Check my Amazon marketplace — I might have a copy of this book for sale.
This is the "O'Reilly book" in classic form. An important Unix utility is given the definitive treatment. Examined from all angles, the errors and omissions of the man pages and (if you're lucky) the printed manual corrected, new versions covered, the lot.
What is make? Not so easy to answer, is it? It's one thing to detail what it does; but what *is* it? Here's Oram and Talbott's shot at a definition: "make is a command generator. Using a description file and some general templates, it creates a sequence of commands for execution by the Unix shell." Note that there's nary a mention of the C (or any other) compiler, though make is commonly thought of as a programmer's utility. sure, it is that, among others; but it is far more general; and it is a strength of this book that it doesn't forget that. Having said that, the whole book is full of programming examples, and mainly C programming at that, to the exclusion of more general examples.
If you're a Linux user, you don't have a big set of glossy manuals on your desk. In fact, the only documentation that came with your system is like as not a slim brochure outlining installation procedures and giving a few trouble-shooting hints. After that, you're on your own. The Linux Documentation Project has a host of useful docs, from FAQs through HOWTOs to whole books, but it can't cover everything, and one of the things it doesn't cover is make. This wouldn't be so bad; but the man page for GNU make is a joke — simply a summary of command-line options — and the entry for make in GNU's very own (who else would want it?) "info" system, while much more comprehensive, is really written for someone who already knows how make works and what they want to do with it. Once again, when in need, an O'Reilly book is there to step into the breach.
Copyright © 1995-2007
Paul Dunne,
Sponsored links (requires javascript):