Practical Linux

Building X11 Makefiles with the xmkmf Script

The X11 system is much more complicated than the conventional Linux text mode. Many more configurations and quirks must be accounted for, as must differences between XFree86 and commercial X11 distributions. Most X11 source distributions come with a file called the Imakefile, which contains detailed information about how the program should be configured for various platforms running various X11 systems. This is not a file you want to feed directly to make because the contents and format are quite different.

Instead of feeding this file to make, the file is fed to a program that generates a makefile specifically for your system and other information for make (called dependencies). The script xmkmf does ...