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In the previous section we learned that GNU make works in two
distinct phases: a read-in phase and a target-update phase
(see How make Reads a Makefile). GNU
make also has the ability to enable a second expansion of the
prerequisites (only) for some or all targets defined in the makefile.
In order for this second expansion to occur, the special target
.SECONDEXPANSION must be defined before the first prerequisite
list that makes use of this feature.
If that special target is defined then in between the two phases mentioned above, right at the end of the read-in phase, all the prerequisites of the targets defined after the special target are expanded a second time. In most circumstances this secondary expansion will have no effect, since all variable and function references will have been expanded during the initial parsing of the makefiles. In order to take advantage of the secondary expansion phase of the parser, then, it's necessary to escape the variable or function reference in the makefile. In this case the first expansion merely un-escapes the reference but doesn't expand it, and expansion is left to the secondary expansion phase. For example, consider this makefile:
.SECONDEXPANSION:
ONEVAR = onefile
TWOVAR = twofile
myfile: $(ONEVAR) $$(TWOVAR)
After the first expansion phase the prerequisites list of the
myfile target will be onefile and $(TWOVAR); the
first (unescaped) variable reference to ONEVAR is expanded,
while the second (escaped) variable reference is simply unescaped,
without being recognized as a variable reference. Now during the
secondary expansion the first word is expanded again but since it
contains no variable or function references it remains the static
value onefile, while the second word is now a normal reference
to the variable TWOVAR, which is expanded to the value
twofile. The final result is that there are two prerequisites,
onefile and twofile.
Obviously, this is not a very interesting case since the same result could more easily have been achieved simply by having both variables appear, unescaped, in the prerequisites list. One difference becomes apparent if the variables are reset; consider this example:
.SECONDEXPANSION:
AVAR = top
onefile: $(AVAR)
twofile: $$(AVAR)
AVAR = bottom
Here the prerequisite of onefile will be expanded immediately, and resolve to the value top, while the prerequisite of twofile will not be full expanded until the secondary expansion and yield a value of bottom.
This is marginally more exciting, but the true power of this feature
only becomes apparent when you discover that secondary expansions
always take place within the scope of the automatic variables for that
target. This means that you can use variables such as $@,
$*, etc. during the second expansion and they will have their
expected values, just as in the command script. All you have to do is
defer the expansion by escaping the $. Also, secondary
expansion occurs for both explicit and implicit (pattern) rules.
Knowing this, the possible uses for this feature increase
dramatically. For example:
.SECONDEXPANSION:
main_OBJS := main.o try.o test.o
lib_OBJS := lib.o api.o
main lib: $$($$@_OBJS)
Here, after the initial expansion the prerequisites of both the
main and lib targets will be $($@_OBJS). During
the secondary expansion, the $@ variable is set to the name of
the target and so the expansion for the main target will yield
$(main_OBJS), or main.o try.o test.o, while the
secondary expansion for the lib target will yield
$(lib_OBJS), or lib.o api.o.
You can also mix functions here, as long as they are properly escaped:
main_SRCS := main.c try.c test.c
lib_SRCS := lib.c api.c
.SECONDEXPANSION:
main lib: $$(patsubst %.c,%.o,$$($$@_SRCS))
This version allows users to specify source files rather than object files, but gives the same resulting prerequisites list as the previous example.
Evaluation of automatic variables during the secondary expansion
phase, especially of the target name variable $$@, behaves
similarly to evaluation within command scripts. However, there are
some subtle differences and “corner cases” which come into play for
the different types of rule definitions that make understands.
The subtleties of using the different automatic variables are
described below.
During the secondary expansion of explicit rules, $$@ and
$$% evaluate, respectively, to the file name of the target and,
when the target is an archive member, the target member name. The
$$< variable evaluates to the first prerequisite in the first
rule for this target. $$^ and $$+ evaluate to the list
of all prerequisites of rules that have already appeared for
the same target ($$+ with repetitions and $$^
without). The following example will help illustrate these behaviors:
.SECONDEXPANSION:
foo: foo.1 bar.1 $$< $$^ $$+ # line #1
foo: foo.2 bar.2 $$< $$^ $$+ # line #2
foo: foo.3 bar.3 $$< $$^ $$+ # line #3
In the first prerequisite list, all three variables ($$<,
$$^, and $$+) expand to the empty string. In the
second, they will have values foo.1, foo.1 bar.1, and
foo.1 bar.1 respectively. In the third they will have values
foo.1, foo.1 bar.1 foo.2 bar.2, and foo.1 bar.1
foo.2 bar.2 respectively.
Rules undergo secondary expansion in makefile order, except that the rule with the command script is always evaluated last.
The variables $$? and $$* are not available and expand
to the empty string.
Rules for secondary expansion of static pattern rules are identical to
those for explicit rules, above, with one exception: for static
pattern rules the $$* variable is set to the pattern stem. As
with explicit rules, $$? is not available and expands to the
empty string.
As make searches for an implicit rule, it substitutes the stem
and then performs secondary expansion for every rule with a matching
target pattern. The value of the automatic variables is derived in
the same fashion as for static pattern rules. As an example:
.SECONDEXPANSION:
foo: bar
foo foz: fo%: bo%
%oo: $$< $$^ $$+ $$*
When the implicit rule is tried for target foo, $$<
expands to bar, $$^ expands to bar boo,
$$+ also expands to bar boo, and $$* expands to
f.
Note that the directory prefix (D), as described in Implicit Rule Search Algorithm, is appended (after expansion) to all the patterns in the prerequisites list. As an example:
.SECONDEXPANSION:
/tmp/foo.o:
%.o: $$(addsuffix /%.c,foo bar) foo.h
The prerequisite list after the secondary expansion and directory
prefix reconstruction will be /tmp/foo/foo.c /tmp/var/bar/foo.c
foo.h. If you are not interested in this reconstruction, you can use
$$* instead of % in the prerequisites list.