Makefile with conditional logic based on external variables

a variable passed to the makefile target MYVAR=1 make mytask` is visible with `$(MYVAR)` inside mytask

To use it with a conditional if/else, e.g. to skip a target like Maven surefire skipTests, you can use ifeq (reference here).

Full example

# Makefile
mytask:
ifeq ($(MYVAR),1)
   @echo "yes"
else
   @echo "no"
endif
   

Then launch with:
make mytask to print “no”
MYVAR=1 make mytask to print “yes”

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