Why both `make clean` and `make mrproper` are used?
Cleaning is done on three levels, as described in a comment in the Linux kernel Makefile:
###
# Cleaning is done on three levels.
# make clean Delete most generated files
# Leave enough to build external modules
# make mrproper Delete the current configuration, and all generated files
# make distclean Remove editor backup files, patch leftover files and the like
According to the Makefile, the mrproper
target depends on the clean
target (see line 1421). Additionally, the distclean
target depends on mrproper
.
Executing make mrproper
will therefore be enough as it would also remove the same things as what the clean
target would do (and more).
The mrproper
target was added in 1993 (Linux 0.97.7) and has always depended on the clean
target. This means that it was never necessary to use both targets as in make clean && make mrproper
.
Historic reference: https://archive.org/details/git-history-of-linux
clean
is a prerequisite for mrproper
target in Makefile, so executing make clean
separately is redundant.