How can I create cross-platform Makefiles?

How can I create cross-platform Makefiles?

To create cross-platform Makefiles, you can use conditional statements to check the operating system and set variables accordingly.

Can you give me an example of a simple Makefile?

Sure! Here's a basic example:

CC = gcc

ifeq ($(OS),Windows_NT)
    RM = del
else
    RM = rm -f
endif

all: myprogram

myprogram: main.o utils.o
	$(CC) -o myprogram main.o utils.o

%.o: %.c
	$(CC) -c $<

clean:
	$(RM) myprogram *.o

What if I want to include libraries that are platform-specific?

You can define library paths and flags conditionally based on the OS. For example:

ifeq ($(OS),Windows_NT)
    LIBS = -lws2_32
else
    LIBS = -lpthread
endif

Is there a way to automate the detection of the OS?

Yes, you can use predefined variables in Makefiles like $(shell uname) for Unix-like systems or $(OS) for Windows to automate OS detection.