How to compile makefile files for newbies

Question

I just got cloned a piece of software and the download folder looks like this:

What I am to do next to compile this piece of software? Thanks!

Answer 1

This isn’t really an Emacs question. Emacs is a text editor, and makefile-mode is for editing Makefiles. A Makefile contains instructions for building software, and often for other tasks such as testing or packaging it.

What you want to do is open up a shell in that directory and type “make”. It will see that there is a Makefile, and use it as a source of instructions.

There’s a decent chance that it will fail due to missing dependencies, which you will want to install. Also, you appear to be using OSX, so there’s also a good chance that this Makefile is intended to be used with GNU Make; if that turns out to be the case then you may need to type “gmake” instead.

If you want more information about make, I recommend reading the documentation.

You can probably run the compile inside of Emacs if you want. Open up a file, such as the README or the Makefile, then type M-x compile. Emacs will then prompt you to enter a compile command; the default is to run make. Simply hit enter to accept the default and you’ll get a buffer that shows you the compile happening.