🛠️ How to Use make on Windows#

This guide explains how to install and use make on Windows, with three different options depending on your preference and environment.

✅ Option 1: Use make on Windows via Git Bash#

Git Bash provides a Unix-like shell on Windows. However, it does not include make by default, so you must install it separately.

📦 Step-by-Step: Installing Git Bash#

1. Download Git for Windows:
   👉 https://gitforwindows.org

2. Install Git and ensure that Git Bash is included in the installation.

3. Open Git Bash in your project folder by right-clicking and selecting "Git Bash Here".

4. Now follow Option 3 (below) to install make inside Git Bash via MSYS2.

✅ Option 2: Install GNU Make via Chocolatey#

This method allows you to use make directly in PowerShell or Command Prompt.

Prerequisites#

Before installing GNU Make via Chocolatey, ensure you have Chocolatey package manager installed on your Windows system.

To check if Chocolatey is installed: Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

choco --version

If Chocolatey is not installed:

1. Open PowerShell as Administrator

2. Run the following command to install Chocolatey:

   Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

3. Close and reopen PowerShell as Administrator

Installing GNU Make#

1. Open PowerShell or Command Prompt as Administrator

   Press Win + X and select "Windows PowerShell (Admin)" or "Command Prompt (Admin)"

2. Install GNU Make using Chocolatey

   choco install make

3. Confirm the installation

   When prompted, type y or yes to proceed with the installation.

4. Verify the installation

5. After installation completes, verify that make is available:

   make --version

   You should see output similar to:

   GNU Make 4.x.x Built for Windows32

Usage#

Once installed, you can use make commands directly in any PowerShell or Command Prompt window:

# Navigate to your project directory
cd path\to\your\project

# Run make commands
make
make build
make clean

Troubleshooting#

If make command is not recognized: 1. Close and reopen your terminal 2. Check if the installation path is in your system PATH environment variable 3. Try running refreshenv in PowerShell to refresh environment variables

To uninstall:

choco uninstall make

✅ Option 3: Manually Add make to Git Bash via MSYS2#

MSYS2 provides a full Unix toolchain for Windows, including make.

📦 Step-by-Step: Installing make using MSYS2#

1. Download MSYS2 from:

   👉 https://www.msys2.org

2. Install MSYS2 (default path: C:\msys64).

3. Open the "MSYS2 MSYS" terminal (not UCRT64 or MINGW64).

4. Update the package manager:

   bash pacman -Syu

   📝 If prompted, close the terminal and re-open it after updating.

5. Install make:

   bash pacman -S make

6. Verify installation:

   bash make --version

⚙️ Add make to System PATH (Optional but Recommended)#

To use make in Git Bash (or any terminal), you must add it to your system's PATH:

1. Find the path to make, usually:

   C:\msys64\usr\bin

2. Open System Properties → Environment Variables.

3. Under "User variables" or "System variables", find the Path variable and click Edit.

4. Add the path:

   C:\msys64\usr\bin

5. Click OK and restart Git Bash or your system.

6. Test in Git Bash:

   bash make --version

✅ Example Usage#

Once make is installed, you can run:

make fmt

From within your project folder, assuming you have a Makefile with a fmt target.

📝 Alternative: Bash Script Instead of Makefile#

If you prefer not to install make, create a simple Bash script:

format.sh

#!/bin/bash
isort config-cli-gui/
black -l 100 config-cli-gui/
black -l 100 tests/

Make it executable:

chmod +x format.sh
./format.sh

🔚 Summary#

Choose the option that best fits your workflow!