Why it is taking the same time?

I am running the following inside the makefile:-

@START=$(shell date +%s) && \
echo $${START} &&\
sleep 10s && \
END=$(shell date +%s) && \
echo "$${END} $${START}" &&\
DIFF_SUB=$$(($$END - $$STA开发者_高级运维RT)) && \
echo IT TOOK $${DIFF_SUB} SECONDS

and it outputs to the following:-

1309950228

1309950228 1309950228

IT TOOK 0 SECONDS

The reason you are getting the same result for each $(shell date +%s) is that each is being executed and substituted at the same time - that is when make is running the command.

After make does its substitutions, this is the command the shell sees:

@START=1309950228 && \
echo ${START} &&\
sleep 10s && \
END=1309950228 && \
echo "${END} ${START}" &&\
DIFF_SUB=$(($END - $START)) && \
echo IT TOOK ${DIFF_SUB} SECONDS

If you want the date command to be run twice with a 10 second time difference between them, you will need the shell to perform the command substitution, not make:

@START=$$(date +%s) && \
echo $${START} &&\
sleep 10s && \
END=$$(date +%s) && \
echo "$${END} $${START}" &&\
DIFF_SUB=$$(($$END - $$START)) && \
echo IT TOOK $${DIFF_SUB} SECONDS

Note the double $$ and the removal of the shell make command.

make expands all variable and function references in the body of a rule before executing any of it. Since you're using $(shell) to run the date command, that actually means that both calls to date are getting run before sleep.

Keep in mind that the body of a rule is already executed using the shell, so generally it's redundant to use $(shell) in that context anyway -- just let the shell do it's thing, instead of trying to get make to do part of it. See camh's answer for an example of how to do this.

You can read more about the relationship between make and the shell here: Shell commands in GNU make.