Makefile polyglot (make And perl Makefile) Careless you doing "perl Makefile", then you take many error messages. Your trouble will be solved if the polyglot technology is used. # Example Makefile irst_labe: length X;$Y=Z; dummy_label: length 0; print "perl world\n"; $x = <<'END_OF_MAKEFILE=' length: echo "make world" END_OF_MAKEFILE= actually, this code is works on perl and make command. $ perl M