manually decyphering Makefile

moob8 · 10-20-2006, 06:44 PM

So I've got a package that I've been trying to build on my system. it's been a fight. ./configure gave me problems. I eventually fixed them. Then the make gave me new problems. I eventually fixed them as well. Now the "make install" part is failing. I don't expect this part to ever fail since as far as I know it just copies files.

So what I intend to do now (since neither google nor myself seems to know this problem) is to manually do the "make install" part. The problem is the Makefile is incomprehensible (lot's of, "ok he uses that variable here, hmmm, yet nowhere is it defined"). I need to decode it to figure out. Clue? Tip? Linkie? Automatic "Makefile to string of copy commands in a textfile" program?

Thanks.

pddm · 10-20-2006, 07:21 PM

It sounds really strange that someone would publish a noncompilable package.

Do you have the name of the package you are trying to compile?

IF you know that the files you need were created during compilation you could just copy them manually to their destination.

moob8 · 10-21-2006, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pddm

It sounds really strange that someone would publish a noncompilable package.

agreed.

Quote:

Do you have the name of the package you are trying to compile?

avidemux2

Quote:

IF you know that the files you need were created during compilation you could just copy them manually to their destination.

which returns us to the original question of how to decypher the Makefile.

TomGibbons · 10-22-2006, 08:04 AM

You could post the Makefile and we could take a look.

truthfatal · 10-22-2006, 05:09 PM

You could look at the makefiles for simpler programs to get an Idea of the general layout.

For example, in xchat-systray's makefile near the top under #UNIX VARS
is "install = cp" "mkdir = mkdir" amongst other variables. near the bottom of the file is

Code:

install: all
	$(mkdir) -p $(plugindir)
	$(install) $(plugin) $(plugindir)/$(plugin)
	$(install) src/images/Win32Tray $(plugindir)/ -r -f
	$(install) src/images/GTKTray $(plugindir)/ -r -f
	$(install) src/images/Menu $(plugindir)/ -r -f

That's probably an extremely simple example.... but It might give you an Idea of what to look for.

moob8 · 10-27-2006, 05:29 PM

Well I tried somethign stupid with my avidemux and it actually worked. I browsed around the directory that I was compiling avidemux in. Found an aprox 8 meg file called "avidemux". execute flag was set on it. I ran that. Bam: it worked. So I then manually copied that one file to /usr/local/bin. In this specific instance I lucked out because it was statically built. We've become a great fan of statically built binaries. So there is no longer a need to decypher that makefile.

However, I've got another instance of this same problem on another program. This program is twin, a sort of text mode window manager (think screen on steriods?

). The program congigurres, makes with no trouble. make install craps out right away, falsly claming that I was attmepting to copy files onto already installed files. Here is the Makefile.

Code:

#
# This file was generated automatically by scripts/Makefiles.sh. Do not edit.
#

# TOP_SRCDIR
T:=

# THIS_SRCDIR
S:=

# TOP_BUILDDIR
B:=

include $(S)Makefile.sub

Not a big help, is it?