Expand Variables in Target of an Included Makefile - makefile

Question

I am trying to build a framework which is supposed to apply similar operations to different designs/projects. Therefore, I have a general Makefile which defines general targets used for most of the operations. The idea is then that each design has its own main Makefile. This main Makefile includes the general Makefile for the general functionality, defines some variables for some basic configuration of the general Makefile, but can also extend or override variables from the general Makefile or define new targets or override targets when they are not applicable.
So the simplified directory structure looks something like this:
<Root Dir>
| -- targets.mk
| -- design1
| -- Makefile
| -- design2
| -- Makefile
The simplified general Makefile targets.mk looks something like this
${FF_LIST}: ${SRC_FILES}
#echo "Extract FF List for ${DESIGN_NAME}"
.PHONY: get_ff_list
get_ff_list: ${FF_LIST}
#echo "Get FF list for ${DESIGN_NAME} from ${FF_LIST}"
And the simplified design specific Makefile looks something like this:
include ../targets.mk
DESIGN_NAME = design1
FF_LIST = ./misc/ff_list.csv
With this implementation, I have the problem now, when calling the target get_ff_list within the design1 directory, that the recipe for the get_ff_list target is executed but the prerequisites are not, although the echo prints the right file.
user:/tmp/make_test/design1$ make get_ff_list
Get FF list for design1 from ./misc/ff_list.csv
It seems like that the target ${FF_LIST} is not expanded correctly. I can understand that during the time I am including the targets.mk Makefile this variable does not exist. However, my understanding of Makefile's recursive variable declaration with = should expand the variable every time the variable is used (as it is done and seems to work within the recipe itself).
I could include the targets.mk Makefile at the end after the configuration/setting the variables, like:
DESIGN_NAME = design1
FF_LIST = ./misc/ff_list.csv
include ../targets.mk
This seems to work and solve this particular issue. However, when I also want to extend or override variables/targets from the general Makefile, then it becomes a bit less obvious where to include it. Especially, if I am not the only one using the framework and other users create there own new designs.
Maybe this is even not a good way to use Makefiles to begin with. I would also be happy to get suggestions of better ways to implement this.

Answer 1

However, my understanding of Makefile's recursive variable declaration with = should expand the variable every time the variable is used (as it is done and seems to work within the recipe itself).
No. Read the section of the manual on How make Reads a Makefile to understand when variables are expanded immediately, and when the expansion is deferred.
The simplest way to do what you want is for the include targets.mk to come at the end of the Makefile, not at the beginning. If that's not feasible then you'll have to split the main makefile into two parts, one that sets variables and is included first, and the other that defines rules and is included last.