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Makefile Pitfalls: Missing Separator, .PHONY, $$ vs $, One Shell per Line and Silent Pipe Failures

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Self-Hosting & Infra intermediate 6 min read $0.01 Updated 2026-10-20

Reproduced with GNU Make 4.3: missing separator error, a test directory making test up to date, .PHONY, $HOME losing characters, cd not persisting across recipe lines, failed recipes stopping, - ignoring errors, variable precedence and pipefail.

make fails with "missing separator", skips a target named test, mangles $HOME or loses cd between lines. Fix each with tested examples: tabs, .PHONY, $$, && chaining, -prefix, ?= overrides and SHELL pipefail.

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#make#makefile#build#devops#shell

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