make: Error Messages
Appendix B Errors Generated by Make
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Here is a list of the more common errors you might see generated by
'make', and some information about what they mean and how to fix them.
Sometimes 'make' errors are not fatal, especially in the presence of
a '-' prefix on a recipe line, or the '-k' command line option. Errors
that are fatal are prefixed with the string '***'.
Error messages are all either prefixed with the name of the program
(usually 'make'), or, if the error is found in a makefile, the name of
the file and line number containing the problem.
In the table below, these common prefixes are left off.
'[FOO] Error NN'
'[FOO] SIGNAL DESCRIPTION'
These errors are not really 'make' errors at all. They mean that a
program that 'make' invoked as part of a recipe returned a non-0
error code ('Error NN'), which 'make' interprets as failure, or it
exited in some other abnormal fashion (with a signal of some type).
Errors in Recipes Errors.
If no '***' is attached to the message, then the sub-process failed
but the rule in the makefile was prefixed with the '-' special
character, so 'make' ignored the error.
'missing separator. Stop.'
'missing separator (did you mean TAB instead of 8 spaces?). Stop.'
This means that 'make' could not understand much of anything about
the makefile line it just read. GNU 'make' looks for various
separators (':', '=', recipe prefix characters, etc.) to indicate
what kind of line it's parsing. This message means it couldn't
find a valid one.
One of the most common reasons for this message is that you (or
perhaps your oh-so-helpful editor, as is the case with many
MS-Windows editors) have attempted to indent your recipe lines with
spaces instead of a tab character. In this case, 'make' will use
the second form of the error above. Remember that every line in
the recipe must begin with a tab character (unless you set
'.RECIPEPREFIX'; Special Variables). Eight spaces do not
count. Rule Syntax.
'recipe commences before first target. Stop.'
'missing rule before recipe. Stop.'
This means the first thing in the makefile seems to be part of a
recipe: it begins with a recipe prefix character and doesn't appear
to be a legal 'make' directive (such as a variable assignment).
Recipes must always be associated with a target.
The second form is generated if the line has a semicolon as the
first non-whitespace character; 'make' interprets this to mean you
left out the "target: prerequisite" section of a rule. Rule
Syntax.
'No rule to make target `XXX'.'
'No rule to make target `XXX', needed by `YYY'.'
This means that 'make' decided it needed to build a target, but
then couldn't find any instructions in the makefile on how to do
that, either explicit or implicit (including in the default rules
database).
If you want that file to be built, you will need to add a rule to
your makefile describing how that target can be built. Other
possible sources of this problem are typos in the makefile (if that
file name is wrong) or a corrupted source tree (if that file is not
supposed to be built, but rather only a prerequisite).
'No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop.'
'No targets. Stop.'
The former means that you didn't provide any targets to be built on
the command line, and 'make' couldn't find any makefiles to read
in. The latter means that some makefile was found, but it didn't
contain any default goal and none was given on the command line.
GNU 'make' has nothing to do in these situations. Arguments
to Specify the Makefile Makefile Arguments.
'Makefile `XXX' was not found.'
'Included makefile `XXX' was not found.'
A makefile specified on the command line (first form) or included
(second form) was not found.
'warning: overriding recipe for target `XXX''
'warning: ignoring old recipe for target `XXX''
GNU 'make' allows only one recipe to be specified per target
(except for double-colon rules). If you give a recipe for a target
which already has been defined to have one, this warning is issued
and the second recipe will overwrite the first. Multiple
Rules for One Target Multiple Rules.
'Circular XXX <- YYY dependency dropped.'
This means that 'make' detected a loop in the dependency graph:
after tracing the prerequisite YYY of target XXX, and its
prerequisites, etc., one of them depended on XXX again.
'Recursive variable `XXX' references itself (eventually). Stop.'
This means you've defined a normal (recursive) 'make' variable XXX
that, when it's expanded, will refer to itself (XXX). This is not
allowed; either use simply-expanded variables (':=' or '::=') or
use the append operator ('+='). How to Use Variables Using
Variables.
'Unterminated variable reference. Stop.'
This means you forgot to provide the proper closing parenthesis or
brace in your variable or function reference.
'insufficient arguments to function `XXX'. Stop.'
This means you haven't provided the requisite number of arguments
for this function. See the documentation of the function for a
description of its arguments. Functions for Transforming
Text Functions.
'missing target pattern. Stop.'
'multiple target patterns. Stop.'
'target pattern contains no `%'. Stop.'
'mixed implicit and static pattern rules. Stop.'
These are generated for malformed static pattern rules. The first
means there's no pattern in the target section of the rule; the
second means there are multiple patterns in the target section; the
third means the target doesn't contain a pattern character ('%');
and the fourth means that all three parts of the static pattern
rule contain pattern characters ('%')-only the first two parts
should. If you see these errors and you aren't trying to create a
static pattern rule, check the value of any variables in your
target and prerequisite lists to be sure they do not contain
colons. Syntax of Static Pattern Rules Static Usage.
'warning: -jN forced in submake: disabling jobserver mode.'
This warning and the next are generated if 'make' detects error
conditions related to parallel processing on systems where
sub-'make's can communicate (Communicating Options to a
Sub-'make' Options/Recursion.). This warning is generated if a
recursive invocation of a 'make' process is forced to have '-jN' in
its argument list (where N is greater than one). This could
happen, for example, if you set the 'MAKE' environment variable to
'make -j2'. In this case, the sub-'make' doesn't communicate with
other 'make' processes and will simply pretend it has two jobs of
its own.
'warning: jobserver unavailable: using -j1. Add `+' to parent make rule.'
In order for 'make' processes to communicate, the parent will pass
information to the child. Since this could result in problems if
the child process isn't actually a 'make', the parent will only do
this if it thinks the child is a 'make'. The parent uses the
normal algorithms to determine this (How the 'MAKE' Variable
Works MAKE Variable.). If the makefile is constructed such that
the parent doesn't know the child is a 'make' process, then the
child will receive only part of the information necessary. In this
case, the child will generate this warning message and proceed with
its build in a sequential manner.
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