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Tankman六四
Asked: 2015-10-12 01:19:39 +0800 CST

How to evoke a Makefile in the GUI? [duplicate]

  • 772

Most Makefile users use the commandline. Thus they have no need of evoking it in the GUI. But Makefile can be used as an administration tool for the users too.

In my case, a clerk is tasked to maintain a document which changes daily, and as soon as she saves the file, the "source" is changed. I want her to convert it to PDF, stamp the PDF with a given template, encrypt it, merge it with a few other files, and produce three variations for different departments with different stamps.

I have a Makefile for that purpose, already written. Is there a way to let her evoke the Makefile without putting me to the mire of doing additional commandline training? She can save the document, evoke Makefile, and be done.

P.S. This is not about how to execute a shell script or an .EXE file because there is no shell scripts or .EXE files or any executable files in the question at all.

pdf

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    I have two solutions for you and I prefer Solution B

    Solution A

    The simplest way without a terminal is, add a wrapper script in the folder where the Makefile is.

    1. Create a wrapper script

      nano /your/make/file/folder/makeit

    2. Add two simple lines

      #!/usr/bin/env bash
make

    3. Make the script executable

      chmod +x /your/make/file/folder/makeit

    4. Configure nautilus to ask each time, if you double-click an executable text file

      gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.preferences executable-text-activation ask

      or for a start without asking

      gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.preferences executable-text-activation launch

    Solution B

    A Makefile has the mimetype

    text/x-makefile

    Therefore create and use a desktop file with a wrapper script

    1. Create the wrapper script 

      mkdir -p ~/bin
nano ~/bin/makeit

    2. Add the code below

      #!/usr/bin/env bash
cd "$(dirname "$1")" || exit
make

    3. Create a desktop file

      nano ~/.local/share/applications/makeit.desktop

    4. Add the configuration below

      [Desktop Entry]
Name=Make It
Comment=Start the make command
Exec=/home/user/bin/makeit
Icon=
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Editor;
StartupNotify=true
MimeType=text/x-makefile;

      IMPORTANT Replace user in the line Exec= with your username, the output of

      echo $USER

    5. Restart Unity/GNOME Shell, for the GNOME Shell e.g. Alt-F2, type r and Enter and Nautilus with 

      nautilus -q

    6. Associate the Makefile with the makeit script

      • Open your file manager and right click on a Makefile

      • Click Open With Other Application

      • Click the button View All Applications

      • Select the entry Make It

    • 5

  2. Just create a cron job (via crontab -e) that runs that Makefile everyday (or even every minute).

    • 0

  3. I discovered "Open in Terminal" feature in nautilus.

    1. Right click the empty space around Makefile
    2. Choose "Open in Terminal"
    3. Type make

    This isn't exactly what is asked for, but is the closest solution. Half of the difficulty in training new command-line user is the concept of current directory - in this case probably entire difficulty - making this solution look good.

    • -1