Compare the coverage of removal of files between `make clean` and `make distclean`. The latter has more coverage. Tested against my project https://github.com/haxpor/hashmap_c

make_clean.log

$ make clean
 rm -f test/tests
test -z "libhashmap_c.la" || rm -f libhashmap_c.la
rm -f ./so_locations
rm -rf .libs _libs
rm -rf externals/MurmurHash3/src/.libs externals/MurmurHash3/src/_libs
rm -rf src/.libs src/_libs
rm -rf test/.libs test/_libs
rm -f *.o
rm -f externals/MurmurHash3/src/*.o
rm -f externals/MurmurHash3/src/*.lo
rm -f src/*.o
rm -f src/*.lo
rm -f test/*.o
test -z "test/tests.log" || rm -f test/tests.log
test -z "test/tests.trs" || rm -f test/tests.trs
test -z "test-suite.log" || rm -f test-suite.log
rm -f *.lo

make_distclean.log

$ make distclean
 rm -f test/tests
test -z "libhashmap_c.la" || rm -f libhashmap_c.la
rm -f ./so_locations
rm -rf .libs _libs
rm -rf externals/MurmurHash3/src/.libs externals/MurmurHash3/src/_libs
rm -rf src/.libs src/_libs
rm -rf test/.libs test/_libs
rm -f *.o
rm -f externals/MurmurHash3/src/*.o
rm -f externals/MurmurHash3/src/*.lo
rm -f src/*.o
rm -f src/*.lo
rm -f test/*.o
test -z "test/tests.log" || rm -f test/tests.log
test -z "test/tests.trs" || rm -f test/tests.trs
test -z "test-suite.log" || rm -f test-suite.log
rm -f *.lo
rm -f *.tab.c
test -z "" || rm -f 
test . = "." || test -z "" || rm -f 
rm -f externals/MurmurHash3/src/.deps/.dirstamp
rm -f externals/MurmurHash3/src/.dirstamp
rm -f src/.deps/.dirstamp
rm -f src/.dirstamp
rm -f test/.deps/.dirstamp
rm -f test/.dirstamp
rm -f config.h stamp-h1
rm -f libtool config.lt
rm -f TAGS ID GTAGS GRTAGS GSYMS GPATH tags
rm -f cscope.out cscope.in.out cscope.po.out cscope.files
rm -f config.status config.cache config.log configure.lineno config.status.lineno
rm -f externals/MurmurHash3/src/.deps/libhashmap_c_la-MurmurHash3.Plo
rm -f src/.deps/libhashmap_c_la-hashmap_c.Plo
rm -f test/.deps/tests-test.Po
rm -f Makefile