Nono.MA

Make target is up to date

MARCH 16, 2022

If you're hitting this error when trying to make a command, it could be because there is a directory with the same name as your command in the directory of the Makefile.1

make: target is up to date.

If you, for instance, have a Makefile with the following command.

talk:
        @echo "Hello! This works."

You can make talk and the Terminal or console will print Hello! This works..

If I were to create a talk folder within the same directory, i.e., mkdir talk and execute the make talk command again, I'd get the following error.

make: `talk' is up to date.

  1. I learned this from a colleague at work today. I've hit this error many times, and it wasn't until I asked a question on a code review that I learned about this. 

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