====== The standard ACT Makefile structure ======

The following is a simple ''Makefile'' that uses the ACT standard makefile to create an executable called ''example'', and which links against the core ACT library as well as the default passes.

<code>
BINARY=example.$(EXT)

TARGETS=$(BINARY)

OBJS=main.o 
SRCS=$(OBJS:.o=.cc)

include $(ACT_HOME)/scripts/Makefile.std

$(BINARY): $(LIB) $(OBJS) $(ACTPASSDEPEND)
        $(CXX) $(CFLAGS) $(OBJS) -o $(BINARY) $(LIBACTPASS)

-include Makefile.deps
</code>

The variable ''EXT'' is set to an extension that combines the architecture and operating system. So this might look something like ''arm64_darwin23_5_0'' for an Apple M-series Mac, or ''x86_64_linux5_15_0'' on an x86 Linux platform. The  makefile creates a directory called ''$(EXT)'', and the object files generated are placed in that directory.((This was originally designed for Unix clusters with heterogeneous architectures but a shared file system.))

Standard targets defined are:
   * ''make depend'': creates ''Makefiles.dep'' with dependencies.
   * ''make'': this should build the executable
   * ''make install'': installs all files into ''$(ACT_HOME)''
   * ''make clean'': removes object files but keeps all targets that were built
   * ''make realclean'': removes targets as well (in addition to what is done with just clean).

The object files can be moved into the working directory using:
<code>
$ make move-in
</code>
They can be put back into the architecture-specific directory using:
<code>
make move-out
</code>

===== Changing compilers =====

The variables ''CC'' and ''CXX'' can be changed to modify the default C and C++ compilers respectively.
So:
<code>
$ make CXX=clang++
</code>
will use clang++ as the C++ compiler for the build.

===== Debug builds =====

The C/C++ compilers are passed the ''C_COMPILER_OPTIONS'' environment variable. This is normally set to ''-O2'', but can be set to ''-g'' during the build process like this:
<code>
$ make C_COMPILER_FLAGS=-g
</code>


===== Standard test cases =====

Standard test cases can be run using:
<code>
$ make runtest
</code>

For this to work properly, create test cases for your tool in the following way:
   * All test cases and sample outputs are in the ''test/'' sub-directory.
   * Test cases are run by changing to the ''test/'' sub-directory and running the script ''run.sh''. If this script doesn't exist, then nothing happens.
Take a look at examples from existing ACT tools (e.g. ''[[https://github.com/asyncvlsi/actsim/tree/master/test|actsim]]'').