I added history.cpp to an application, ran make, and spent several minutes wondering why none of my mistakes appeared in the compiler output. The build was not unusually forgiving. I had neglected to tell it that the file existed.

In a typical KDE source tree, the immediate place to look is Makefile.am. The target’s source list must contain both implementation and relevant headers:

bin_PROGRAMS = notebook

notebook_SOURCES = main.cpp notebook.cpp history.cpp \
                   notebook.h history.h

notebook_LDADD = $(LIB_KDEUI)

Automake uses this description to generate the lower-level make rules. KDE’s admin machinery and configure input then arrange compiler flags, library checks, translations, installation paths, and moc handling. Editing the generated Makefile is temporary theatre; the next regeneration removes the change with admirable confidence.

After changing the build description, I regenerate from the source root:

make -f Makefile.cvs
./configure --prefix="$KDEDIR" --enable-debug
make

For an out-of-tree build I run configure from the build directory after regenerating the source-side files. If I have added a new subdirectory, it also needs to appear in the parent’s SUBDIRS, and its makefile must be included by the configure machinery. A source file alone is simpler and normally needs only the target list.

Headers with Q_OBJECT are worth checking after the first build. If moc output is absent, I confirm the header is listed and that the macro is visible in the class declaration. Stale dependencies can confuse matters, so I prefer a fresh build directory before rewriting build rules that may already be correct.

Installation lists are a separate concern from compilation lists. A desktop file belongs in the appropriate data variable with its destination, translations belong in their directory, and public headers need an installation rule only if they truly form an interface. Putting every file into EXTRA_DIST may make an archive complete, but it does not make installation correct.

I check both operations before sending a change:

make dist
make install DESTDIR=/tmp/notebook-install

The staged installation makes missing icons and resources visible without scattering test files through the real prefix. I inspect the archive too, because a local build can use a file that never entered the distribution. Generated files and source files have different rules, and guessing which will be recreated on another machine is avoidable.

I keep custom shell commands out of Makefile.am unless the normal primary and source variables cannot express the job. Automake syntax can feel indirect, but the standard forms understand clean builds, distribution archives, and dependency tracking. A handcrafted shortcut often understands only the exact machine on which it was written, which is a rather narrow audience.