A Makefile to make some Cheese

PREFIX=./node_modules/.bin
## Compiler
# The compiler to use for the ES7 -> ES5 transformation
JC=$(PREFIX)/babel
# Location of files
SRC=src/
OUT=dist/
# The flags to pass to the compiler
JCFLAGS=$(SRC) -d $(OUT)
# The binary files to copy
BIN=cli/cheddar
EXE=cheddar
BIN_MAKE=$(foreach BIN_FILE,$(BIN),chmod 755 $(SRC)$(BIN_FILE) && cp $(SRC)$(BIN_FILE) $(OUT)$(BIN_FILE)${\n});\
         ln -s $(OUT)cli/$(EXE) ./$(EXE)

## Tests
TESTRUNNER=$(PREFIX)/babel-node
COVERAGE=$(PREFIX)/babel-istanbul
TEST=$(PREFIX)/_mocha
TFLAGS=cover $(TEST)

## Rules
all: default

# The default task
# The **production** build
default: $(JC) $(SRC)
    $(JC) $(JCFLAGS) --minified
    $(BIN_MAKE)
# Development build task
# This builds and includes source maps
build: $(JC) $(SRC)
    $(JC) $(JCFLAGS) --sourceMaps="inline"
    $(BIN_MAKE)

# Runs install with default method
install: ./bin/install
    ./bin/install --method=path

# Performs testing, including coverage
# At the moment uses mocha for testing 
# and babel-istanbul for coverage
test: $(TESTRUNNER) $(COVERAGE) $(TEST)
    $(TESTRUNNER) $(COVERAGE) $(TFLAGS)
clean:
    rm -rf ./dist/
 .PHONY: test

• In makefiles you can have spacing around equals signs, making the code slightly easier to read. For example PREFIX = ./node_modules/.bin.

• UPPER_CASE variables are generally used for things that the end user might want to change when running, while lower_case is for internal use variables. The user is presumably not supposed to change for example the source directory, so SRC should really be src.

• Single-use internal variables like BIN make the code harder to read for no tangible benefit. Introduce a variable when you need to reuse the value.

• Any target which has a name that doesn't correspond to an actual file created by that target should IMO be marked as .PHONY (because it is).

• Conversely, targets which do generate result files from their dependencies should be named for the files they generate, so that the Magic of Make™ can kick in and skip targets when they are up to date.

• BIN_MAKE would be much easier to understand as either commands in a target or as a separate script.

• The default target of a Makefile is the first one, by definition. That makes it redundant to have two phony targets (all and default) to do the default thing.

• Some more space between the targets would be nice.

• The comments are a bit verbose. Most of the time I find it's possible to make the code understandable enough (especially by naming things carefully) that comments become redundant.

• There should be an end user variable for each command you run that's assumed to be on the PATH, for example CP = /bin/cp. This may be considered overkill, especially for common tools, but it allows people who have tools off the PATH (for example after building it themselves) to run your Makefile without modifying it. A common use case (just like with RVM or Virtualenv) is if you want to test your Makefile with a tool version not installed on your base system.

• RM is an implicit variable at least in GNU Make for just this purpose.