You can use the default makefile with no targets to set options globally for a directory as well i.e.: echo 'void main() { printf("omg\n"); }' > simple.c

You can use the default makefile with no targets to set options globally for a directory as well i.e.: echo 'void main() { printf("omg\n"); }' > simple.c echo 'CFLAGS=-g' > Makefile make simple ./simple (yes I know that is not valid C but it serves this example and compiles fine :-)