'Error running make: missing separator (did you mean TAB instead of 8 spaces?)

I'm trying to get PHP phar command line tool installed on my Debian VM, how here described:

(1) download the php-src, I assume it's in /tmp/php/src

(2) make the dir /tmp/phar

(3) Save this as /tmp/php-src/ext/phar/Makefile.

(4) cd /tmp/php-src/ext/phar

(5) run sudo make

Now after step 5 I get an error:

:/tmp/php-src/ext/phar# make
Makefile:11: *** missing separator (did you mean TAB instead of 8 spaces?).  Stop.

As I know, there can be two possible causes for this error message:

  1. Tabs in the make file. I've tested the file with od -t c Makefile. The file contains no tabs (\t).

  2. It could be a bug of make v3.81 and need a patch or an upgrade to (yet instable: "Warning: This package is from the experimental distribution.") v3.82. I've downloaded and istalled (dpkg -i make_3.82-1_amd64.deb) it, but the error is still occuring.

What causes the error? How can it be avoided?

Thx

linuxmakefiledebianphar


Solution 1:[1]

(Answered in a comment: See Question with no answers, but issue solved in the comments (or extended in chat))

@Beta wrote:

The line should begin with a tab, not a bunch of spaces.

The OP wrote:

I've replaced all 8-spaces sequences with tabs and can execute the make script now.

Solution 2:[2]

I used: cat Makefile|sed "s/ /\t/" > Makefile

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution Source
Solution 1
Solution 2 BRN Systems

Related Questions