Ultimate Makefile

The Ultimate Makefile to compile all your C, C++, Assembly and Fortran projects.

Tired of installing aditional tools to compile your projects? (Automake, CMake and Ant). Missing the old days, when all you needed to do was typing make? Here is the solution! A single generalized Makefile which aims to compile and mix almost everything related to C, C++, Assembly and Fortran projects - with support to many executables, static and shared libraries, lexer and parser generators, dependency management,file creation and much more! Everything just 4 letters away from you.

TL;DR

$ mkdir my_project
$ cd my_project
$ git clone https://github.com/umake/make.git
$ ln -s make/Makefile
$ make init

Starting

Good tools are simple. That's why make is so successful. And that's the goal of Ultimate Makefile.

In order to start, just download the Makefile:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/umake/make/master/Makefile

To begin a new project, just type:

make init

A group of directories and a git repository are now ready for you!

But how about configuring your project settings? Config.mk presents a self-explanatory set of variables used by Ultimate Makefile to perform all its magic. And the best: everything within the Make language - no extra parsers nor extra programs. Just one single Makefile.

In order to make your very first compilation, just create a .c, .cpp, .asm or .f (or any of the many source extensions available) and voilà: it will compile everything perfectly ( or at least as perfect as your program is...)

Single-directory projects

Do you have old single-directory code that is getting out of control? We also have a solution! make standard checks and separates your files in our default directory structure. Improve your organization (and use a great new tool) with almost no work!

Git submodule

To keep a copy of this project as a submodule, just clone it in your working directory:

git clone https://github.com/umake/make.git

Then, create a symbolic link:

ln -s make/Makefile

make init will automatically add it as a submodule.

Makeballs

Using frameworks or libraries may be tricky, even with a easy-to-use tool as Ultimate Makefile. We need to read documentations and find where headers and libraries are located in a world of complicated and almost no standardized projects. So why not reusing these flags? That's where Makeballs come in!

To start using Makeballs, create a conf directory and download one of the conf/makeball.mk available. Then add it in the end of your Config.mk:

...
# Makeball list
# ===============
include conf/makeball_1.mk
include conf/makeball_2.mk

If you cloned make to be used as a git submodule, all Makeballs are already available for you! Just create a symbolic link:

ln -s make/conf/

And include them as above.

Didn't find your favorite library?

Then just create you own Makeball! conf/makeball.mk provides the most complete set of variables that could be used to add functionalities to Ultimate Makefile. Even better: make a pull request and contribute reducing the work of others (and yourself) in the future.

Administrative Issues

Getting the latest version

To get the latest version, just type make upgrade and the newest Makefile will be automatically downloaded. If it is a submodule, the same procedure will do it.

Portability

This Makefile is currently being tested under projects developed mainly in C++ within Ubuntu Linux, Arch Linux, MAC OS X and Windows. Tests have already been done in purely C and C/C++ projects. To report compatibility problems, check the session below.

Bug report and Contributions

Any error or bug can be reported by opening an Issue. In order to contribute, make a pull request.

More info

For all available targets, type:

make projecthelp

And it will print a list with all Ultimate Makefile available options.