How to install and run Makefile on Windows 11

A Makefile is a special kind of file that contains information about any program's flow, targets, and libraries. To use it, we have to provide a command called Make. Speaking of which, by default, Windows doesn't install it. Learn how to install and execute Makefile in the following post.

Making Installation and Execution on Windows 11 or 10

A Makefile consists of a program flow, targets, and information about libraries. In other words, it's a description file that lists targets and resources on which the target relies. The Makefile also contains the libraries that are necessary to support source code. The use of the make command is done to execute this kind of file type. Here are the steps you will undertake to first download and then run Makefile on your computer.

Install MinGW.

Set up Environmental Reciprocal

Set up the Make program.

"Make" is to replace "mingw32-make.exe."

Make the Makefile and run it.

We shall discuss them in detail.

1. download MinGW and set up

MinGW is a native Windows port of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), featuring a distributable aiming to provide all the header files and Import libraries to create native Windows programs that do not rely on any 3rd-party DLLs. To use Make, first download the installation disk for MinGW. Once the download is complete, open the installation disk. Uncheck the box that says, "also install support for the graphical user interface." From here, follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation. In a few moments, the installation will finish. Please press next or quit.

2. Environment Variable Setup

After MinGW is installed, we have to add the environmental variable to access the 'Make' command. First of all, the path of MinGW has to be obtained and added into the environment variables. We have to copy the path of the 'mingw-get' file by following the following procedure.

Press Win + I to open the File Explorer.

Look for the folder where you have placed MinGW. If you haven't changed the default location, then go to C:MinGW.

Doubleclick on Bin to open the folder.

Since mingw-get is in that folder so you have to copy its path.

For adding the path of the file in the environmental variable, follow the steps given below.

Open the user interface.

In search bar write "Environmental Variables".

Click on Edit present in front of system environmental variable.

Now click on the Environmental Variable option.

Click on Path present under the System variables section, then click on Edit.

Once you click New, paste the path we had you copy previously.

Click the "Ok" button.

You can close all the interfaces now as environmental variable has been added.

3. Make installation.

By adding this environmental variable, now you can install the Make command. However, aforementioned steps are required to execute the Make command. For doing so, run your Command Prompt as administrator and write the following command.

install mingw-get process mingw32-make

This command will take a few minutes to install all the Make modules of MinGW.

You can check whether it is installed or not, just by writing the command mingw32-make --version in the command terminal. It will show information about the version of MinGW that is installed.

4: Rename mingw32-make.exe to Make

Won't that be a pain, as every time you want to execute the "make" command, you will need to execute "mingw32-make, right? So, we would rename mingw32-make to Make and use that instead of mingw32-make the second time onwards. Herein, follow these steps in order to do that.

Open File Explorer.

Navigate to the folder where mingw32 is installed.

Then, rename the mingw32-make file as 'make' by opening the Bin folder and double-clicking it.

Open make with the --version flag on the command prompt to check whether the name of the file has been changed successfully. If the above command worked seamlessly without any errors, then renaming went well.

5. Creation of Makefile and its Execution.

After installing the Make command, now we will create a Makefile. Although there are various ways to do so, here is the general way to do it.

We have created a new folder known as Makefile on the desktop using Makefile, but you can use any name you like.

First, you have to create a text file. Just right-click on an open space and select "New" and then "Text document" to create one.

You open the file to insert these lines of code. Remember to provide a Tab before you start typing the second line.

to start with Makefile: echo "Getting started with Makefile";

When you do this, select File > Save as to save it.

A good name to give is Makefile, then click Ok after changing the Save as type to All files.

You open the file by opening Command Prompt.

Use the cd command to get to the spot where you created the folder. I ran cd C:UsersyusufOneDriveDesktop because that's where I am now.

Command-line input to view all the files in a directory will be dir.

All you need to do is to make -f filename and then just run the file.

We hope with this guide you'll be able to install and run Makefile on Windows 11 in a very simple way. Without further ado, we say adios, good luck.