GNU make - Chained Rules Go to the first , previous , next , last section, table of contents . Sometimes a file can be made by a sequence of implicit rules. Such a sequence is called a chain . Once make has decided to use the intermediate file, it is entered in the data base as if it had been mentioned in the makefile, along with the implicit rule that says how to create it.
Intermediate files are remade using their rules just like all other files.
But intermediate files are treated differently in two ways. The first difference is what happens if the intermediate file does not exist. If an ordinary file b does not exist, and make considers a target that depends on b , it invariably creates b and then updates the target from b . But if b is an intermediate file, then make can leave well enough alone. It won't bother updating b , or the ultimate target, unless some dependency of b is newer than that target or there is some other reason to update that target.