xref: /freebsd/share/man/man5/style.Makefile.5 (revision 397e83df75e0fcd0d3fcb95ae4d794cb7600fc89)
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28.Dd July 17, 2023
29.Dt STYLE.MAKEFILE 5
30.Os
31.Sh NAME
32.Nm style.Makefile
33.Nd
34.Fx
35.Pa Makefile
36file style guide
37.Sh DESCRIPTION
38This file specifies the preferred style for makefiles in the
39.Fx
40source tree.
41.Bl -bullet
42.It
43.Cm .PATH :
44comes first if needed, and is spelled
45.Dq Li ".PATH: " ,
46with a single
47.Tn ASCII
48space after a colon.
49Do not use the
50.Va VPATH
51variable.
52.It
53Special variables (i.e.,
54.Va LIB , SRCS , MLINKS ,
55etc.) are listed in order of
56.Dq product ,
57then building and installing a binary.
58Special variables may also be listed in
59.Dq build
60order: i.e., ones for the primary program (or library) first.
61The general
62.Dq product
63order is:
64.Va PROG Ns / Ns Oo Va SH Oc Ns Va LIB Ns / Ns Va SCRIPTS
65.Va FILES
66.Va LINKS
67.Va MAN
68.Va MLINKS
69.Va INCS
70.Va SRCS
71.Va WARNS
72.Va CSTD
73.Va CFLAGS
74.Va DPADD
75.Va LDADD .
76The general
77.Dq build
78order is:
79.Va PROG Ns / Ns Oo Va SH Oc Ns Va LIB Ns / Ns Va SCRIPTS
80.Va SRCS
81.Va WARNS
82.Va CSTD
83.Va CFLAGS
84.Va DPADD
85.Va LDADD
86.Va INCS
87.Va FILES
88.Va LINKS
89.Va MAN
90.Va MLINKS .
91.It
92Omit
93.Va SRCS
94when using
95.In bsd.prog.mk
96and there is a single source file named the same as the
97.Va PROG .
98.It
99Omit
100.Va MAN
101when using
102.In bsd.prog.mk
103and the manual page is named the same as the
104.Va PROG ,
105and is in section 1.
106.It
107All variable assignments are spelled
108.Dq Va VAR Ns Ic = ,
109i.e., no space between the variable name and the
110.Ic = .
111Keep values sorted alphabetically, if possible.
112.It
113Variables are expanded with
114.Sy {} ,
115not
116.Sy () .
117Such as
118.Va ${VARIABLE} .
119.It
120Do not use
121.Ic +=
122to set variables that are only set once
123(or to set variables for the first time).
124.It
125Do not use vertical whitespace in simple makefiles,
126but do use it to group locally related things in more complex/longer ones.
127.It
128.Va WARNS
129comes before
130.Va CFLAGS ,
131as it is basically a
132.Va CFLAGS
133modifier.
134It comes before
135.Va CFLAGS
136rather than after
137.Va CFLAGS
138so it does not get lost in a sea of
139.Va CFLAGS
140statements as
141.Va WARNS
142is an important thing.
143The usage of
144.Va WARNS
145is spelled
146.Dq Li "WARNS?= " ,
147so that it may be overridden on the command line or in
148.Xr make.conf 5 .
149.It
150.Dq Li "MK_WERROR=no"
151should not be used,
152it defeats the purpose of
153.Va WARNS .
154It should only be used on the command line and in special circumstances.
155.It
156.Va CFLAGS
157is spelled
158.Dq Li "CFLAGS+= " .
159.It
160Listing
161.Fl D Ns 's
162before
163.Fl I Ns 's
164in
165.Va CFLAGS
166is preferred for alphabetical ordering and to make
167.Fl D Ns 's
168easier to see.
169The
170.Fl D Ns 's
171often affect conditional compilation,
172and
173.Fl I Ns 's
174tend to be quite long.
175Split long
176.Va CFLAGS
177settings between the
178.Fl D Ns 's
179and
180.Fl I Ns 's.
181.It
182Do not use GCCisms (such as
183.Fl g
184and
185.Fl Wall )
186in
187.Va CFLAGS .
188.It
189Typically, there is one
190.Tn ASCII
191tab between
192.Va VAR Ns Ic =
193and the value in order to start the value in column 9.
194An
195.Tn ASCII
196space is allowed for variable names that extend beyond column 9.
197A lack of whitespace is also allowed for very long variable names.
198.It
199.Ic .include In bsd.*.mk
200goes last.
201.It
202Do not use anachronisms like
203.Va $<
204and
205.Va $@ .
206Instead use
207.Va ${.IMPSRC}
208or
209.Va ${.ALLSRC}
210and
211.Va ${.TARGET} .
212.It
213To not build the
214.Dq foo
215part of the base system,
216use
217.Va NO_FOO ,
218not
219.Va NOFOO .
220.It
221To optionally build something in the base system,
222spell the knob
223.Va WITH_FOO
224not
225.Va WANT_FOO
226or
227.Va USE_FOO .
228The latter are reserved for the
229.Fx
230Ports Collection.
231.It
232For variables that are only checked with
233.Fn defined ,
234do not provide any fake value.
235.El
236.Pp
237The desire to express a logical grouping often means not obeying some of the
238above.
239.Sh EXAMPLES
240The simplest program
241.Pa Makefile
242is:
243.Bd -literal -offset indent
244PROG=	foo
245
246\&.include <bsd.prog.mk>
247.Ed
248.Pp
249The simplest library
250.Pa Makefile
251is:
252.Bd -literal -offset indent
253LIB=	foo
254SHLIB_MAJOR= 1
255MAN=	libfoo.3
256SRCS=	foo.c
257
258\&.include <bsd.lib.mk>
259.Ed
260.Sh SEE ALSO
261.Xr make 1 ,
262.Xr make.conf 5 ,
263.Xr style 9
264.Sh HISTORY
265This manual page is inspired from the
266.Xr style 9
267manual page and first appeared in
268.Fx 5.1 .
269.Sh AUTHORS
270.An David O'Brien Aq deo@NUXI.org
271.Sh BUGS
272There are few hard and fast style rules here.
273The style of many things is too dependent on the context of the whole makefile,
274or the lines surrounding it.
275