1IMAKE(1) General Commands Manual IMAKE(1)
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6 imake - C preprocessor interface to the make utility
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9 imake [ -Ddefine ] [ -Idir ] [ -Udefine ] [ -Ttemplate ] [ -f filename
10 ] [ -C filename ] [ -s filename ] [ -e ] [ -v ]
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13 Imake is used to generate Makefiles from a template, a set of cpp macro
14 functions, and a per-directory input file called an Imakefile. This
15 allows machine dependencies (such as compiler options, alternate com‐
16 mand names, and special make rules) to be kept separate from the
17 descriptions of the various items to be built.
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20 The following command line options may be passed to imake:
21 -Ddefine
23 This option is passed directly to cpp. It is typically used to
24 set directory-specific variables. For example, the X Window
25 System uses this flag to set TOPDIR to the name of the direc‐
26 tory containing the top of the core distribution and CURDIR to
27 the name of the current directory, relative to the top.
28 -Idirectory
30 This option is passed directly to cpp. It is typically used to
31 indicate the directory in which the imake template and configu‐
32 ration files may be found.
33 -Udefine
35 This option is passed directly to cpp. It is typically used to
36 unset variables when debugging imake configuration files.
37 -Ttemplate
39 This option specifies the name of the master template file
40 (which is usually located in the directory specified with -I)
41 used by cpp. The default is Imake.tmpl.
42 -f filename
44 This option specifies the name of the per-directory input file.
45 The default is Imakefile.
46 -C filename
48 This option specifies the name of the .c file that is con‐
49 structed in the current directory. The default is Imakefile.c.
50 -s filename
52 This option specifies the name of the make description file to
53 be generated but make should not be invoked. If the filename
54 is a dash (-), the output is written to stdout. The default is
55 to generate, but not execute, a Makefile.
56 -e This option indicates the imake should execute the generated
58 Makefile. The default is to leave this to the user.
59 -v This option indicates that imake should print the cpp command
61 line that it is using to generate the Makefile.
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64 Imake invokes cpp with any -I or -D flags passed on the command line
65 and passes the name of a file containing the following 3 lines:
66 #define IMAKE_TEMPLATE "Imake.tmpl"
68 #define INCLUDE_IMAKEFILE <Imakefile>
69 #include IMAKE_TEMPLATE
70 where Imake.tmpl and Imakefile may be overridden by the -T and -f com‐
72 mand options, respectively.
73 The IMAKE_TEMPLATE typically reads in a file containing machine-depen‐
75 dent parameters (specified as cpp symbols), a site-specific parameters
76 file, a file defining variables, a file containing cpp macro functions
77 for generating make rules, and finally the Imakefile (specified by
78 INCLUDE_IMAKEFILE) in the current directory. The Imakefile uses the
79 macro functions to indicate what targets should be built; imake takes
80 care of generating the appropriate rules.
81 Imake configuration files contain two types of variables, imake vari‐
83 ables and make variables. The imake variables are interpreted by cpp
84 when imake is run. By convention they are mixed case. The make vari‐
85 ables are written into the Makefile for later interpretation by make.
86 By convention make variables are upper case.
87 The rules file (usually named Imake.rules in the configuration direc‐
89 tory) contains a variety of cpp macro functions that are configured
90 according to the current platform. Imake replaces any occurrences of
91 the string ``@@'' with a newline to allow macros that generate more
92 than one line of make rules. For example, the macro
93 #define program_target(program, objlist) @@\
95 program: objlist @@\
96 $(CC) -o $@ objlist $(LDFLAGS)
97 when called with program_target(foo, foo1.o foo2.o) will expand to
99 foo: foo1.o foo2.o
101 $(CC) -o $@ foo1.o foo2.o $(LDFLAGS)
102 Imake also replaces any occurrences of the word ``XCOMM'' with the
105 character ``#'' to permit placing comments in the Makefile without
106 causing ``invalid directive'' errors from the preprocessor.
107 Some complex imake macros require generated make variables local to
109 each invocation of the macro, often because their value depends on
110 parameters passed to the macro. Such variables can be created by using
111 an imake variable of the form XVARdefn, where n is a single digit. A
112 unique make variable will be substituted. Later occurrences of the
113 variable XVARusen will be replaced by the variable created by the cor‐
114 responding XVARdefn.
115 On systems whose cpp reduces multiple tabs and spaces to a single
117 space, imake attempts to put back any necessary tabs (make is very
118 picky about the difference between tabs and spaces). For this reason,
119 colons (:) in command lines must be preceded by a backslash (\).
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122 The X Window System uses imake extensively, for both full builds within
123 the source tree and external software. As mentioned above, two special
124 variables, TOPDIR and CURDIR, are set to make referencing files using
125 relative path names easier. For example, the following command is gen‐
126 erated automatically to build the Makefile in the directory lib/X/
127 (relative to the top of the sources):
128 % ../.././config/imake -I../.././config \
130 -DTOPDIR=../../. -DCURDIR=./lib/X
131 When building X programs outside the source tree, a special symbol Use‐
133 Installed is defined and TOPDIR and CURDIR are omitted. If the config‐
134 uration files have been properly installed, the script xmkmf(1) may be
135 used.
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138 Here is a summary of the files read by imake as used by X. The inden‐
139 tation shows what files include what other files.
140 Imake.tmpl generic variables
142 site.def site-specific, BeforeVendorCF defined
143 *.cf machine-specific
144 *Lib.rules shared library rules
145 site.def site-specific, AfterVendorCF defined
146 Imake.rules rules
147 Project.tmpl X-specific variables
148 *Lib.tmpl shared library variables
149 Imakefile
150 Library.tmpl library rules
151 Server.tmpl server rules
152 Threads.tmpl multi-threaded rules
153 Note that site.def gets included twice, once before the *.cf file and
155 once after. Although most site customizations should be specified
156 after the *.cf file, some, such as the choice of compiler, need to be
157 specified before, because other variable settings may depend on them.
158 The first time site.def is included, the variable BeforeVendorCF is
160 defined, and the second time, the variable AfterVendorCF is defined.
161 All code in site.def should be inside an #ifdef for one of these sym‐
162 bols.
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165 Imakefile.c temporary input file for cpp
166 /tmp/Imf.XXXXXX temporary Makefile for -s
167 /tmp/IIf.XXXXXX temporary Imakefile if specified Imake‐
168 file uses # comments
169 /usr/bin/cpp default C preprocessor
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172 make(1), xmkmf(1)
173 S. I. Feldman, Make — A Program for Maintaining Computer Programs
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176 The following environment variables may be set, however their use is
177 not recommended as they introduce dependencies that are not readily
178 apparent when imake is run:
179 IMAKEINCLUDE
181 If defined, this specifies a ``-I'' include argument to pass to
182 the C preprocessor. E.g., ``-I/usr/X11/config''.
183 IMAKECPP
185 If defined, this should be a valid path to a preprocessor program.
186 E.g., ``/usr/local/cpp''. By default, imake will use cc -E or
187 /usr/bin/cpp, depending on the OS specific configuration.
188 IMAKEMAKE
190 If defined, this should be a valid path to a make program, such as
191 ``/usr/local/make''. By default, imake will use whatever make
192 program is found using execvp(3). This variable is only used if
193 the ``-e'' option is specified.
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196 Todd Brunhoff, Tektronix and MIT Project Athena; Jim Fulton, MIT X Con‐
197 sortium
198X Version 11 imake 1.0.2 IMAKE(1)