Computer Science Help Center

A Common Error

One of the most common errors that people make is the use of a series of spaces where a tab should be used. The correct form is as follows...


       <TARGET>: <DEPENDENCY LIST>
       [ tab ] <ACTION>


NOTES:
  • In many cases cutting and pasting will produce some errors...
    • It will usually reproduce this tab as several spaces.
    • It may also break lines of text across several lines, depending on the editor, thus giving many unexpected errors.
      • Ex: a long line of comments may break to the next line, and the make utility will no longer ignore this line, as it should.

  • Many FTP programs will automatically replace this tab with spaces as well. So, if you want to FTP a makefile to your GL account you will probably need to correct this problem once the file is in your directory.



Created by: Daniel J. Hood, February 2000
http://www.csee.umbc.edu/~cshc/resources/common_make_err.shtml
Sunday, 10-Sep-2006 15:36:53 EDT