Make clean simply clears the previously compiled executable and configuration files.
And make Distclean to clear all the generated files.
Makefile
In makefile, which complies with the GNU Makefiel Convention, contains some basic pre-defined actions:
Make
According to makefile compile source code, connect, generate target file, executable file.
Make clean
Clears the object file (the file with the suffix ". O") and the executable file that resulted from the last make command.
Make install
Installs the successfully compiled executable file into the system directory, typically the/usr/local/bin directory.
Make Dist
Generates a release package file (that is, distribution packages). This command will package the executable and related files into a tar.gz compressed file to be used as the software package for the release.
It generates a file with a name similar to "package-version.tar.gz" in the current directory. Package and version are the Am_init_automake (package, version) that we defined in configure.in.
Make Distcheck
Build and test the release package to determine the correctness of the release package. This will automatically unpack the package file, execute the Configure command, and execute make to confirm that the compilation does not appear to be wrong, and that the package is ready to be released.
Make Distclean is similar to do clean, but it also removes all configure generated files, including makefile.
Turn http://www.cnblogs.com/hnrainll/
Linux make Clean