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Make reads its instructions from text files. An initialization file is read first, followed by the makefile. The initialization file holds instructions for all “makes” and is used to customize the operation of Make. Make automatically reads the initialization file whenever it starts up. Typically the initialization file is named make.ini and it resides in the directory of make.exe and mkmf.exe. The name and location of the initialization file is discussed in detail on Page .
The makefile has instructions for a specific project. The default name of the makefile is literally makefile, but the name can be specified with a command-line option.
With a few exceptions, the initialization file holds the same kind of information as does a makefile. Both the initialization file and the makefile are composed of the following components: comments, dependency lines, directives, macros, response files, rules and shell lines.