Makefile improvements

[wendellpiez]

User Story:

Makefiles were designed by a competent designer, but have been managed and deployed by a beginner.

Among possible improvements #120 (comment):

Minor, non-blocking: in the future it might be good to set Makefile variables at the top of this file for stop-on-error and/or recurse to override the default.

Goals:

Along with offering ever-better guidance for future devs visiting or revisiting the code base, the make files should serve as exemplary cases for their clarity and reusability.

Obviously this is work never done, but this issue could be closed with even one thorough pass over the Makefiles, looking for opportunities to harmonize, reuse code etc.

If a concrete requirement is to be stated, it could be the potential for Makefile variables mentioned above.

Dependencies:

No dependencies and could also be done along with other work.

The main problem is bringing make expertise to bear.

Acceptance Criteria

• All website and readme documentation affected by the changes in this issue have been updated. Changes to the website can be made in the docs/content directory of your branch.
• A Pull Request (PR) is submitted that fully addresses the goals of this User Story. This issue is referenced in the PR.
• The CI-CD build process runs without any reported errors on the PR. This can be confirmed by reviewing that all checks have passed in the PR.

{The items above are general acceptance criteria for all User Stories. Please describe anything else that must be completed for this issue to be considered resolved.}