DMBS - Dean's Makefile Build System

Writing Your Own Modules

A DMBS module consists of the several boilerplate sections, explained below.

The DMBS module hooks

Your module needs to advertise to DMBS its name, its makefile targets, the required and optional variables, and the variables and macros the module provides for use elsewhere. This is achieved with the following section:

DMBS_BUILD_MODULES         += EXAMPLE
DMBS_BUILD_TARGETS         += example-target another-target
DMBS_BUILD_MANDATORY_VARS  += MANDATORY_NAME ALSO_MANDATORY
DMBS_BUILD_OPTIONAL_VARS   += OPTIONAL_NAME ALSO_OPTIONAL
DMBS_BUILD_PROVIDED_VARS   += MEANING_OF_LIFE
DMBS_BUILD_PROVIDED_MACROS += STRIP_WHITESPACE

The example above declares that this module is called EXAMPLE, and exposes the listed targets, variable requirements and provides variables and macros.

Your module name and provided variable/macro names must be unique, however you can (and should) re-use variable names where appropriate if they apply to several modules (such as ARCH to specify the project's microcontroller architecture). Re-using targets is not recommended, but can be used to extend the dependencies of another module's targets.

Importing the CORE module

Next, your module should always import the DMBS CORE module, via the following:

# Conditionally import the CORE module of DMBS if it is not already imported
DMBS_MODULE_PATH := $(patsubst %/,%,$(dir $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))))
ifeq ($(findstring CORE, $(DMBS_BUILD_MODULES)),)
  include $(DMBS_MODULE_PATH)/core.mk
endif

This ensures that the make help target is always available. In addition, the CORE module exposes some commonly used macros and variables to your module.

Setting optional variable's defaults

If a variable is optional, you should provide a default value. Do this via the ?= operator of make, which sets a variable's value if it has not yet been set:

MY_OPTIONAL_VARIABLE ?= some_default_value

Sanity checking user input

Sanity checks are what make DMBS useful. Where possible, validate user input and convert generated errors to human-friendly messages. This can be achieved by enforcing that all the declared module mandatory variables have been set by the user:

# Sanity-check values of mandatory user-supplied variables
$(foreach MANDATORY_VAR, $(DMBS_BUILD_MANDATORY_VARS), $(call ERROR_IF_UNSET, $(MANDATORY_VAR)))

As well as complaining if they are set, but currently empty: $(call ERROR_IF_EMPTY, SOME_MANDATORY_VARIABLE) $(call ERROR_IF_EMPTY, SOME_OPTIONAL_BUT_NON_EMPTY_VARIABLE)

Or even if they are boolean (Y or N) variables that have an invalid value:

$(call ERROR_IF_NONBOOL, SOME_BOOL_VARIABLE)

Adding targets

The meat of a DMBS module is the targets, which are run when the user types make {target name} from the command line. These can be as complex or simple as you like. See the GNU make manual for information on writing make targets.

example-target:
    echo "Your DMBS module works!"

And finally, list the PHONYs

Important in GNU Make is the concept of phony targets; this special directive tells make that a given target should never be considered a valid file. Listing phonies ensures that, for example, if your module had a target called build, it would always run when the user types make build from the command line, even if a file called build existed in the user project folder.

You can list module-internal targets here, as well as mark all public targets via the module header's DMBS_BUILD_TARGETS variable.

# Phony build targets for this module
.PHONY: $(DMBS_BUILD_TARGETS) some-module-internal-target another-internal-target