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(make.info)Special Targets

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Special Built-in Target Names
=============================

   Certain names have special meanings if they appear as targets.

`.PHONY'
     The prerequisites of the special target `.PHONY' are considered to
     be phony targets.  When it is time to consider such a target,
     `make' will run its commands unconditionally, regardless of
     whether a file with that name exists or what its last-modification
     time is.  Note: Phony Targets.

`.SUFFIXES'
     The prerequisites of the special target `.SUFFIXES' are the list
     of suffixes to be used in checking for suffix rules.  Note:
     Old-Fashioned Suffix Rules.

`.DEFAULT'
     The commands specified for `.DEFAULT' are used for any target for
     which no rules are found (either explicit rules or implicit rules).
     Note: Last Resort.  If `.DEFAULT' commands are specified, every
     file mentioned as a prerequisite, but not as a target in a rule,
     will have these commands executed on its behalf.  Note: Implicit
     Rule Search Algorithm.

`.PRECIOUS'
     The targets which `.PRECIOUS' depends on are given the following
     special treatment: if `make' is killed or interrupted during the
     execution of their commands, the target is not deleted.  Note:
     Interrupting or Killing `make'.  Also, if the target
     is an intermediate file, it will not be deleted after it is no
     longer needed, as is normally done.  Note: Chains of Implicit
     Rules.  In this latter respect it overlaps with the
     `.SECONDARY' special target.

     You can also list the target pattern of an implicit rule (such as
     `%.o') as a prerequisite file of the special target `.PRECIOUS' to
     preserve intermediate files created by rules whose target patterns
     match that file's name.

`.INTERMEDIATE'
     The targets which `.INTERMEDIATE' depends on are treated as
     intermediate files.  Note: Chains of Implicit Rules.
     `.INTERMEDIATE' with no prerequisites has no effect.

`.SECONDARY'
     The targets which `.SECONDARY' depends on are treated as
     intermediate files, except that they are never automatically
     deleted.  Note: Chains of Implicit Rules.

     `.SECONDARY' with no prerequisites causes all targets to be treated
     as secondary (i.e., no target is removed because it is considered
     intermediate).

`.DELETE_ON_ERROR'
     If `.DELETE_ON_ERROR' is mentioned as a target anywhere in the
     makefile, then `make' will delete the target of a rule if it has
     changed and its commands exit with a nonzero exit status, just as
     it does when it receives a signal.  *Note Errors in Commands:
     Errors.

`.IGNORE'
     If you specify prerequisites for `.IGNORE', then `make' will
     ignore errors in execution of the commands run for those particular
     files.  The commands for `.IGNORE' are not meaningful.

     If mentioned as a target with no prerequisites, `.IGNORE' says to
     ignore errors in execution of commands for all files.  This usage
     of `.IGNORE' is supported only for historical compatibility.  Since
     this affects every command in the makefile, it is not very useful;
     we recommend you use the more selective ways to ignore errors in
     specific commands.  Note: Errors in Commands.

`.SILENT'
     If you specify prerequisites for `.SILENT', then `make' will not
     print the commands to remake those particular files before
     executing them.  The commands for `.SILENT' are not meaningful.

     If mentioned as a target with no prerequisites, `.SILENT' says not
     to print any commands before executing them.  This usage of
     `.SILENT' is supported only for historical compatibility.  We
     recommend you use the more selective ways to silence specific
     commands.  Note: Command Echoing.  If you want to silence
     all commands for a particular run of `make', use the `-s' or
     `--silent' option (Note: Options Summary).

`.EXPORT_ALL_VARIABLES'
     Simply by being mentioned as a target, this tells `make' to export
     all variables to child processes by default.  Note: Communicating
     Variables to a Sub-`make'.

`.NOTPARALLEL'
     If `.NOTPARALLEL' is mentioned as a target, then this invocation of
     `make' will be run serially, even if the `-j' option is given.
     Any recursively invoked `make' command will still be run in
     parallel (unless its makefile contains this target).  Any
     prerequisites on this target are ignored.

   Any defined implicit rule suffix also counts as a special target if
it appears as a target, and so does the concatenation of two suffixes,
such as `.c.o'.  These targets are suffix rules, an obsolete way of
defining implicit rules (but a way still widely used).  In principle,
any target name could be special in this way if you break it in two and
add both pieces to the suffix list.  In practice, suffixes normally
begin with `.', so these special target names also begin with `.'.
Note: Old-Fashioned Suffix Rules.