Make interprets compiler options as shell command

Question

I'm trying to compile fbsplash under Tiny Core Linux using autotools. In the middle of compilation it crashed saying "LD: attempted static link to dynamic object /usr/local/lib/libpng16.so" I've got rid of that, commenting out option "-all-static" in the Makefile. Now it crashes after

/bin/bash: O2: not found
/bin/bash: w: not found
/bin/bash: DTARGET_KERNEL: not found

All of these options have dashes before them. It looks like:

fbcondecor_helper_CFLAGS = -O2 -w \...
fbcondecor_helper_CPPFLAGS = $(AM_CPPFLAGS) -DTARGET_KERNEL

But somehow my shell interprets them as commands without dashes. What's wrong?

Answer 1

First, you are not using the autotools. You are using a configure script that was generated using the autotools. (If indeed you are running autoconf, or autoreconf, that is a different issue and there is (much) more room for error on your part.) In either case, you should never hand edit the generated Makefile. (So short answer to "What's wrong?" is, "you edited the Makefile".) Instead, add --disable-static when you run configure.