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All GNU programs should have the following targets in their Makefiles:
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) (see section Variables for Specifying Commands), 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:
$(DESTDIR)$(infodir)/foo.info: foo.info
$(POST_INSTALL)
# There may be a newer info file in . than in srcdir.
-if test -f foo.info; then d=.; \
else d=$(srcdir); fi; \
$(INSTALL_DATA) $$d/foo.info $(DESTDIR)$@; \
# Run install-info only if it exists.
# Use `if' instead of just prepending `-' to the
# line so we notice real errors from install-info.
# We use `$(SHELL) -c' because some shells do not
# fail gracefully when there is an unknown command.
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. See section Install Command Categories.
install, but strip the executable files while installing
them. In many cases, the definition of this target can be very simple:
install-strip:
$(MAKE) INSTALL_PROGRAM='$(INSTALL_PROGRAM) -s' \
install
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.
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. This is the only exception; 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.'
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: 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.(3) Alternatively,
write just the dependencies, and allow GNU make to provide the command.
ln or cp to install the proper files in it, and
then tar that subdirectory.
Compress the tar file file with gzip. For example, the actual
distribution file for GCC version 1.40 is called `gcc-1.40.tar.gz'.
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.
See section `Making Releases' in GNU Coding Standards.
The following targets are suggested as conventional names, for programs in which they are useful.
installcheck
installdirs
# Make sure all installation directories (e.g. $(bindir))
# actually exist by making them if necessary.
installdirs: mkinstalldirs
$(srcdir)/mkinstalldirs $(bindir) $(datadir) \
$(libdir) $(infodir) \
$(mandir)
This rule should not modify the directories where compilation is done.
It should do nothing but create installation directories.
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