Whats new in version 4.0:
- configure.ac: Updated for the release.
- NEWS: Updated for the release.
- maintMakefile (tag-release): New target to add a Git tag.
- read.c (eval): Typo fix.
- ChangeLog.1: Typo fixes.
- w32/subproc/sub_proc.c (process_cleanup): Typo fix.
- w32/compat/posixfcn.c (tmpfile): Move declaration of h before the first executable statement.
- makeint.h (MAP_USERFUNC): A new map type for function names.
- main.c (initialize_stopchar_map): Set up the function name map.
- gnumake.h (gmk_func_ptr): Define a type for function pointers.
- (gmk_add_function): Convert the last argument to FLAGS.
- (GMK_FUNC_*): Define flags for the function. Change the default
- behavior to "expand" since that's the most common one.
- function.c (function_table_entry): Use new function pointer type.
- (lookup_function): Accept any valid function name character based on the MAP_USERFUNC values.
- (define_new_function): Use the new calling signature. Verify that registered functions have valid names.
- guile.c (guile_gmake_setup): Use new ...
Publisher review:GNU Make is a tool which controls the generation of executables and other non-source files of a program from the program's source files.
GNU Make gets its knowledge of how to build your program from a file called the makefile, which lists each of the non-source files and how to compute it from other files. When you write a program, you should write a makefile for it, so that it is possible to use Make to build and install the program.
The application enables the end user to build and install your package without knowing the details of how that is done because these details are recorded in the makefile that you supply. It also figures out automatically which files it needs to update, based on which source files have changed. It also automatically determines the proper order for updating files, in case one non-source file depends on another non-source file.
Operating system:Mac OS X
GNU Make 4.0 details 
