How does make app know default target to build if no target is specified

Question

Most linux apps are compiled with   make make install clean   As I understood it  make takes names of build targets as arguments  So install is a target that copies some files and after that clean is a target that removes temporary files   But what target will make build if no arguments are specified  e g  first command in my example

User · Answer

GNU Make also allows you to specify the default make target using a special variable called .DEFAULT_GOAL. You can even unset this variable in the middle of the Makefile, causing the next target in the file to become the default target.

Ref: The Gnu Make manual - Special Variables

User · Answer

To save others a few seconds  and to save them from having to read the manual  here s the short answer  Add this to the top of your make file    DEFAULT GOAL    mytarget   mytarget will now be the target that is run if  make  is executed and no target is specified   If you have an older version of make   lt   3 80   this won t work  If this is the case  then you can do what anon mentions  simply add this to the top of your make file    PHONY  default default  mytarget     References  https   www gnu org software make manual html node How-Make-Works html

User · Answer

By default  it begins by processing the first target that does not begin with a   aka the default goal  to do that  it may have to process other targets - specifically  ones the first target depends on   The GNU Make Manual covers all this stuff  and is a surprisingly easy and informative read

[makefile] How does "make" app know default target to build if no target is specified?

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