Is there a standard way to document dependencies in a GNU Make package?

Question

I'm wondering if there's a standard way to indicate the dependencies in Makefile-based C/C++ project. Should I mention it in INSTALL or README?

Answer 1

With most of the '.tar' files that I've opened, they document the dependencies in INSTALL or in README. There doesn't appear to be a standard way to handle this. The best makefiles that I've seen usually contain commented information regarding dependencies for the code in addition to historical hiccups in the build process.

In many other cases, the makefile has been auto-generated by a program like Automake, cmake, premake, python, perl, etc...

Auto-generated makefiles tend to be very difficult for a normal person to read. Hand crafted makefiles tend to be a lot easier for us mortals to read.