makefile-help.sh

makefile-help.sh is a shell script designed to extract and display help information from Makefile targets. It generates a dynamically updated help menu for users, detailing available targets and their purposes.

Disclaimer: Currently it only supports simple named targets ex: mytarget: ## doc

Example:

    $ make help

Would output something like this:

Installation

To use this script, include it in your project directory and add the following to your Makefile:

.PHONY: help
help: ## Display this help.
    @sh makefile-help.sh $(MAKEFILE_LIST)

Note: Make sure there is a tab before @sh...

Then you just need to type make help in your terminal.

Target Documentation Format

Document your Makefile targets in the following format:

<target-name>: ## <description>

For example:

build: ## Compile the project.

If a target name includes a dash ('-'), the part before the first dash is treated as a group label. Targets under the same group will be listed together under that group name. If no group is specified, targets will be listed under the 'Other' category.

Requirements

• grep
• awk
• A POSIX-compliant shell
• Python (optional but recommended)

Author

Per Arneng

Licence

MIT