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make: Goals

 
 9.2 Arguments to Specify the Goals
 ==================================
 
 The "goals" are the targets that 'make' should strive ultimately to
 update.  Other targets are updated as well if they appear as
 prerequisites of goals, or prerequisites of prerequisites of goals, etc.
 
    By default, the goal is the first target in the makefile (not
 counting targets that start with a period).  Therefore, makefiles are
 usually written so that the first target is for compiling the entire
 program or programs they describe.  If the first rule in the makefile
 has several targets, only the first target in the rule becomes the
 default goal, not the whole list.  You can manage the selection of the
 default goal from within your makefile using the '.DEFAULT_GOAL'
 variable (Other Special Variables Special Variables.).
 
    You can also specify a different goal or goals with command line
 arguments to 'make'.  Use the name of the goal as an argument.  If you
 specify several goals, 'make' processes each of them in turn, in the
 order you name them.
 
    Any target in the makefile may be specified as a goal (unless it
 starts with '-' or contains an '=', in which case it will be parsed as a
 switch or variable definition, respectively).  Even targets not in the
 makefile may be specified, if 'make' can find implicit rules that say
 how to make them.
 
    'Make' will set the special variable 'MAKECMDGOALS' to the list of
 goals you specified on the command line.  If no goals were given on the
 command line, this variable is empty.  Note that this variable should be
 used only in special circumstances.
 
    An example of appropriate use is to avoid including '.d' files during
 'clean' rules (Automatic Prerequisites), so 'make' won't create
 them only to immediately remove them again:
 
      sources = foo.c bar.c
 
      ifneq ($(MAKECMDGOALS),clean)
      include $(sources:.c=.d)
      endif
 
    One use of specifying a goal is if you want to compile only a part of
 the program, or only one of several programs.  Specify as a goal each
 file that you wish to remake.  For example, consider a directory
 containing several programs, with a makefile that starts like this:
 
      .PHONY: all
      all: size nm ld ar as
 
    If you are working on the program 'size', you might want to say
 'make size' so that only the files of that program are recompiled.
 
    Another use of specifying a goal is to make files that are not
 normally made.  For example, there may be a file of debugging output, or
 a version of the program that is compiled specially for testing, which
 has a rule in the makefile but is not a prerequisite of the default
 goal.
 
    Another use of specifying a goal is to run the recipe associated with
DONTPRINTYET  a phony target (Phony Targets) or empty target (*noteEmpty
DONTPRINTYET  a phony target (Phony Targets) or empty target (Empty

 Target Files to Record Events Empty Targets.).  Many makefiles contain
 a phony target named 'clean' which deletes everything except source
 files.  Naturally, this is done only if you request it explicitly with
 'make clean'.  Following is a list of typical phony and empty target
 names.  Standard Targets, for a detailed list of all the
 standard target names which GNU software packages use.
 
 'all'
      Make all the top-level targets the makefile knows about.
 
 'clean'
      Delete all files that are normally created by running 'make'.
 
 '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.
 
 'distclean'
 'realclean'
 'clobber'
      Any of these targets might be defined to delete _more_ files than
      'clean' does.  For example, this would delete configuration files
      or links that you would normally create as preparation for
      compilation, even if the makefile itself cannot create these files.
 
 'install'
      Copy the executable file into a directory that users typically
      search for commands; copy any auxiliary files that the executable
      uses into the directories where it will look for them.
 
 'print'
      Print listings of the source files that have changed.
 
 'tar'
      Create a tar file of the source files.
 
 'shar'
      Create a shell archive (shar file) of the source files.
 
 'dist'
      Create a distribution file of the source files.  This might be a
      tar file, or a shar file, or a compressed version of one of the
      above, or even more than one of the above.
 
 'TAGS'
      Update a tags table for this program.
 
 'check'
 'test'
      Perform self tests on the program this makefile builds.
 

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