One very useful tool is make [7].
During development,
make recompiles only those modules that have been changed
since the last time make was used.
It can be used to automate other tasks, as well.
Some common conventions include:
all
always makes all binaries
clean
remove all intermediate files
debug
make a test binary 'a.out' or 'debug'
depend
make transitive dependencies
install
install binaries, libraries, etc.
deinstall
back out of ``install''
print/list
make a hard copy of all source files
shar
make a shar of all source files
spotless
make clean, use revision control to put away sources.
Note: doesn't remove Makefile, although it is a source file
source
undo what spotless did
tags
run ctags, (using the -t flag is suggested)
rdist
distribute sources to other hosts
zip
create a zip file for distribution
file.c
check out the named file from revision control
In addition, command-line defines
can be given to define either Makefile values
(such as ``CFLAGS'')
or values in the program
(such as ``DEBUG'').