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The GNU make utility is used to manage dependencies between various project components. Is is often used as part of a project's build process to compile program source code and link the resulting object code into an executable, although it can be used for other types of projects. Because make manages dependencies it compiles only those source files that have been changed since the last build.
Here is the GNU Make web site.
Make is part of any Unix system, including Linux. On Windows it must be installed separately or as part of some Unix emulation package, such as mingw. On Windows we use mingw.
On Macs OS/X 10.5 or greater is required. Older versions of OS/X will have a version of make that is too old for some builds, such as the ffmpeg build.
Make is a rather complex program. Make files can become very complex and difficult to follow. However, we use make in fairly simple ways. See the free online book GNU Make for complete information about GNU make, the version of make found on Linux.