--- name: "mk.conf" section: "5" platform: "openbsd" package: "man" version: "8.0-current-20261101" release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)" platforms: ["openbsd"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/mk.conf" --- # mk.conf(5) system-specific configuration parameters ## NAME **mk.conf** – system-specific configuration parameters ## SYNOPSIS **.include \** ## DESCRIPTION To get system-specific configuration parameters, ⟨bsd.own.mk⟩ will try to include the file specified by the MAKECONF variable. If MAKECONF is not set, or no such file exists, the system make configuration file */etc/mk.conf* is included, if it exists. By default, this file does not exist, and must be created from scratch. For more information on how the make process works, and details of the format of make files, see [make(1)](/make/1.md). ⟨bsd.own.mk⟩ is generally useful when building Makefiles, so that they use the same default owners, etc. as the rest of the tree. These files may define any of the variables described below. Additionally, see [bsd.port.mk(5)](/bsd.port.mk/5.md) for a list of variables that can be set by the [ports(7)](/ports/7.md) subsystem. ## VARIABLES The following variables are set by ⟨bsd.own.mk⟩, if they are not already defined. Defaults are in brackets. - BINGRP Binary group. \[bin\] - BINMODE Binary mode. \[555\] - BINOWN Binary owner. \[root\] - BSDOBJDIR The real path to the system "obj" tree, so that "make obj" will work correctly. \[*/usr/obj*\] - BSDSRCDIR The real path to the system sources, so that "make obj" will work correctly. \[*/usr/src*\] - DIRMODE Mode for new directories. \[755\] - DOCDIR Base path for system documentation installation. \[*/usr/share/doc*\] - DOCGRP Documentation group. \[bin\] - DOCMODE Documentation mode. \[${NONBINMODE}\] - DOCOWN Documentation owner. \[root\] - INSTALL\_COPY The old usage of this flag is obsolescent, since [install(1)](/install/1.md) now copies by default. However, it can also be used to specify that a file not be copied unless it is different (via the **-p** option). See [install(1)](/install/1.md) for details. This is to be used when building an install script so that the entire system can either be installed with copies, or copy-if-different using a single knob. \[**-c**\] - INSTALL\_STRIP The flag passed to the install program to cause the binary to be stripped. This is to be used when building an install script so that the entire system can be made stripped/not-stripped using a single knob. Note that INSTALL\_STRIP is not set if ${DEBUG} is defined. \[**-s**\] - LIBDIR Base path for library installation. \[*/usr/lib*\] - LIBGRP Library group. \[${BINGRP}\] - LIBMODE Library mode. \[${NONBINMODE}\] - LIBOWN Library owner. \[${BINOWN}\] - MANDIR Base path for manual installation. \[*/usr/share/man/man*\] - MANGRP Manual group. \[bin\] - MANMODE Manual mode. \[${NONBINMODE}\] - MANOWN Manual owner. \[root\] - NONBINMODE Mode for non-executable files. \[444\] - XOBJDIR The real path to the "obj" tree for building the X Window System. \[*/usr/xobj*\] - XSRCDIR The real path to the X Window System sources. \[*/usr/xenocara*\] ## ADDITIONAL VARIABLES Additionally, the following variables may be set by ⟨bsd.own.mk⟩ or in a make configuration file to modify the behaviour of the system build process (default values are in brackets along with comments, if set by ⟨bsd.own.mk⟩): - BUILDUSER De-escalate privileges to user BUILDUSER when building the base system from source or making release tarballs. \[build\] - DEBUG Added to assembly, C compiler and linking passes. Typically set to **-g** to build with debugging symbols. Also doesn't set INSTALL\_STRIP to **-s** per default if defined. - GLOBAL\_AUTOCONF\_CACHE Set to the name of a file that all cached GNU autoconf test results will be saved in. Reduces redundant tests. Be careful! Redundant tests may not be redundant when installing substantially updated GNU programs. - KEEPKERNELS If set to "yes", the kernel object directories will not be cleaned out during "make build". - NOPIC Do not build shared libraries. - NOPIE Do not build PIE objects or executables. - NOPROFILE Do not build profiled versions of system libraries. - PIPE If set to "-pipe", [gcc(1)](/gcc/1.md) will be given the **-pipe** option which can speed up compiles on machines with memory to spare. Instead of using temp files, [gcc(1)](/gcc/1.md) uses pipes for the temporary data. - SKEY Compile in support for S/key authentication. \[yes; set unconditionally\] - SKIPDIR A space separated list of directories, relative to BSDSRCDIR, to be skipped during "make build". - SUDO Command run by [make(1)](/make/1.md) when doing certain operations requiring root privileges. - SYS\_INCLUDE Copy or symlink kernel include files into */usr/include*. Possible values are "symlinks" or "copies" (which is the same as the variable being unset). - WARNINGS Adds appropriate warning flags (defined in CDIAGFLAGS, e.g. **-Wall**...) to compiles. \[no\] - WOBJGROUP Group having write access to BSDOBJDIR and XOBJDIR. \[wobj\] - WOBJUMASK [umask(2)](/umask/2.md) with which the "obj" tree will be created by "make obj". \[007\] - XENOCARA\_BUILD\_DRI Build X with Direct Rendering Infrastructure (DRI) support, providing some hardware acceleration. This is on by default for amd64/i386 architectures. - XENOCARA\_RERUN\_AUTOCONF Forces X builds to re-run automake and autoconf in each module before configuring them. This option requires that the automake, autoconf and libtool packages are installed. \[no\] ## FILES - */etc/mk.conf* System make configuration file. - */usr/share/mk/\** System include make files. ## SEE ALSO [make(1)](/make/1.md), [bsd.port.mk(5)](/bsd.port.mk/5.md), [ports(7)](/ports/7.md) ## HISTORY The **mk.conf** manual page first appeared in OpenBSD 3.4.