File: make.info,  Node: Standard Targets,  Next: Install Command Categories,  Prev: Directory Variables,  Up: Makefile Conventions

16.6 Standard Targets for Users
===============================

All GNU programs should have the following targets in their Makefiles:

'all'
     Compile the entire program.  This should be the default target.
     This target need not rebuild any documentation files; Info files
     should normally be included in the distribution, and DVI (and other
     documentation format) files should be made only when explicitly
     asked for.

     By default, the Make rules should compile and link with '-g', so
     that executable programs have debugging symbols.  Otherwise, you
     are essentially helpless in the face of a crash, and it is often
     far from easy to reproduce with a fresh build.

'install'
     Compile the program and copy the executables, libraries, and so on
     to the file names where they should reside for actual use.  If
     there is a simple test to verify that a program is properly
     installed, this target should run that test.

     Do not strip executables when installing them.  This helps eventual
     debugging that may be needed later, and nowadays disk space is
     cheap and dynamic loaders typically ensure debug sections are not
     loaded during normal execution.  Users that need stripped binaries
     may invoke the 'install-strip' target to do that.

     If possible, write the 'install' target rule so that it does not
     modify anything in the directory where the program was built,
     provided 'make all' has just been done.  This is convenient for
     building the program under one user name and installing it under
     another.

     The commands should create all the directories in which files are
     to be installed, if they don't already exist.  This includes the
     directories specified as the values of the variables 'prefix' and
     'exec_prefix', as well as all subdirectories that are needed.  One
     way to do this is by means of an 'installdirs' target as described
     below.

     Use '-' before any command for installing a man page, so that
     'make' will ignore any errors.  This is in case there are systems
     that don't have the Unix man page documentation system installed.

     The way to install Info files is to copy them into '$(infodir)'
     with '$(INSTALL_DATA)' (*note Command Variables::), and then run
     the 'install-info' program if it is present.  'install-info' is a
     program that edits the Info 'dir' file to add or update the menu
     entry for the given Info file; it is part of the Texinfo package.

     Here is a sample rule to install an Info file that also tries to
     handle some additional situations, such as 'install-info' not being
     present.

          do-install-info: foo.info installdirs
                  $(NORMAL_INSTALL)
          # Prefer an info file in . to one in srcdir.
                  if test -f foo.info; then d=.; \
                   else d="$(srcdir)"; fi; \
                  $(INSTALL_DATA) $$d/foo.info \
                    "$(DESTDIR)$(infodir)/foo.info"
          # Run install-info only if it exists.
          # Use 'if' instead of just prepending '-' to the
          # line so we notice real errors from install-info.
          # Use '$(SHELL) -c' because some shells do not
          # fail gracefully when there is an unknown command.
                  $(POST_INSTALL)
                  if $(SHELL) -c 'install-info --version' \
                     >/dev/null 2>&1; then \
                    install-info --dir-file="$(DESTDIR)$(infodir)/dir" \
                                 "$(DESTDIR)$(infodir)/foo.info"; \
                  else true; fi

     When writing the 'install' target, you must classify all the
     commands into three categories: normal ones, "pre-installation"
     commands and "post-installation" commands.  *Note Install Command
     Categories::.

'install-html'
'install-dvi'
'install-pdf'
'install-ps'
     These targets install documentation in formats other than Info;
     they're intended to be called explicitly by the person installing
     the package, if that format is desired.  GNU prefers Info files, so
     these must be installed by the 'install' target.

     When you have many documentation files to install, we recommend
     that you avoid collisions and clutter by arranging for these
     targets to install in subdirectories of the appropriate
     installation directory, such as 'htmldir'.  As one example, if your
     package has multiple manuals, and you wish to install HTML
     documentation with many files (such as the "split" mode output by
     'makeinfo --html'), you'll certainly want to use subdirectories, or
     two nodes with the same name in different manuals will overwrite
     each other.

     Please make these 'install-FORMAT' targets invoke the commands for
     the FORMAT target, for example, by making FORMAT a dependency.

'uninstall'
     Delete all the installed files--the copies that the 'install' and
     'install-*' targets create.

     This rule should not modify the directories where compilation is
     done, only the directories where files are installed.

     The uninstallation commands are divided into three categories, just
     like the installation commands.  *Note Install Command
     Categories::.

'install-strip'
     Like 'install', but strip the executable files while installing
     them.  In simple cases, this target can use the 'install' target in
     a simple way:

          install-strip:
                  $(MAKE) INSTALL_PROGRAM='$(INSTALL_PROGRAM) -s' \
                          install

     But if the package installs scripts as well as real executables,
     the 'install-strip' target can't just refer to the 'install'
     target; it has to strip the executables but not the scripts.

     'install-strip' should not strip the executables in the build
     directory which are being copied for installation.  It should only
     strip the copies that are installed.

     Normally we do not recommend stripping an executable unless you are
     sure the program has no bugs.  However, it can be reasonable to
     install a stripped executable for actual execution while saving the
     unstripped executable elsewhere in case there is a bug.

'clean'
     Delete all files in the current directory that are normally created
     by building the program.  Also delete files in other directories if
     they are created by this makefile.  However, don't delete the files
     that record the configuration.  Also preserve files that could be
     made by building, but normally aren't because the distribution
     comes with them.  There is no need to delete parent directories
     that were created with 'mkdir -p', since they could have existed
     anyway.

     Delete '.dvi' files here if they are not part of the distribution.

'distclean'
     Delete all files in the current directory (or created by this
     makefile) that are created by configuring or building the program.
     If you have unpacked the source and built the program without
     creating any other files, 'make distclean' should leave only the
     files that were in the distribution.  However, there is no need to
     delete parent directories that were created with 'mkdir -p', since
     they could have existed anyway.

'mostlyclean'
     Like 'clean', but may refrain from deleting a few files that people
     normally don't want to recompile.  For example, the 'mostlyclean'
     target for GCC does not delete 'libgcc.a', because recompiling it
     is rarely necessary and takes a lot of time.

'maintainer-clean'
     Delete almost everything that can be reconstructed with this
     Makefile.  This typically includes everything deleted by
     'distclean', plus more: C source files produced by Bison, tags
     tables, Info files, and so on.

     The reason we say "almost everything" is that running the command
     'make maintainer-clean' should not delete 'configure' even if
     'configure' can be remade using a rule in the Makefile.  More
     generally, 'make maintainer-clean' should not delete anything that
     needs to exist in order to run 'configure' and then begin to build
     the program.  Also, there is no need to delete parent directories
     that were created with 'mkdir -p', since they could have existed
     anyway.  These are the only exceptions; 'maintainer-clean' should
     delete everything else that can be rebuilt.

     The 'maintainer-clean' target is intended to be used by a
     maintainer of the package, not by ordinary users.  You may need
     special tools to reconstruct some of the files that 'make
     maintainer-clean' deletes.  Since these files are normally included
     in the distribution, we don't take care to make them easy to
     reconstruct.  If you find you need to unpack the full distribution
     again, don't blame us.

     To help make users aware of this, the commands for the special
     'maintainer-clean' target should start with these two:

          @echo 'This command is intended for maintainers to use; it'
          @echo 'deletes files that may need special tools to rebuild.'

'TAGS'
     Update a tags table for this program.

'info'
     Generate any Info files needed.  The best way to write the rules is
     as follows:

          info: foo.info

          foo.info: foo.texi chap1.texi chap2.texi
                  $(MAKEINFO) $(srcdir)/foo.texi

     You must define the variable 'MAKEINFO' in the Makefile.  It should
     run the 'makeinfo' program, which is part of the Texinfo
     distribution.

     Normally a GNU distribution comes with Info files, and that means
     the Info files are present in the source directory.  Therefore, the
     Make rule for an info file should update it in the source
     directory.  When users build the package, ordinarily Make will not
     update the Info files because they will already be up to date.

'dvi'
'html'
'pdf'
'ps'
     Generate documentation files in the given format.  These targets
     should always exist, but any or all can be a no-op if the given
     output format cannot be generated.  These targets should not be
     dependencies of the 'all' target; the user must manually invoke
     them.

     Here's an example rule for generating DVI files from Texinfo:

          dvi: foo.dvi

          foo.dvi: foo.texi chap1.texi chap2.texi
                  $(TEXI2DVI) $(srcdir)/foo.texi

     You must define the variable 'TEXI2DVI' in the Makefile.  It should
     run the program 'texi2dvi', which is part of the Texinfo
     distribution.  ('texi2dvi' uses TeX to do the real work of
     formatting.  TeX is not distributed with Texinfo.)  Alternatively,
     write only the dependencies, and allow GNU 'make' to provide the
     command.

     Here's another example, this one for generating HTML from Texinfo:

          html: foo.html

          foo.html: foo.texi chap1.texi chap2.texi
                  $(TEXI2HTML) $(srcdir)/foo.texi

     Again, you would define the variable 'TEXI2HTML' in the Makefile;
     for example, it might run 'makeinfo --no-split --html' ('makeinfo'
     is part of the Texinfo distribution).

'dist'
     Create a distribution tar file for this program.  The tar file
     should be set up so that the file names in the tar file start with
     a subdirectory name which is the name of the package it is a
     distribution for.  This name can include the version number.

     For example, the distribution tar file of GCC version 1.40 unpacks
     into a subdirectory named 'gcc-1.40'.

     The easiest way to do this is to create a subdirectory
     appropriately named, use 'ln' or 'cp' to install the proper files
     in it, and then 'tar' that subdirectory.

     Compress the tar file with 'gzip'.  For example, the actual
     distribution file for GCC version 1.40 is called 'gcc-1.40.tar.gz'.
     It is ok to support other free compression formats as well.

     The 'dist' target should explicitly depend on all non-source files
     that are in the distribution, to make sure they are up to date in
     the distribution.  *Note Making Releases: (standards)Releases.

'check'
     Perform self-tests (if any).  The user must build the program
     before running the tests, but need not install the program; you
     should write the self-tests so that they work when the program is
     built but not installed.

   The following targets are suggested as conventional names, for
programs in which they are useful.

'installcheck'
     Perform installation tests (if any).  The user must build and
     install the program before running the tests.  You should not
     assume that '$(bindir)' is in the search path.

'installdirs'
     It's useful to add a target named 'installdirs' to create the
     directories where files are installed, and their parent
     directories.  There is a script called 'mkinstalldirs' which is
     convenient for this; you can find it in the Gnulib package.  You
     can use a rule like this:

          # Make sure all installation directories (e.g. $(bindir))
          # actually exist by making them if necessary.
          installdirs: mkinstalldirs
                  $(srcdir)/mkinstalldirs $(bindir) $(datadir) \
                                          $(libdir) $(infodir) \
                                          $(mandir)

     or, if you wish to support 'DESTDIR' (strongly encouraged),

          # Make sure all installation directories (e.g. $(bindir))
          # actually exist by making them if necessary.
          installdirs: mkinstalldirs
                  $(srcdir)/mkinstalldirs \
                      $(DESTDIR)$(bindir) $(DESTDIR)$(datadir) \
                      $(DESTDIR)$(libdir) $(DESTDIR)$(infodir) \
                      $(DESTDIR)$(mandir)

     This rule should not modify the directories where compilation is
     done.  It should do nothing but create installation directories.