How do I write the 'cd' command in a makefile?

user_181797 0
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For example, I have something like this in my makefile:

all:
     cd some_directory

But when I typed make I saw only 'cd some_directory', like in the echo command.

gnu-make makefile
7 Answers

Here is the pattern I've used:

.PHONY: test_py_utils
PY_UTILS_DIR = py_utils
test_py_utils:
    cd $(PY_UTILS_DIR) && black .
    cd $(PY_UTILS_DIR) && isort .
    cd $(PY_UTILS_DIR) && mypy .
    cd $(PY_UTILS_DIR) && pytest -sl .
    cd $(PY_UTILS_DIR) && flake8 .

My motivations for this pattern are:

  • The above solution is simple and readable (albeit verbose)
  • I read the classic paper "Recursive Make Considered Harmful", which discouraged me from using $(MAKE) -C some_dir all
  • I didn't want to use just one line of code (punctuated by semicolons or &&) because it is less readable, and I fear that I will make a typo when editing the make recipe.
  • I didn't want to use the .ONESHELL special target because:
    • that is a global option that affects all recipes in the makefile
    • using .ONESHELL causes all lines of the recipe to be executed even if one of the earlier lines has failed with a nonzero exit status. Workarounds like calling set -e are possible, but such workarounds would have to be implemented for every recipe in the makefile.
user_42563460

To change dir 

foo: 
    $(MAKE) -C mydir

multi:
    $(MAKE) -C / -C my-custom-dir   ## Equivalent to /my-custom-dir
user_45846720
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