Forcing GNU make to run commands in order
Actually, you don't have a problem with make, but with your command:
tex dummy.tex &> /dev/null;
Runs 'tex' in the background. You don't need to remove '>/dev/null', but '&' is sending 'tex' to the background.
Try this, it must be fine for you:
tex dummy.tex > /dev/null;
or run everything in the same subshell, like this:
(tex dummy.tex > /dev/null;rm *.log)
or less sane, this:
if test 1 = 1; then tex dummy.tex > /dev/null;rm *.log; fi
PD: &> is an extension provided by some shells (including bash) to redirect both stdout and stderr to the same destination, but it's not portable, you should use '>/dev/null 2>&1' instead. (Thanks @Gilles)
Cheers