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## How Makefiles Are Remade

Sometimes makefiles can be remade from other files, such as RCS or SCCS files. If a makefile can be remade from other files, you probably want `make` to get an up-to-date version of the makefile to read in.

To this end, after reading in all makefiles, `make` will consider each as a goal target and attempt to update it. If a makefile has a rule which says how to update it (found either in that very makefile or in another one) or if an implicit rule applies to it (see section Using Implicit Rules), it will be updated if necessary. After all makefiles have been checked, if any have actually been changed, `make` starts with a clean slate and reads all the makefiles over again. (It will also attempt to update each of them over again, but normally this will not change them again, since they are already up to date.)

If the makefiles specify a double-colon rule to remake a file with commands but no dependencies, that file will always be remade (see section Double-Colon Rules). In the case of makefiles, a makefile that has a double-colon rule with commands but no dependencies will be remade every time `make` is run, and then again after `make` starts over and reads the makefiles in again. This would cause an infinite loop: `make` would constantly remake the makefile, and never do anything else. So, to avoid this, `make` will not attempt to remake makefiles which are specified as double-colon targets but have no dependencies.

If you do not specify any makefiles to be read with ``-f'` or ``--file'` options, `make` will try the default makefile names; see section What Name to Give Your Makefile. Unlike makefiles explicitly requested with ``-f'` or ``--file'` options, `make` is not certain that these makefiles should exist. However, if a default makefile does not exist but can be created by running `make` rules, you probably want the rules to be run so that the makefile can be used.

Therefore, if none of the default makefiles exists, `make` will try to make each of them in the same order in which they are searched for (see section What Name to Give Your Makefile) until it succeeds in making one, or it runs out of names to try. Note that it is not an error if `make` cannot find or make any makefile; a makefile is not always necessary.

When you use the ``-t'` or ``--touch'` option (see section Instead of Executing the Commands), you would not want to use an out-of-date makefile to decide which targets to touch. So the ``-t'` option has no effect on updating makefiles; they are really updated even if ``-t'` is specified. Likewise, ``-q'` (or ``--question'`) and ``-n'` (or ``--just-print'`) do not prevent updating of makefiles, because an out-of-date makefile would result in the wrong output for other targets. Thus, ``make -f mfile -n foo'` will update ``mfile'`, read it in, and then print the commands to update ``foo'` and its dependencies without running them. The commands printed for ``foo'` will be those specified in the updated contents of ``mfile'`.

However, on occasion you might actually wish to prevent updating of even the makefiles. You can do this by specifying the makefiles as goals in the command line as well as specifying them as makefiles. When the makefile name is specified explicitly as a goal, the options ``-t'` and so on do apply to them.

Thus, ``make -f mfile -n mfile foo'` would read the makefile ``mfile'`, print the commands needed to update it without actually running them, and then print the commands needed to update ``foo'` without running them. The commands for ``foo'` will be those specified by the existing contents of ``mfile'`.

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