MK(1)MK(1)NAME
mk, membername - maintain (make) related files
SYNOPSISmk [ -f mkfile ] ... [ option ... ] [ target ... ]
membername aggregate ...
DESCRIPTION
Mk uses the dependency rules specified in mkfile to control the update
(usually by compilation) of targets (usually files) from the source
files upon which they depend. The mkfile (default contains a rule for
each target that identifies the files and other targets upon which it
depends and an rc(1) script, a recipe, to update the target. The
script is run if the target does not exist or if it is older than any
of the files it depends on. Mkfile may also contain meta-rules that
define actions for updating implicit targets. If no target is speci‐
fied, the target of the first rule (not meta-rule) in mkfile is
updated.
The environment variable $NPROC determines how many targets may be
updated simultaneously; Plan 9 sets $NPROC automatically to the number
of CPUs on the current machine.
Options are:
-a Assume all targets to be out of date. Thus, everything is
updated.
-d[egp] Produce debugging output (p is for parsing, g for graph build‐
ing, e for execution).
-e Explain why each target is made.
-i Force any missing intermediate targets to be made.
-k Do as much work as possible in the face of errors.
-n Print, but do not execute, the commands needed to update the
targets.
-s Make the command line arguments sequentially rather than in
parallel.
-t Touch (update the modified date of) file targets, without exe‐
cuting any recipes.
-wtarget1,target2,...
Pretend the modify time for each target is the current time;
useful in conjunction with -n to learn what updates would be
triggered by modifying the targets.
The rc(1) script membername extracts member names (see `Aggregates'
below) from its arguments.
The mkfile
A mkfile consists of assignments (described under `Environment') and
rules. A rule contains targets and a tail. A target is a literal
string and is normally a file name. The tail contains zero or more
prerequisites and an optional recipe, which is an rc script. Each line
of the recipe must begin with white space. A rule takes the form
target: prereq1 prereq2
rc recipe using prereq1, prereq2 to build target
When the recipe is executed, the first character on every line is
elided.
After the colon on the target line, a rule may specify attributes,
described below.
A meta-rule has a target of the form A%B where A and B are (possibly
empty) strings. A meta-rule acts as a rule for any potential target
whose name matches A%B with % replaced by an arbitrary string, called
the stem. In interpreting a meta-rule, the stem is substituted for all
occurrences of % in the prerequisite names. In the recipe of a meta-
rule, the environment variable $stem contains the string matched by the
%. For example, a meta-rule to compile a C program using 8c(1) might
be:
%: %.c
8c $stem.c
8l -o $stem $stem.8
Meta-rules may contain an ampersand & rather than a percent sign %. A
% matches a maximal length string of any characters; an & matches a
maximal length string of any characters except period or slash.
The text of the mkfile is processed as follows. Lines beginning with <
followed by a file name are replaced by the contents of the named file.
Lines beginning with <| followed by a file name are replaced by the
output of the execution of the named file. Blank lines and comments,
which run from unquoted # characters to the following newline, are
deleted. The character sequence backslash-newline is deleted, so long
lines in mkfile may be folded. Non-recipe lines are processed by sub‐
stituting for `{command} the output of the command when run by rc.
References to variables are replaced by the variables' values. Special
characters may be quoted using single quotes '' as in rc(1).
Assignments and rules are distinguished by the first unquoted occur‐
rence of : (rule) or = (assignment).
A later rule may modify or override an existing rule under the follow‐
ing conditions:
- If the targets of the rules exactly match and one rule contains
only a prerequisite clause and no recipe, the clause is added to
the prerequisites of the other rule. If either or both targets
are virtual, the recipe is always executed.
- If the targets of the rules match exactly and the prerequisites
do not match and both rules contain recipes, mk reports an
``ambiguous recipe'' error.
- If the target and prerequisites of both rules match exactly, the
second rule overrides the first.
Environment
Rules may make use of rc environment variables. A legal reference of
the form $OBJ is expanded as in rc(1). A reference of the form
${name:A%B=C%D}, where A, B, C, D are (possibly empty) strings, has the
value formed by expanding $name and substituting C for A and D for B in
each word in $name that matches pattern A%B.
Variables can be set by assignments of the form
var=[attr=]value
Blanks in the value break it into words, as in rc but without the sur‐
rounding parentheses. Such variables are exported to the environment
of recipes as they are executed, unless U, the only legal attribute
attr, is present. The initial value of a variable is taken from (in
increasing order of precedence) the default values below, mk's environ‐
ment, the mkfiles, and any command line assignment as an argument to
mk. A variable assignment argument overrides the first (but not any
subsequent) assignment to that variable.
The variable MKFLAGS contains all the option arguments (arguments
starting with or containing and MKARGS contains all the targets in the
call to mk.
It is recommended that mkfiles start with
</$objtype/mkfile
to set CC, LD, AS, O, YACC, and MK to values appropriate to the target
architecture (see the examples below).
Execution
During execution, mk determines which targets must be updated, and in
what order, to build the names specified on the command line. It then
runs the associated recipes.
A target is considered up to date if it has no prerequisites or if all
its prerequisites are up to date and it is newer than all its prerequi‐
sites. Once the recipe for a target has executed, the target is con‐
sidered up to date.
The date stamp used to determine if a target is up to date is computed
differently for different types of targets. If a target is virtual
(the target of a rule with the V attribute), its date stamp is ini‐
tially zero; when the target is updated the date stamp is set to the
most recent date stamp of its prerequisites. Otherwise, if a target
does not exist as a file, its date stamp is set to the most recent date
stamp of its prerequisites, or zero if it has no prerequisites. Other‐
wise, the target is the name of a file and the target's date stamp is
always that file's modification date. The date stamp is computed when
the target is needed in the execution of a rule; it is not a static
value.
Nonexistent targets that have prerequisites and are themselves prereq‐
uisites are treated specially. Such a target t is given the date stamp
of its most recent prerequisite and if this causes all the targets
which have t as a prerequisite to be up to date, t is considered up to
date. Otherwise, t is made in the normal fashion. The -i flag over‐
rides this special treatment.
Files may be made in any order that respects the preceding restric‐
tions.
A recipe is executed by supplying the recipe as standard input to the
command
/bin/rc -e -I
(the -e is omitted if the E attribute is set). The environment is aug‐
mented by the following variables:
$alltarget all the targets of this rule.
$newprereq the prerequisites that caused this rule to execute.
$newmember the prerequisites that are members of an aggregate that
caused this rule to execute. When the prerequisites of a
rule are members of an aggregate, $newprereq contains the
name of the aggregate and out of date members, while
$newmember contains only the name of the members.
$nproc the process slot for this recipe. It satisfies
0≤$nproc<$NPROC.
$pid the process id for the mk executing the recipe.
$prereq all the prerequisites for this rule.
$stem if this is a meta-rule, $stem is the string that matched
% or &. Otherwise, it is empty. For regular expression
meta-rules (see below), the variables are set to the cor‐
responding subexpressions.
$target the targets for this rule that need to be remade.
These variables are available only during the execution of a recipe,
not while evaluating the mkfile.
Unless the rule has the Q attribute, the recipe is printed prior to
execution with recognizable environment variables expanded. Commands
returning nonempty status (see intro(1)) cause mk to terminate.
Recipes and backquoted rc commands in places such as assignments exe‐
cute in a copy of mk's environment; changes they make to environment
variables are not visible from mk.
Variable substitution in a rule is done when the rule is read; variable
substitution in the recipe is done when the recipe is executed. For
example:
bar=a.c
foo: $bar
$CC -o foo $bar
bar=b.c
will compile b.c into foo, if a.c is newer than foo.
Aggregates
Names of the form a(b) refer to member b of the aggregate a. Cur‐
rently, the only aggregates supported are ar(1) archives.
Attributes
The colon separating the target from the prerequisites may be immedi‐
ately followed by attributes and another colon. The attributes are:
D If the recipe exits with a non-null status, the target is
deleted.
E Continue execution if the recipe draws errors.
N If there is no recipe, the target has its time updated.
n The rule is a meta-rule that cannot be a target of a virtual
rule. Only files match the pattern in the target.
P The characters after the P until the terminating : are taken as
a program name. It will be invoked as rc -c prog 'arg1' 'arg2'
and should return a null exit status if and only if arg1 is up
to date with respect to arg2. Date stamps are still propagated
in the normal way.
Q The recipe is not printed prior to execution.
R The rule is a meta-rule using regular expressions. In the rule,
% has no special meaning. The target is interpreted as a regu‐
lar expression as defined in regexp(6). The prerequisites may
contain references to subexpressions in form \n, as in the sub‐
stitute command of sam(1).
U The targets are considered to have been updated even if the
recipe did not do so.
V The targets of this rule are marked as virtual. They are dis‐
tinct from files of the same name.
EXAMPLES
A simple mkfile to compile a program:
</$objtype/mkfile
prog: a.$O b.$O c.$O
$LD $LDFLAGS -o $target $prereq
%.$O: %.c
$CC $CFLAGS $stem.c
Override flag settings in the mkfile:
% mk target 'CFLAGS=-S -w'
Maintain a library:
libc.a(%.$O):N: %.$O
libc.a: libc.a(abs.$O) libc.a(access.$O) libc.a(alarm.$O) ...
ar r libc.a $newmember
String expression variables to derive names from a master list:
NAMES=alloc arc bquote builtins expand main match mk var word
OBJ=${NAMES:%=%.$O}
Regular expression meta-rules:
([^/]*)/(.*)\.$O:R: \1/\2.c
cd $stem1; $CC $CFLAGS $stem2.c
A correct way to deal with yacc(1) grammars. The file lex.c includes
the file x.tab.h rather than y.tab.h in order to reflect changes in
content, not just modification time.
lex.$O: x.tab.h
x.tab.h: y.tab.h
cmp -s x.tab.h y.tab.h || cp y.tab.h x.tab.h
y.tab.c y.tab.h: gram.y
$YACC -d gram.y
The above example could also use the P attribute for the x.tab.h rule:
x.tab.h:Pcmp -s: y.tab.h
cp y.tab.h x.tab.h
SOURCE
/sys/src/cmd/mk
SEE ALSOrc(1), regexp(6)
A. Hume, ``Mk: a Successor to Make''.
Andrew G. Hume and Bob Flandrena, ``Maintaining Files on Plan 9 with
Mk''.
BUGS
Identical recipes for regular expression meta-rules only have one tar‐
get.
Seemingly appropriate input like CFLAGS=-DHZ=60 is parsed as an erro‐
neous attribute; correct it by inserting a space after the first
The recipes printed by mk before being passed to rc for execution are
sometimes erroneously expanded for printing. Don't trust what's
printed; rely on what rc does.
MK(1)
