Manual Pages  — MAKE.CONF

The file make.conf uses the standard makefile syntax. However, make.conf should not specify any dependencies to make(1). Instead, make.conf is to set make(1) variables that control the actions of other makefiles.

The default location of make.conf is /etc/make.conf, though an alternative location can be specified in the make(1) variable __MAKE_CONF. You may need to override the location of make.conf if the system-wide settings are not suitable for a particular build. For instance, setting __MAKE_CONF to /dev/null effectively resets all build controls to their defaults.

The primary purpose of make.conf is to control the compilation of the FreeBSD sources, documentation, and ported applications, which are usually found in /usr/src, /usr/doc, and /usr/ports. As a rule, the system administrator creates make.conf when the values of certain control variables need to be changed from their defaults.

The system build procedures occur in four broad areas: the world, the kernel, documentation and ports. Variables set in make.conf may be applicable in one, two, or all four of these areas. In addition, control variables can be specified for a particular build via the -D option of make(1) or in environ(7). In the case of world and kernel builds it is possible to put these variables into src.conf(5) instead of make.conf. This way the environment for documentation and ports builds is not polluted by unrelated variables.

The following lists provide a name and short description for each variable you can use during the indicated builds. The values of variables flagged as bool are ignored; the variable being set at all (even to "FALSE" or "NO") causes it to be treated as if it were set.

The following list provides a name and short description for variables that are used for all builds, or are used by the makefiles for things other than builds.

ALWAYS_CHECK_MAKE
	(bool) Instructs the top-level makefile in the source tree (normally /usr/src) to always check if make(1) is up-to-date. Normally this is only done for the world and buildworld targets to handle upgrades from older versions of FreeBSD .
CFLAGS
	(str) Controls the compiler setting when compiling C code. Optimization levels other than -O and -O2 are not supported.
CPUTYPE
	(str) Controls which processor should be targeted for generated code. This controls processor-specific optimizations in certain code (currently only OpenSSL) as well as modifying the value of CFLAGS and COPTFLAGS to contain the appropriate optimization directive to cc(1). The automatic setting of CFLAGS may be overridden using the NO_CPU_CFLAGS variable. Refer to /usr/share/examples/etc/make.conf for a list of recognized CPUTYPE options.
CXXFLAGS
	(str) Controls the compiler settings when compiling C++ code. CXXFLAGS is initially set to the value of CFLAGS. If you want to add to the CXXFLAGS value, use "+=" instead of "=".
DTC
	(str) Select the compiler for DTS (Device Tree Syntax) file. DTC is initially set to the value of dtc
INSTALL
	(str) the default install command. To install only files for which the target differs or does not exist, use INSTALL+= -C Note that some makefiles (including those in /usr/share/mk) may hardcode options for the supplied install command.
LOCAL_DIRS
	(str) List any directories that should be entered when doing make's in /usr/src in this variable.
MAKE_SHELL
	(str) Controls the shell used internally by make(1) to process the command scripts in makefiles. sh(1), ksh(1), and csh(1) all currently supported.     MAKE_SHELL?=sh
MTREE_FOLLOWS_SYMLINKS
	(str) Set this to "-L" to cause mtree(8) to follow symlinks.
NO_CPU_CFLAGS
	(str) Setting this variable will prevent CPU specific compiler flags from being automatically added to CFLAGS during compile time.
NO_DOCUPDATE
	(bool) Set this to not update the doc tree during "make update".
NO_PORTSUPDATE
	(bool) Set this to not update the ports tree during "make update".
SVN_UPDATE
	(bool) Set this to use svn(1) or svnlite(1) to update your src tree with "make update". Note that you can set SVN to the full path of a svn(1) binary.