HOWTO: Intro to GNU make variables

One thing that many GNU make users struggle with is predicting the value of a variable. And it’s no wonder, with the way make syntax freely mingles text intended for two very distinct phases of execution, and with two “flavors” of variables with very different semantics — except, that is, when the one seems to behave like the other. In this article I’ll run you through the fundamentals of GNU make variables so you can impress your friends (well, your nerdy friends, anyway) with your ability to predict the value of a GNU make variable at social gatherings.

Contents

• Basics
• Creating variables
• Variable flavors
• Target-specific variables

Basics

Let’s start with the basics: a GNU make variable is simply a shorthand reference for another string of text. Using variables enables you to create more flexible makefiles that are also easier to read and modify. To create a variable, just assign a value to a name:

Later, when GNU make sees a reference to the variable, it will replace the reference with the value of the variable — this is called expanding the variable. A variable reference is just the variable name wrapped in parenthesis or curly braces and prefixed with a dollar-sign. For example, this simple makefile will print “Hello, world!” by first assigning that text to a variable, then dereferencing the variable and using echo to print the variable’s value:

Creating variables

NAME = value is just one of many ways to create a variable. In fact there are at least eight ways to create a variable using GNU make syntax, plus there are built-in variables, command-line declarations, and of course environment variables. Here’s a rundown of the ways to create a GNU make variable:

• MYVAR = abc creates the variable MYVAR if it does not exist, or changes its value if it does. Either way, after this statement is processed, the value of MYVAR will be abc.
• MYVAR ?= def will create the variable MYVAR with the value def only if MYVAR does not already exist.
• MYVAR += ghi will create the variable MYVAR with the value if MYVAR does not already exist, or it will append ghi to MYVAR if it does already exist.
• MYVAR := jkl creates MYVAR if it does not exist, or changes its value if it does. This variation is just like the first, except that it creates a so-called simple variable, instead of a recursive variable — more on that in a minute.

In addition to the various assignment operators, you can create and modify variables using the define directive — handy if you want to create a variable with a multi-line value. Besides that, the define directive is equivalent to the normal VAR=VALUE assignment.

If you’re using GNU make 3.82 or later, you can add assignment operators to the define directive to modify the intent. For example, to append a multi-line value to an existing variable:

But there are still more ways to create variables in GNU make:

• Environment variables are automatically created as GNU make variables when GNU is invoked.
• Command-line definitions enable you to create variables at the time you invoke GNU make, like this: gmake MYVAR=123.
• Built-in variables are automatically created when GNU make starts. For example, GNU make defines a variable named CC which contains the name of the default C compiler (cc) and another named CXX which contains the name of the default C++ compiler (g++).

Variable flavors

Now that you know how to create a GNU make variable and how to dereference one, consider what happens when you reference a variable while creating a second variable. Let’s use a few simple exercises to set the stage. For each, the answer is hidden on the line following the makefile. You can reveal the answer by highlighting the hidden text in your browser.

1. Q1: What will this makefile print?

   1 2 3 4

   ABC = Hello! MYVAR = $(ABC) all: @echo $(MYVAR)

   A1: Hello!

2. Q2: What will this makefile print?

   1 2 3 4 5 6

   ABC = Hello! MYVAR = $(ABC) all: @echo $(MYVAR) ABC = Goodbye!

   A2: Goodbye!

3. Q3: What will this makefile print?

   1 2 3 4 5 6

   ABC = Hello! MYVAR := $(ABC) all: @echo $(MYVAR) ABC = Goodbye!

   A3: Hello!

Don’t feel bad if you were surprised by some of the answers! This is one of the trickiest aspects of GNU make variables. To really understand the results, you have to wrap your brain around two core GNU make concepts. The first is that there are actually two different flavors of variables in GNU make: recursive, and simple. The difference between the two is in how GNU make handles variable references on the right-hand side of the variable assignment — for brevity I’ll call these “subordinate variables”:

• With simple variables, subordinate variables are expanded immediately when the assignment is processed. References to subordinate variables are replaced with the value of the subordinate variable at the moment of the assignment. Simple variables are created when you use := in the assignment.
• With recursive variables, expansion of subordinate variables is deferred until the variable named on the left-hand side of the assignment is itself referenced. That leads to some funny behaviors, because the value of the subordinate variables at the time of the assignment is irrelevant — in fact, the subordinate variables may not even exist at that point! What matters is the value of the subordinate variables when the LHS variable is expanded. Recursive variables are the default flavor, and they’re created when you use simply = in the assignment.

The second concept is that GNU make processes a makefile in two separate phases, and each phase processes only part of the text of the makefile. The first phase is parsing, during which GNU make interprets all of the text of the makefile that is outside of rule bodies. During parsing, rule bodies are not interpreted — only extracted for processing during the second phase: execution, or when GNU make actually starts running the commands to update targets. For purposes of this discussion, that means that the text in rule bodies is not expanded until after all the other text in the makefile has been processed, including variable assignments that physically appear after the rule bodies. In the following makefile, the text highlighted in green is processed during parsing; the text highlighted in blue is processed later, during execution. Again, to put a fine point on it: all of the green text is processed before any of the blue text:

Now the examples above should make sense. In Question 2, we created MYVAR as a recursive variable, which means the value of ABC at the time MYVAR is created doesn’t matter. By the time GNU make needs to expand MYVAR, the value of ABC has changed, so that’s what we see in the output.

In Question 3, we created MYVAR as a simple variable, so the value of ABC was captured immediately. Even though the value of ABC changes later, that change doesn’t affect the value of MYVAR.

Target-specific variables

Most variables in GNU make are global: that is, they are shared across all targets in the makefile and expanded the same way for all targets, subject to the rules outlined above. But GNU make also supports target-specific variables: variables given distinct values that are only used when expanding the recipe for a specific target (or its prerequisites).

Syntactically, target-specific variables look like a mashup of normal variable definitions, using =, :=, etc.; and prerequisite declarations. For example, foo: ABC = 123 creates a target-specific definition of ABC for the target foo. Even if ABC has already been defined as a global variable with a different value, this target-specific definition will take precedence when expanding the recipe for foo. Consider this simple makefile:

At first glance you might expect this makefile to print “Goodbye!” twice — after all, ABC is redefined with the value “Goodbye!” before the commands for foo are expanded. But because the redefinition is target-specific, it only applies to bar. Thus, this makefile will print one “Hello!” and one “Goodbye!”.

As noted, target-specific variables are inherited from a target to its prereqs — for example, the following makefile will print “Surprise!”, because bar inherits the target-specific value for ABC from foo:

You can do some neat tricks with this, but I urge you not to rely on the behavior, because it doesn’t always work the way you might think. In particular, if a target is listed as a prereq for multiple other targets, each of which have a different target-specific value for some variable, the actual value used for the prereq may vary depending on which files were out-of-date and the execution order of the targets. As a quick example, compare the output of the previous makefile when invoked with gmake foo and when invoked with gmake bar. In the latter case, the target-specific value from foo is never applied, because foo itself was not processed. With GNU make 3.82 or later, you can prevent this inheritence by using the private modifier, as in foo: private ABC = Surprise!.

Finally, note that target-specific variables may be applied to patterns. For example, a line reading %.o: ABC=123 creates a target-specific variable for all targets matching the pattern %.o.

Conclusion

If you’ve made it this far, you now know just about everything there is to know about GNU make variables. Congratulations! I hope this information will serve you well.

Questions or comments? Use the form below or hit me up on Twitter @emelski.