Remote Makefiles fun

example.txt

$ make hello
hello world from localhost!

$ make foohost remote-hello
make: `foohost' is up to date.
make: Entering directory `/home/foouser/tmp'
hello world from foohost!
make: Leaving directory `/home/foouser/tmp'

$ make barhost remote-hello
make: `barhost' is up to date.
make: Entering directory `/home/baruser/tmp'
hello world from barhost!
make: Leaving directory `/home/baruser/tmp'

Makefile

MAKEFILE=$(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))

REMOTE?=$(REMOTE_USER)@$(REMOTE_HOST)
REMOTE_SSH?=ssh -p $(REMOTE_PORT)
REMOTE_SHELL?=$(REMOTE_SSH) $(REMOTE) $(REMOTE_LOGIN)
REMOTE_MAKE?=cat $(MAKEFILE) | $(REMOTE_SHELL) make -f /dev/stdin -C $(REMOTE_BASE)

# LOCAL COMMANDS:

hello:
	@echo hello world from $(shell hostname)!

# REMOTE COMMANDS:

remote-%:
	@$(REMOTE_MAKE) $*

# SERVERS:

foohost:
	$(eval REMOTE_HOST := foohost)
	$(eval REMOTE_PORT := 22)
	$(eval REMOTE_USER := foouser)
	$(eval REMOTE_BASE := /home/foouser/tmp)

barhost:
	$(eval REMOTE_HOST := barhost)
	$(eval REMOTE_PORT := 22)
	$(eval REMOTE_USER := baruser)
	$(eval REMOTE_BASE := /home/baruser/tmp)

You don't need to use eval.
You can use target specific variables instead.

@To1ne: thanks for the tip but I don't quite see how I can use that. I'm relying on being able to set the host properties in a separate target that gets run first.