title: What does *.o/.suffixes in makefile mean?
body: <p>I have seen commands like this all over Makefiles, which I don't quite understand:</p>
  
  <pre><code>vpath.o: make.h config.h getopt.h gettext.h dep.h
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and</p>
  
  <pre><code>.SUFFIXES:
  .SUFFIXES:  .f  .o
  #
  # %------------------%
  # | Default command. |
  # %------------------%
  #
  .DEFAULT:
      @$(ECHO) "Unknown target $@, try:  make help"
  #
  # %-------------------------------------------%
  # |  Command to build .o files from .f files. |
  # %-------------------------------------------%
  #
  .f.o:
      @$(ECHO) Making $@ from $&lt;
      @$(FC) -c $(FFLAGS) $&lt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What does the <code>*.o</code> and <code>*.suffixes</code> mean?</p>
  
  <p><strong><em>Note: The two commands are from different parts of the script.</em></strong></p>