How to create a makefile?

[vichu8888]

Hi all,
I have a 'C' program called

childCommand.c 

I want to create a makefile for this program in UNIX environment. Can someone please guide me?
Thanks

[codewalker]

http://www.cs.colby.edu/maxwell/courses/tutorials/maketutor/
This should help you

[vichu8888]

When I type

$childCommand: childCommand.o

and hit enter it sayd

childCommand not found.

Whats that im missing?

[Peter87]

http://scottmcpeak.com/autodepend/autodepend.html
I found this page very useful when creating makefiles that can handle dependencies automatically without having to update the makefile.

[Peter87]

If you have created a makefile named Makefile you should only have to type make and press enter.

[vichu8888]

@Peter :Today only im learning about makefile. The link you have given is for advanced people like you.

[vichu8888]

These are the things I have done
1. I created a text file named "makefile"
2. Entered the following in it

childProcess.o: childProcess.c
	gcc -c childProcess.c

clean:
	rm *.o

3. Then in the terminal window I typed

 $make

and hit enter

After that,it displayed

gcc -c childProcess.c

in the terminal
Is that correct?

[ne555]

You are missing the executable

[codewalker]

Yes that is correct but you are only compiling and not linking.

You need to add target for executable, add

childProcess: childProcess.o
    gcc -o childProcess childProcess.o 

If you do this you will have to

$ make chileProcess

or replace

childProcess.o: childProcess.c
	gcc -c childProcess.c

with

childProcess: childProcess.c
	gcc -o childProcess childProcess.c

General syntax for makefile is

target: dependencies
command
[optional commands]

[vichu8888]

Thanks

Peter

Codewalker

and

ne555

all for your great help. Now im cleared