make: Preparing

 
 Preparing and Running Make
 ==========================
 
 To prepare to use 'make', you must write a file called the "makefile"
 that describes the relationships among files in your program and
 provides commands for updating each file.  In a program, typically, the
 executable file is updated from object files, which are in turn made by
 compiling source files.
 
    Once a suitable makefile exists, each time you change some source
 files, this simple shell command:
 
      make
 
 suffices to perform all necessary recompilations.  The 'make' program
 uses the makefile data base and the last-modification times of the files
 to decide which of the files need to be updated.  For each of those
 files, it issues the recipes recorded in the data base.
 
    You can provide command line arguments to 'make' to control which
 files should be recompiled, or how.  SeeHow to Run 'make' Running.