# is it worth trying to interpret the makefile generated by cmake to get better understanding?
**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/is-it-worth-trying-to-interpret-the-makefile-generated-by-cmake-to-get-better-understanding/3167
**Category:** Development
**Created:** [April 17, 2021, 5:00am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/is-it-worth-trying-to-interpret-the-makefile-generated-by-cmake-to-get-better-understanding/3167 "2021-04-17T05:00:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ggghamd](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/ggghamd)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2021, 5:00am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/is-it-worth-trying-to-interpret-the-makefile-generated-by-cmake-to-get-better-understanding/3167/1 "2021-04-17T05:00:30Z")
is it worth trying to interpret the makefile generated by cmake to get better understanding?
---
### Author:  [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2021, 12:41pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/is-it-worth-trying-to-interpret-the-makefile-generated-by-cmake-to-get-better-understanding/3167/2 "2021-04-18T12:41:20Z")
A better understanding of what? There are some things where analyzing the Makefiles is useful while for many others it’s more likely to be a red herring.
---
### Author:  [@hex](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/hex)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2021, 3:13pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/is-it-worth-trying-to-interpret-the-makefile-generated-by-cmake-to-get-better-understanding/3167/3 "2021-04-20T15:13:58Z")
Getting started with CMake can be a bit tedious, because you don’t know what is going on under the hood.
verbose, debug and message features help in better understanding how things are working. I suggest you look into what CMake has to offer in this regards. Sorry, cannot provide a link atm.