Pre-build step in makefile

Question

How can I run a script, which must execute before all other makefile commands? And it will be nice (but not mandatory) to the script is not executed if there is nothing to build

Answer 1

Depending on your make version, something like the following should at least avoid running dozens of times if CFLAGS and AFLAGS are evaluated dozens of times:

CHEAT_ARG := $(shell myscript)

Note the colon.

This runs exactly once. Never more than once, but also never less than once. Choose your own tradeoffs.