────────────┘
+```
+
+# The Rest
+
+- [File patterns](Makefiles/patterns.md)
+- [Makefile graphs](Makefiles/graph-easy.md)
--- a/system/Makefiles/graph-easy.md
+++ b/system/Makefiles/graph-easy.md
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+---
+title: "Makefile Graphs"
+tags: [ "system", "makefiles", "graph" ]
+---
+
+If you have `graph-easy` (often in the package `perl-graph-easy` or similar), you can make a graph from the makefile with `make2graph` (the package is often called `makefile2graph`).
+
+Start with the command to 'make all targets' (`-B`), and 'do a dummy run' (`-n`) with debug into (`-d`):
+
+```bash
+make -Bnd
+make -Bnd | make2graph
+make -Bnd | make2graph | graph-easy --boxart
+```
+
--- a/system/Makefiles/patterns.md
+++ b/system/Makefiles/patterns.md
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+
+---
+title: "Makefile Patterns"
+tags: [ "system", "makefiles" ]
+---
+
+Using the [basic example](../Makefile.md), you can make a complete backup of all backup files.
+This file will depend upon everything inside the `$(storage_directory)`.
+Unlike `bash`, you can't just say `storage_directory/*`: the pattern must be stated as a 'wildcard'.
+
+```make
+$(storage_directory)/backup.tgz: $(wildcard $(storage_directory)/*.md)
+	tar czf $@ $^
+```
+
+The `make` rules start by processing variables:
+
+```make
+backups/backup.tgz: $(wildcard backups/*.md)
+	tar czf backups/backup.tgz $^
+```
+
+Then the `wildcard` variable equals whichever backup files are in the `backups/` directory:
+
+```make
+backups/backup.tgz: backups/backup_29.md backups/backup_30.md
+    tar czf backups/backup.tgz backups/backup_29.md backups/backup_30.md
+```
+
+
+The phony `backup` target should now point to this tar backup.
+
+
+```make
+current_minute != date +%M
+
+storage_directory = backups
+
+.PHONY: backup
+backup: $(storage_directory)/backup.tgz
+$(storage_directory)/backup.tgz: $(wildcard $(storage_directory)/*.md)
+	tar czf $@ $^
+
+README.md: Makefile
+	echo "Basic makefile example." > $@
+	echo "" >> $@
+	echo '```' >> $@
+	cat $< >> $@
+	echo '```' >> $@
+
+$(storage_directory)/backup_$(current_minute).md: README.md
+	mkdir -p $(@D)
+	cp $< $@
+
+```
+
+