Makefile with two targets with the same name

Question

I have a makefile containing an include statement. I have no control over the content of the included makefile. Still, I want to be able to add some pre-processing steps before "some" (not all) of the targets. Consider the following example:

install:
      @echo "install target"

include othermakefile.mk

othermakefile.mk contains install target as well. If I run this script, make gives a warning and ignores the first install target.

Then rename your targets to something that is very unlikely to clash (`foo_blah_install` for instance). — Oliver Charlesworth, Jun 20 '12 at 17:40
As I said, I want the script to run some **preprocessing** commands when the user enters "make install". I don't want to change the name of the target. — Javad, Jun 20 '12 at 17:43

Beta · Answer 1 · 2012-06-20T18:49:56.360

3

Nothing easier:

install: pre_install

.PHONY: pre_install
pre_install:
    do preinstallation things

include othermakefile.mk

EDIT:
If you want to run pre_install before install or any of its preqs, here is a way. It's crude and ugly, but it does the job:

install: pre_install
    $(MAKE) -f othermakefile.mk $@

.PHONY: pre_install
pre_install:
    do preinstallation things

Note that this will not necessarily rebuild all prerequisites of install, so some of them may remain in their old states and not reflect the effects of pre_install. If that's not good enough, and you want pre_install before all of the other prerequisites, you can add an option flag:

install: pre_install
    $(MAKE) --always-make -f othermakefile.mk $@

Now Make will assume that all targets are out of date, and rebuild from the ground up (after pre_install).

edited Jun 20 '12 at 18:49

answered Jun 20 '12 at 17:47

Beta

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+1. But is it guaranteed that Make will process `install`s dependencies in top-to-bottom order? i.e. If `othermakefile.mk` contains `install: foobar`, is it guaranteed that `pre_install` gets processed before `foorbar`? – Oliver Charlesworth Jun 20 '12 at 17:51
@OliCharlesworth: no, there's no such guarantee; Make will build `pre_install` before `install` (which is how I read the question), but not necessarily before `install`'s other prerequisites. There *is* a way to put it ahead of all other targets, but it's more drastic. – Beta Jun 20 '12 at 18:02
Can you please tell me how I can *put it ahead of all other prerequisites*? – Javad Jun 20 '12 at 18:21

Makefile with two targets with the same name

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