Makefile include .env

Today I learned that you can include the .env file in the Makefile using the include directive. This will expose all environment variables in the provided .env file in your Makefile. Using this approach, you can also include another make file.

include .env

# Run mysql database in docker using variables from `.env` file
.PHONY: run-mysql-database
run-mysql-database:
	@echo "Running mysql database ${DB_NAME} in docker container ${DB_CONTAINER_NAME}..."
	@./run-mysql-docker.sh ${DB_CONTAINER_NAME} ${DB_SERVER_PORT} 
Import .env in Makefile

You can read more about Make include directive from the official documentation:

GNU make
GNU make

This short post is part of my Today I Learned series. You can find more here.