Re: makefile target "all:" not built automatically

[Jon Grant]

Hello Paul

On 26 April 2011 13:34, Paul Smith <address@hidden> wrote:
> On Tue, 2011-04-26 at 13:31 +0100, Jon Grant wrote:
>> I noticed that the "all:" target must be at the top of a makefile,
>> unless explicitly built by "make all". Is this expected? It seems
>> quite limiting..
>
> There is nothing special about the "all" target.  That's just a
> convention that many, but not all, makefile authors use.  Make itself
> doesn't treat the "all" target, if it exists, in any special way.
>
> The GNU make manual says:
>
>>    The order of rules is not significant, except for determining the
>> "default goal": the target for `make' to consider, if you do not
>> otherwise specify one.  The default goal is the target of the first
>> rule in the first makefile.

Thank you for this. Could the text be updated to confirm that "the
target all: does not need to be the default target, this is a
convention that many, but not all, makefile authors use. Make itself
does not treat the "all" target, if it exists in a special way."

I could not find a mention of the "all" target in manual sections.

Perhaps it could even be mentioned in this chapter that "all" is not a
special target:

http://www.gnu.org/s/hello/manual/make/Special-Targets.html

Best regards, Jon