Question

I’m wondering if there’s a way to implement trap in GNU make, similar to that built into BASH?

If the user presses CTRL-C, or if make itself fails (non-zero exit), I’d like to call a particular target or macro.

Answer 1

No. GNU make’s signal handling already leaves a lot to be desired. From within its signal handler, it calls functions like printf that are not safe to be called from within a signal handler. I have seen this cause problems, for example .DELETE_ON_ERROR rules don’t always run if stderr is redirected to stdout.

For example, on a CentOS 7.4 box:

1. Create the following Makefile:

   .DELETE_ON_ERROR:
   
   foo:
           touch $@
           sleep 10
   

2. Open it in vim and run :make,

3. While it is sleeping, hit Ctrl–C

Vim/make prints

Press ENTER or type command to continue
touch foo
sleep 10
^C
shell returned 130

Interrupt: Press ENTER or type command to continue

Make was sent an interrupt signal, but foo still exists.