[Lazarus] Where is a list of valid options for lazarus make?

[Mark Morgan Lloyd]

Bo Berglund wrote:
> In a recent post reply I was adviced to "make bigide" in order to
> include the SQLdb components on lazarus.
> 
> But I have no idea how the "bigide" is used so I have tried to find
> out but all I can google are other people basically wondering the same
> thing. The Wiki page:
> http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/IDE_Window:_Configure_Build_Lazarus
> is next to useless since it does not say anything about any options
> and there are no valid links on it either. It does not help tha the
> language is very hard to undrestand either...
> 
> I build Lazarus from SVN sources on my Windows XP PC using these
> commands in a batch file:
> 
> set PATH=C:\Programs\fpc\2.4.2\bin\i386-win32
> make.exe clean all
> 
> I don't want to destroy my system by doing some ad-hoc command but I
> cannot find how the correct syntax should be constructed.
> And I need the SQLdb stuff.
> 
> Please help....

Look, if you have a problem with a command it really would help if you 
quoted the bit you were having a problem with.

| If you build using make bigide, it will get included.  You can install
| it by going to install/uninstall packages under the package menu.

So earlier you're saying that you build using  make.exe clean all  note 
that I've tried to offset that with double spaces to make it stand out. 
Now I'm sure that you don't need the .exe in that command, and if it 
were a unix-derived OS the command would be written as an example like

$ make clean all

Note that the $ is a prompt, you wouldn't type that. Now that command 
could be broken into two

$ make clean
$ make all

At which point what is your problem with  make bigide  ?

As I'm sure you've worked out, make is a program (binary, executable, 
whatever). It processes what is referred to as a "makefile" which is 
customarily named with a capital to make it stand out i.e. Makefile, 
MAKEFILE etc. Originally, makefiles were written by hand but today that 
is generally semi-automated, so you might find that  Makefile  is 
generated from  Makefile.fpc  or similar. Hence you will find a target 
in the makefile which reads like

bigide: lcl packager/registration ideintf packager bigidecomponents 
idebig starter lazbuilder

but by now you're straying into waters best avoided by somebody with 
your level of experience.

In some projects, entering something like  make help  will give you a 
list of valid targets. Unfortunately neither Lazarus nor FPC do this, 
and in any event there's a limit to how much detail can be included.

-- 
Mark Morgan Lloyd
markMLl .AT. telemetry.co .DOT. uk

[Opinions above are the author's, not those of his employers or colleagues]