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IMAKE(1)		    General Commands Manual		      IMAKE(1)

NAME
       imake - C preprocessor interface	to the make utility

SYNOPSIS
       imake  [	-Ddefine ] [ -Idir ] [ -Udefine	] [ -Ttemplate ] [ -f filename
       ] [ -C filename ] [ -s filename ] [ -e ]	[ -v ]

DESCRIPTION
       Imake is	used to	generate Makefiles from	a template, a set of cpp macro
       functions, and a	per-directory input file called	 an  Imakefile.	  This
       allows  machine	dependencies (such as compiler options,	alternate com-
       mand names, and special make rules) to be kept separate	from  the  de-
       scriptions of the various items to be built.

OPTIONS
       The following command line options may be passed	to imake:

       -Ddefine
	       This option is passed directly to cpp.  It is typically used to
	       set  directory-specific	variables.   For example, the X	Window
	       System used this	flag to	set TOPDIR to the name of  the	direc-
	       tory  containing	the top	of the core distribution and CURDIR to
	       the name	of the current directory, relative to the top.

       -Idirectory
	       This option is passed directly to cpp.  It is typically used to
	       indicate	the directory in which the imake template and configu-
	       ration files may	be found.

       -Udefine
	       This option is passed directly to cpp.  It is typically used to
	       unset variables when debugging imake configuration files.

       -Ttemplate
	       This option specifies the name  of  the	master	template  file
	       (which  is  usually located in the directory specified with -I)
	       used by cpp.  The default is Imake.tmpl.

       -f filename
	       This option specifies the name of the per-directory input file.
	       The default is Imakefile.

       -C filename
	       This option specifies the name of the  .c  file	that  is  con-
	       structed	in the current directory.  The default is Imakefile.c.

       -s filename
	       This  option specifies the name of the make description file to
	       be generated but	make should not	be invoked.  If	 the  filename
	       is a dash (-), the output is written to stdout.	The default is
	       to generate, but	not execute, a Makefile.

       -e      This  option  indicates	the imake should execute the generated
	       Makefile.  The default is to leave this to the user.

       -v      This option indicates that imake	should print the  cpp  command
	       line that it is using to	generate the Makefile.

HOW IT WORKS
       Imake  invokes  cpp  with any -I	or -D flags passed on the command line
       and passes the name of a	file containing	the following 3	lines:

		 #define IMAKE_TEMPLATE	"Imake.tmpl"
		 #define INCLUDE_IMAKEFILE <Imakefile>
		 #include IMAKE_TEMPLATE

       where Imake.tmpl	and Imakefile may be overridden	by the -T and -f  com-
       mand options, respectively.

       The  IMAKE_TEMPLATE typically reads in a	file containing	machine-depen-
       dent parameters (specified as cpp symbols), a site-specific  parameters
       file,  a	file defining variables, a file	containing cpp macro functions
       for generating make rules, and finally the Imakefile (specified by  IN-
       CLUDE_IMAKEFILE)	 in  the  current  directory.	The Imakefile uses the
       macro functions to indicate what	targets	should be built;  imake	 takes
       care of generating the appropriate rules.

       Imake  configuration  files contain two types of	variables, imake vari-
       ables and make variables.  The imake variables are interpreted  by  cpp
       when  imake is run.  By convention they are mixed case.	The make vari-
       ables are written into the Makefile for later interpretation  by	 make.
       By convention make variables are	upper case.

       The  rules  file	(usually named Imake.rules in the configuration	direc-
       tory) contains a	variety	of cpp macro functions that are	configured ac-
       cording to the current platform.	 Imake replaces	any occurrences	of the
       string ``@@'' with a newline to allow macros that  generate  more  than
       one line	of make	rules.	For example, the macro

	#define	     program_target(program, objlist)	     @@\
       program:	       objlist	       @@\
	       $(CC)  -o  $@  objlist  $(LDFLAGS)

       when called with	program_target(foo, foo1.o  foo2.o) will expand	to

       foo:    foo1.o  foo2.o
	       $(CC)  -o  $@  foo1.o  foo2.o  $(LDFLAGS)

       Imake  also  replaces  any  occurrences	of the word ``XCOMM'' with the
       character ``#'' to permit placing  comments  in	the  Makefile  without
       causing ``invalid directive'' errors from the preprocessor.

       Some  complex  imake  macros  require generated make variables local to
       each invocation of the macro, often because their value depends on  pa-
       rameters	 passed	 to the	macro.	Such variables can be created by using
       an imake	variable of the	form XVARdefn, where n is a single  digit.   A
       unique  make  variable  will  be	substituted.  Later occurrences	of the
       variable	XVARusen will be replaced by the variable created by the  cor-
       responding XVARdefn.

       On  systems  whose  cpp	reduces	 multiple  tabs	and spaces to a	single
       space, imake attempts to	put back any  necessary	 tabs  (make  is  very
       picky  about the	difference between tabs	and spaces).  For this reason,
       colons (:) in command lines must	be preceded by a backslash (\).

USE WITH THE X WINDOW SYSTEM
       The X Window System used	imake extensively up through the  X11R6.9  re-
       lease,  for  both full builds within the	source tree and	external soft-
       ware.  X	has since moved	to GNU autoconf	and  automake  for  its	 build
       system  in  X11R7.0  and	 later releases, but still maintains imake for
       building	existing external software programs that  have	not  yet  con-
       verted.

       As  mentioned  above, two special variables, TOPDIR and CURDIR, are set
       to make referencing files using relative	path names easier.  For	 exam-
       ple,  the  following  command  is  generated automatically to build the
       Makefile	in the directory lib/X/	(relative to the top of	the sources):

	    %  ../.././config/imake  -I../.././config  \
		 -DTOPDIR=../../.   -DCURDIR=./lib/X
       When building X programs	outside	the source tree, a special symbol Use-
       Installed is defined and	TOPDIR and CURDIR are omitted.	If the config-
       uration files have been properly	installed, the script xmkmf(1) may  be
       used.

INPUT FILES
       Here  is	a summary of the files read by imake as	used by	X.  The	inden-
       tation shows what files include what other files.
	   Imake.tmpl  generic variables
	       site.def	       site-specific, BeforeVendorCF defined
	       *.cf    machine-specific
		   *Lib.rules  shared library rules
	       site.def	       site-specific, AfterVendorCF defined
	       Imake.rules     rules
	       Project.tmpl    X-specific variables
		   *Lib.tmpl   shared library variables
	       Imakefile
		   Library.tmpl	       library rules
		   Server.tmpl server rules
		   Threads.tmpl	       multi-threaded rules

       Note that site.def gets included	twice, once before the *.cf  file  and
       once  after.  Although most site	customizations should be specified af-
       ter the *.cf file, some,	such as	the choice of  compiler,  need	to  be
       specified before, because other variable	settings may depend on them.

       The first time site.def is included, the	variable BeforeVendorCF	is de-
       fined, and the second time, the variable	AfterVendorCF is defined.  All
       code in site.def	should be inside an #ifdef for one of these symbols.

FILES
       Imakefile.c
	      temporary	input file for cpp

       /tmp/Imf.XXXXXX
	      temporary	Makefile for -s

       /tmp/IIf.XXXXXX
	      temporary	Imakefile if specified Imakefile uses #	comments

       tradcpp
	      default C	preprocessor

SEE ALSO
       make(1),	xmkmf(1)

       Paul DuBois
	      imake-Related	    Software	     and	Documentation,
	      http://www.snake.net/software/imake-stuff/

       Paul DuBois
	      Software Portability with	imake, Second Edition, O'Reilly	&  As-
	      sociates,	1996.

       S. I. Feldman,
	      Make -- A	Program	for Maintaining	Computer Programs

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       The  following  environment  variables may be set, however their	use is
       not recommended as they introduce dependencies that are not readily ap-
       parent when imake is run:

       IMAKEINCLUDE
	    If defined,	this specifies a ``-I''	include	argument  to  pass  to
	    the	C preprocessor.	 E.g., ``-I/usr/X11/config''.

       IMAKECPP
	    If defined,	this should be a valid path to a preprocessor program.
	    E.g.,  ``/usr/local/cpp''.	 By  default,  imake will use cc -E or
	    tradcpp, depending on the OS specific configuration.

       IMAKEMAKE
	    If defined,	this should be a valid path to a make program, such as
	    ``/usr/local/make''.  By default, imake  will  use	whatever  make
	    program  is	 found using execvp(3).	 This variable is only used if
	    the	``-e'' option is specified.

AUTHOR
       Todd Brunhoff, Tektronix	and MIT	Project	Athena;	Jim Fulton, MIT	X Con-
       sortium

X Version 11			 imake 1.0.10			      IMAKE(1)

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