Can't run Makefile.am, what should I do?

c++ linux makefile autotools
sara picture sara · Nov 17, 2010 · Viewed 34.6k times · Source

I got a C project to compile and run in Linux. It is a very big project with many subdirectories. Inside the parent directory there are files Makefile.am and Makefile.in.

I tried running make -f Makefile.am, and got the following error:

make: Nothing to be done for `Makefile.am'.

What does it mean? How do I accomplish my task?

Answer

Lee Netherton picture Lee Netherton · Nov 17, 2010

These files are used with the Autotools suite. Makefile.am files are compiled to Makefiles using automake.

Have a look to see if there is a configure script in the directory. If there is, then type:

./configure

If not, then run:

autoreconf

in the directory, which should create the configure script (you will need to have the Autotools suite installed to run this).

After that, you should have a configure script that you can run.

After the configure is complete, you should have a normal Makefile in the directory, and will be able to run

make

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