Flymake configuration error while programming in C

Question

When trying to run M-x Flymake-Mode in Emacs I get:

Flymake: Configuration error has occured while running (make -s -C ./CHK_SOURCES=helloworld_flymake.c SYNTAX_         


        

Answer 1

Makefile' must contain thecheck-syntax' target. Append this to the Makefile:

check-syntax:
     gcc -o nul -S ${CHK_SOURCES}

Make sure you use a TAB to start the second line. Also there is a bug with flymake that makes you have to name the Makefile with a capital M. It won't work if you, say, call it "makefile." Watch out for that!

Answer 2

Is this the actual content of your makefile? It looks like there is a space ' ' before the second line. This is supposed to be a tab:

helloworld: helloworld.c
 gcc helloworld.c -o helloworld

More like this:

helloworld: helloworld.c
    gcc helloworld.c -o helloworld

Keeping in mind, that the SO editor seems to have converted my tab character to spaces, so don't do that.

helloworld: helloworld.c
<press tab here>gcc helloworld.c -o helloworld