Check if a program exists from a Makefile

Question

How can I check if a program is callable from a Makefile?

(That is, the program should exist in the path or otherwise be callable.)

It could be used to chec

Answer 1

is this what you did?

check: PYTHON-exists
PYTHON-exists: ; @which python > /dev/null
mytarget: check
.PHONY: check PYTHON-exists

credit to my coworker.