xref: /freebsd/share/man/man5/style.Makefile.5 (revision 3c4ba5f55438f7afd4f4b0b56f88f2bb505fd6a6)
1.\" Copyright (c) 2002-2003 David O'Brien <obrien@FreeBSD.org>
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28.\" $FreeBSD$
29.\"
30.Dd November 18, 2021
31.Dt STYLE.MAKEFILE 5
32.Os
33.Sh NAME
34.Nm style.Makefile
35.Nd
36.Fx
37.Pa Makefile
38file style guide
39.Sh DESCRIPTION
40This file specifies the preferred style for makefiles in the
41.Fx
42source tree.
43.Bl -bullet
44.It
45.Cm .PATH :
46comes next if needed, and is spelled
47.Dq Li ".PATH: " ,
48with a single
49.Tn ASCII
50space after a colon.
51Do not use the
52.Va VPATH
53variable.
54.It
55Special variables (i.e.,
56.Va LIB , SRCS , MLINKS ,
57etc.) are listed in order of
58.Dq product ,
59then building and installing a binary.
60Special variables may also be listed in
61.Dq build
62order: i.e., ones for the primary program (or library) first.
63The general
64.Dq product
65order is:
66.Va PROG Ns / Ns Oo Va SH Oc Ns Va LIB Ns / Ns Va SCRIPTS
67.Va FILES
68.Va LINKS
69.Oo Va NO_ Oc Ns Va MAN
70.Va MLINKS
71.Va INCS
72.Va SRCS
73.Va WARNS
74.Va CSTD
75.Va CFLAGS
76.Va DPADD
77.Va LDADD .
78The general
79.Dq build
80order is:
81.Va PROG Ns / Ns Oo Va SH Oc Ns Va LIB Ns / Ns Va SCRIPTS
82.Va SRCS
83.Va WARNS
84.Va CSTD
85.Va CFLAGS
86.Va DPADD
87.Va LDADD
88.Va INCS
89.Va FILES
90.Va LINKS
91.Oo Va NO_ Oc Ns Va MAN
92.Va MLINKS .
93.It
94Omit
95.Va SRCS
96when using
97.In bsd.prog.mk
98and there is a single source file named the same as the
99.Va PROG .
100.It
101Omit
102.Va MAN
103when using
104.In bsd.prog.mk
105and the manual page is named the same as the
106.Va PROG ,
107and is in section 1.
108.It
109All variable assignments are spelled
110.Dq Va VAR Ns Ic = ,
111i.e., no space between the variable name and the
112.Ic = .
113Keep values sorted alphabetically, if possible.
114.It
115Variables are expanded with
116.Sy {} ,
117not
118.Sy () .
119Such as
120.Va ${VARIABLE} .
121.It
122Do not use
123.Ic +=
124to set variables that are only set once
125(or to set variables for the first time).
126.It
127Do not use vertical whitespace in simple makefiles,
128but do use it to group locally related things in more complex/longer ones.
129.It
130.Va WARNS
131comes before
132.Va CFLAGS ,
133as it is basically a
134.Va CFLAGS
135modifier.
136It comes before
137.Va CFLAGS
138rather than after
139.Va CFLAGS
140so it does not get lost in a sea of
141.Va CFLAGS
142statements as
143.Va WARNS
144is an important thing.
145The usage of
146.Va WARNS
147is spelled
148.Dq Li "WARNS?= " ,
149so that it may be overridden on the command line or in
150.Xr make.conf 5 .
151.It
152.Dq Li "MK_WERROR=no"
153should not be used,
154it defeats the purpose of
155.Va WARNS .
156It should only be used on the command line and in special circumstances.
157.It
158.Va CFLAGS
159is spelled
160.Dq Li "CFLAGS+= " .
161.It
162Listing
163.Fl D Ns 's
164before
165.Fl I Ns 's
166in
167.Va CFLAGS
168is preferred for alphabetical ordering and to make
169.Fl D Ns 's
170easier to see.
171The
172.Fl D Ns 's
173often affect conditional compilation,
174and
175.Fl I Ns 's
176tend to be quite long.
177Split long
178.Va CFLAGS
179settings between the
180.Fl D Ns 's
181and
182.Fl I Ns 's.
183.It
184Do not use GCCisms (such as
185.Fl g
186and
187.Fl Wall )
188in
189.Va CFLAGS .
190.It
191Typically, there is one
192.Tn ASCII
193tab between
194.Va VAR Ns Ic =
195and the value in order to start the value in column 9.
196An
197.Tn ASCII
198space is allowed for variable names that extend beyond column 9.
199A lack of whitespace is also allowed for very long variable names.
200.It
201.Ic .include In bsd.*.mk
202goes last.
203.It
204Do not use anachronisms like
205.Va $<
206and
207.Va $@ .
208Instead use
209.Va ${.IMPSRC}
210or
211.Va ${.ALLSRC}
212and
213.Va ${.TARGET} .
214.It
215To not build the
216.Dq foo
217part of the base system,
218use
219.Va NO_FOO ,
220not
221.Va NOFOO .
222.It
223To optionally build something in the base system,
224spell the knob
225.Va WITH_FOO
226not
227.Va WANT_FOO
228or
229.Va USE_FOO .
230The latter are reserved for the
231.Fx
232Ports Collection.
233.It
234For variables that are only checked with
235.Fn defined ,
236do not provide any fake value.
237.El
238.Pp
239The desire to express a logical grouping often means not obeying some of the
240above.
241.Sh EXAMPLES
242The simplest program
243.Pa Makefile
244is:
245.Bd -literal -offset indent
246# $FreeBSD\&$
247
248PROG=	foo
249
250\&.include <bsd.prog.mk>
251.Ed
252.Pp
253The simplest library
254.Pa Makefile
255is:
256.Bd -literal -offset indent
257# $FreeBSD\&$
258
259LIB=	foo
260SHLIB_MAJOR= 1
261MAN=	libfoo.3
262SRCS=	foo.c
263
264\&.include <bsd.lib.mk>
265.Ed
266.Sh SEE ALSO
267.Xr make 1 ,
268.Xr make.conf 5 ,
269.Xr style 9
270.Sh HISTORY
271This manual page is inspired from the same source as
272.Xr style 9
273manual page in
274.Fx .
275.Sh BUGS
276There are few hard and fast style rules here.
277The style of many things is too dependent on the context of the whole makefile,
278or the lines surrounding it.
279