There are a few things that can be done. First, most java projects use <a href=''http://ant.apache.org/''>ant</a> for their automated build process, rather than make. I don''t believe ant actually does any dependency checking, so you''d have to check that out.

Second, compiling java is so much faster than compiling C that for small and medium sized projects, you can recompile the whole project pretty fast. This doesn''t help for large projects, of course. And this argument is enhanced considerably if you use the jikes compiler.

Third, if you use Eclipse as your IDE, its built-in compiler does full dependency checking automatically.

Fourth, there is a project called javamake for creating dependency lists for java programs for make. I don''t know any details about it, though, so check google.

"How do people which use javac from the command line handle file dependencies?"


You push everything into one directory and compile. I didn''t have too much problems with it, yet. Makexxx are generaly harmfull