Whats a Makefile?
Few programs are a single source (.C/.CPP) file. Some are so big that compiling all of them each time takes quite a while. A makefile allows you to compromise, and only compile what really needs updating. A makefile primarily tells the compiler file dependencies; which file depends on another to be compiled. Timestamps are used to determine when changes have been made. For example, ‘myfile.cpp’, reading ‘myfile.h’, compiles to ‘myfile.o’. Obviously, when you change myfile.h, you need myfile.cpp to recompile (the alternative is very nasty). The makefile is used to indicate that myfile.cpp is dependant on myfile.h – when that timestamp changes (becomes later than the myfile.o timestamp), it indicates it’s time to recreate myfile.o by recompiling. 8.03 – What’s the relationship between Cygwin/Linux/Windows Simply put, Linux is an operating system like Windows; Cygwin bridges the gap by letting Linux binaries (fancytalk for executables) run under Windows. It does it by providing an emulati
