I have a project with this toy structure:
src:
obj1.cpp
obj2.cpp
obj:
(empty folder)
which I want to compile into a library using make. What I want to write in my makefile is something along the lines of:
mylib.a: obj1.o obj2.o
ar $# $^
And this works, however it leaves the folder messy, as it results in this structure:
obj1.o
obj2.o
mylib.a
src:
obj1.cpp
obj2.cpp
obj:
(empty folder)
What I would prefer is that the result of the call would be something like this:
mylib.a
src:
obj1.cpp
obj2.cpp
obj:
obj1.o
obj2.o
where both obj sources are compiled into .o objects in obj. I tried doing this in my makefile:
vpath %.o obj
mylib.a: obj1.o obj2.o
but this has the same result as above. So, I figures, well sure, the implicit rule for obj1.o doesn't know where to output, right? OK, so I added this rule:
%.o: %.cpp
g++ $^ -o obj/$#
to ensure that I am compiling into obj, however, now, the make command fails, and I understand why it fails. It fails because mylib finds obj1.o, as in it finds the rule for it, it executes the rule, but the rule does not result in the existence of obj1.o, but rather in the existence of obj/obj1.o, and so when mylib is composed, its rule says ar obj1.o obj2.o and it fails.
So, my question is: is there a simple and elegant way to avoid this problem?
One solution I see is to always have some file, empty if need be, named obj1.o in obj, but that seems ugly to me. Another would be to add
"obj/" to every object going to mylib.a, but that means duplicating code and is even uglier. So, what would be the best way to solve this?
vpath and VPATH are not intended for targets, they are for sources. Using them to tell make where the object files should go is not a good idea. The easiest solution is probably a pattern rule:
obj/%.o: src/%.c
<your compilation rule>
Based on this you can elaborate a bit:
SRCDIR := src
OBJDIR := obj
SRCS := $(wildcard $(SRCDIR)/*.c)
OBJS := $(patsubst $(SRCDIR)/%.c,$(OBJDIR)/%.o,$(SRCS))
mylib.a: $(OBJS)
<your library building recipe>
$(OBJDIR)/%.o: $(SRCDIR)/%.c
<your compilation recipe>
clean:
rm -f $(OBJS) mylib.a
And of course, in your recipes, do not hesitate to use the automatic variables and the variables you declared yourself like OBJS, for instance. Examples:
mylib.a: $(OBJS)
$(AR) $# $^
$(OBJDIR)/%.o: $(SRCDIR)/%.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $< -o $#
I have a Makefile that mixes Java and C++ with JNI and I would like to generate the JNI header automatically when needed.
Currently, I have the following:
$(OBJDIR)/org_some_package_%.cpp: $(INCDIR)/jni/org_some_package_%.h
$(OBJDIR)/%.o: $(SRCDIR)/%.cpp
#mkdir -p $(OBJDIR)
$(CC) -c -o $# $(CFLAGS) \
-I$(INCDIR) -I../build/include -I"$(JAVA_HOME)/include" -I"$(JAVA_HOME)/include/linux" \
-MD -MF $(patsubst %.o, %.d, $#) $<
.SECONDEXPANSION:
$(INCDIR)/jni/%.h: $(JAVA_TEST_BIN)/$$(subst _,/,%).class
#mkdir -p $(INCDIR)/jni
$(JAVAH) -d inc/jni -classpath TestJNI/bin/tests:$(JUNIT_JAR):$(HAMCREST_JAR) $(basename $(subst _,.,$(subst $(INCDIR)/jni/,,$#)))
The problem is that when a .o file is needed, the first rule is never applied:
$(OBJDIR)/org_some_package_%.cpp: $(INCDIR)/jni/org_some_package_%.h
If I replace this rule with a specific one (by replacing % by the name of a class), it works.
How can I make this generic rule work?
I don't want to do this:
$(OBJDIR)/%.o: $(SRCDIR)/%.cpp $(INCDIR)/jni/%.h
...because I may have .cpp files that do not correspond to JNI header.
You cannot create simple prerequisites using patterns. A pattern rule without any recipe doesn't define a prerequisite, it cancels a previously-existing pattern rule. The GNU make manual says:
You can cancel a built-in implicit rule by defining a pattern rule with the same target and prerequisites, but no recipe.
The only way to create a prerequisite is to make it explicit.
So, your $(INCDIR)/jni/a_b_c.h depend on $(JAVA_TEST_BIN)/a/b/c.class? You will have to use advanced make features. I assume that all *.class file under $(JAVA_TEST_BIN) correspond to a built header file. This (not tested) should do what you show in your question:
CLASSES := $(patsubst $(JAVA_TEST_BIN)/%.class,%,$(shell find $(JAVA_TEST_BIN) -type f -name '*.class'))
BUILT_HEADERS :=
# $(1): class
define BUILD_HEADER_rule
header := $$(INCDIR)/jni/$$(subst /,_,$(1)).h
$$(header): $$(JAVA_TEST_BIN)/$(1).class
BUILT_HEADERS += $$(header)
endef
$(foreach c,$(CLASSES),$(eval $(call BUILD_HEADER_rule,$(c))))
$(BUILT_HEADERS):
#mkdir -p $(dir $#)
$(JAVAH) -d inc/jni -classpath TestJNI/bin/tests:$(JUNIT_JAR):$(HAMCREST_JAR) $(basename $(subst _,.,$(subst $(INCDIR)/jni/,,$#)))
I have a question to this expression:
%.out: %.cpp Makefile
g++ $< -o $# -std=c++0x
What does it mean? I know, that it is defined target for *.o files but what does it mean %.cpp Makefile and $< and $#?
And:
What is differenece between:
all: $(patsubst %.cpp, %.o, $(wildcard *.cpp))
and:
all:
$(patsubst %.cpp, %.o, $(wildcard *.cpp))
The second doesn't works.
For the first part of your question:
%.out: %.cpp Makefile
g++ $< -o $# -std=c++0x
This is a pattern rule, and means: "for all files with a .cpp extension, compile (if needed) a corresponding .out file using the command g++ $< -o $# -std=c++0x
In this line, $< is the prerequisite (the .cpp file) , $# is the name of the target (the .out file). See here.
The rule also adds the makefile itself as a prerequisite, which means that all the files will be rebuild (even if they are already compiled) when you issue a make target command, if you make changes to the makefile.
For the second part of the question, your are mixing two things. A make rule is made of three parts:
target: dependencies
commands
The second one you show cannot work because there is no command. The line just produces a bunch of filenames, that your shell cannot understand.
The first one adds to the list of dependencies all the object files, whose names are deduced from all the .ccp files. But you are missing a command, so nothing should happen (unless you didn't give us the whole rule ?)
Edit: ouch, missed something, this rule actually should work fine, as make will evaluate all the prerequisite targets, thus call the pattern rule described above. I got confused by the fact that this structure is usually written like this:
targetname: $(OUTFILES)
#echo "- Done target $#"
with the variable defined above as:
OUTFILES = $(patsubst %.cpp, %.o, $(wildcard *.cpp))
or even as:
INFILES = $(wildcard *.cpp)
OUTFILES = $(patsubst %.cpp, %.o, $(INFILES))
I suggest you find a good make tutorial, or read the manual, you seem to have lots of concepts to learn...
I've ha makefile with following entries. Will the first rule depend on the secon rule ? So that it builds all the .o files from second files ?
all:$(PROG)
$(PROG): *.o
$(LD) -o $(PROG) -c $< $(LFLAGS)
%.o : %.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o $# -c $<
To be specific if i invoke 'make all' will it invoke the second rule if no *.o files were found ?
All other Variables have usual meaning .
No, that will not work. When you run your makefile for the first time, are there any .o files? No. So the expression *.o will expand to nothing.
Of course, your recipe for $(PROG) doesn't actually use any of the object files anyway, as written.
You can do something like this (although personally I prefer to simply list the files out by hand; it's not very common to create all new files so it's not much effort, and it's safer than just trying to grab every file in the directory):
SOURCES := $(wildcard *.c)
OBJECTS := $(SOURCES:%.c=%.o)
$(PROG): $(OBJECTS)
I'm having trouble with trying to use make to place object files in a separate subdirectory, probably a very basic technique. I have tried to use the information in this page:
http://www.gnu.org/software/hello/manual/make/Prerequisite-Types.html#Prerequisite-Types
I get the following output from make:
make: *** No rule to make target `ku.h', needed by `obj/kumain.o'. Stop.
However ku.h is a dependency not a target (although it's obviously #included within the c source files). When I don't try to use a subdirectory for object files (i.e. miss out the OBJDIR parts) it works fine. Why does make think ku.h is a target?
my makefile is this: (the style is after reading various sources of information)
.SUFFIXES:
.SUFFIXES: .c .o
CC=gcc
CPPFLAGS=-Wall
LDLIBS=-lhpdf
VPATH=%.c src
VPATH=%.h src
VPATH=%.o obj
OBJDIR=obj
objects= $(addprefix $(OBJDIR)/, kumain.o kudlx.o kusolvesk.o kugetpuz.o kuutils.o \
kurand.o kuASCboard.o kuPDFs.o kupuzstrings.o kugensud.o \
kushapes.o )
ku : $(objects)
$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) -o ku $(objects) $(LDLIBS)
$(objects) : ku.h kudefines.h kuglobals.h kufns.h | $(OBJDIR)
$(OBJDIR):
mkdir $(OBJDIR)
.PHONY: clean
clean :
rm $(objects)
Edit:
I applied the change to use the vpath directive. My version was a bad mixture of VPATH=xxx and vpath %.c xxx. However I now get another problem (which was the original problem before I added the wrong vpath). This is now the output:
gcc -o ku -lhpdf obj/kumain.o obj/kudlx.o obj/kusolvesk.o ..etc
gcc: obj/kumain.o: No such file or directory
gcc: obj/kudlx.o: No such file or directory
gcc: obj/kusolvesk.o: No such file or directory
gcc: obj/kugetpuz.o: No such file or directory
gcc: obj/kuutils.o: No such file or directory
gcc: obj/kurand.o: No such file or directory
gcc: obj/kuASCboard.o: No such file or directory
gcc: obj/kuPDFs.o: No such file or directory
gcc: obj/kupuzstrings.o: No such file or directory
gcc: obj/kugensud.o: No such file or directory
gcc: obj/kushapes.o: No such file or directory
make: *** [ku] Error 1
It appears that make is not applying the implicit rule for an object file although the manual says
"Implicit rules tell make how to use customary techniques so that you do not have to specify them in detail when you want to use them. For example, there is an implicit rule for C compilation. File names determine which implicit rules are run. For example, C compilation typically takes a .c file and makes a .o file. So make applies the implicit rule for C compilation when it sees this combination of file name endings." and also "The search through the directories specified in VPATH or with vpath also happens during consideration of implicit rules (see Using Implicit Rules)."
Again here "For example, when a file foo.o has no explicit rule, make considers implicit rules, such as the built-in rule to compile foo.c if that file exists. If such a file is lacking in the current directory, the appropriate directories are searched for it. If foo.c exists (or is mentioned in the makefile) in any of the directories, the implicit rule for C compilation is applied."
Any assistance in getting implicit rules to work for my makefile would be greatly appreciated.
Edit no 2:
Thanks to Jack Kelly I have made an explicit rule to compile the .c files since I couldn't get anywhere trying to use implicit rules. Also thanks to al_miro for the vpath info.
Here is the working makfile:
.SUFFIXES:
.SUFFIXES: .c .o
CC=gcc
CPPFLAGS=-Wall
LDLIBS=-lhpdf
OBJDIR=obj
vpath %.c src
vpath %.h src
objects = $(addprefix $(OBJDIR)/, kumain.o kudlx.o kusolvesk.o kugetpuz.o kuutils.o \
kurand.o kuASCboard.o kuPDFs.o kupuzstrings.o kugensud.o \
kushapes.o )
ku : $(objects)
$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) -o ku $(objects) $(LDLIBS)
$(OBJDIR) obj/%.o : %.c ku.h kudefines.h kuglobals.h kufns.h
$(CC) -c $(CPPFLAGS) $< -o $#
.PHONY : clean
clean :
rm $(objects)
Since you're using GNUmake, use a pattern rule for compiling object files:
$(OBJDIR)/%.o: %.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(CPPFLAGS) -c -o $# $<
This is the makefile that I use for most of my projects,
It permits putting source files, headers and inline files in subfolders, and subfolders of subfolders and so-forth, and will automatically generate a dependency file for each object This means that modification of headers and inline files will trigger recompilation of files which are dependent.
Source files are detected via shell find command, so there is no need to explicitly specify, just keep coding to your hearts content.
It will also copy all files from a 'resources' folder, into the bin folder when the project is compiled, which I find handy most of the time.
To provide credit where it is due, the auto-dependencies feature was based largely off Scott McPeak's page that can be found HERE, with some additional modifications / tweaks for my needs.
Example Makefile
#Compiler and Linker
CC := g++-mp-4.7
#The Target Binary Program
TARGET := program
#The Directories, Source, Includes, Objects, Binary and Resources
SRCDIR := src
INCDIR := inc
BUILDDIR := obj
TARGETDIR := bin
RESDIR := res
SRCEXT := cpp
DEPEXT := d
OBJEXT := o
#Flags, Libraries and Includes
CFLAGS := -fopenmp -Wall -O3 -g
LIB := -fopenmp -lm -larmadillo
INC := -I$(INCDIR) -I/usr/local/include
INCDEP := -I$(INCDIR)
#---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#DO NOT EDIT BELOW THIS LINE
#---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOURCES := $(shell find $(SRCDIR) -type f -name *.$(SRCEXT))
OBJECTS := $(patsubst $(SRCDIR)/%,$(BUILDDIR)/%,$(SOURCES:.$(SRCEXT)=.$(OBJEXT)))
#Defauilt Make
all: resources $(TARGET)
#Remake
remake: cleaner all
#Copy Resources from Resources Directory to Target Directory
resources: directories
#cp $(RESDIR)/* $(TARGETDIR)/
#Make the Directories
directories:
#mkdir -p $(TARGETDIR)
#mkdir -p $(BUILDDIR)
#Clean only Objecst
clean:
#$(RM) -rf $(BUILDDIR)
#Full Clean, Objects and Binaries
cleaner: clean
#$(RM) -rf $(TARGETDIR)
#Pull in dependency info for *existing* .o files
-include $(OBJECTS:.$(OBJEXT)=.$(DEPEXT))
#Link
$(TARGET): $(OBJECTS)
$(CC) -o $(TARGETDIR)/$(TARGET) $^ $(LIB)
#Compile
$(BUILDDIR)/%.$(OBJEXT): $(SRCDIR)/%.$(SRCEXT)
#mkdir -p $(dir $#)
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(INC) -c -o $# $<
#$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(INCDEP) -MM $(SRCDIR)/$*.$(SRCEXT) > $(BUILDDIR)/$*.$(DEPEXT)
#cp -f $(BUILDDIR)/$*.$(DEPEXT) $(BUILDDIR)/$*.$(DEPEXT).tmp
#sed -e 's|.*:|$(BUILDDIR)/$*.$(OBJEXT):|' < $(BUILDDIR)/$*.$(DEPEXT).tmp > $(BUILDDIR)/$*.$(DEPEXT)
#sed -e 's/.*://' -e 's/\\$$//' < $(BUILDDIR)/$*.$(DEPEXT).tmp | fmt -1 | sed -e 's/^ *//' -e 's/$$/:/' >> $(BUILDDIR)/$*.$(DEPEXT)
#rm -f $(BUILDDIR)/$*.$(DEPEXT).tmp
#Non-File Targets
.PHONY: all remake clean cleaner resources
The VPATH lines are wrong, they should be
vpath %.c src
vpath %.h src
i.e. not capital and without the = . As it is now, it doesn't find the .h file and thinks it is a target to be made.
In general, you either have to specify $(OBJDIR) on the left hand side of all the rules that place files in $(OBJDIR), or you can run make from $(OBJDIR).
VPATH is for sources, not for objects.
Take a look at these two links for more explanation, and a "clever" workaround.
http://mad-scientist.net/make/vpath.html
http://mad-scientist.net/make/multi-arch.html
Build from the output directory
Instead of building from the top-level directory, build from the output directory. You can access the source directories by setting the vpath. This option has the advantage that the built-in rules can be used.
build.sh
#!/bin/bash
mkdir -p obj
cp Makefile.template obj/Makefile
cd obj
make "$*"
Makefile
.SUFFIXES:
.SUFFIXES: .c .o
CC=gcc
CPPFLAGS=-Wall
LDLIBS=-lhpdf
VPATH=%.c ../src
VPATH=%.h ../src
objects=kumain.o kudlx.o kusolvesk.o kugetpuz.o kuutils.o \
kurand.o kuASCboard.o kuPDFs.o kupuzstrings.o kugensud.o \
kushapes.o
ku : $(objects)
$(objects) : ku.h kudefines.h kuglobals.h kufns.h
.PHONY: clean
clean :
rm $(objects)
The disadvantage is that error messages do not match the CWD. This can be solved by skipping build.sh and directly building from the obj directory.
Another advantage of this approach is that it's somewhat popular. cmake works in a similar fashion.
Create Rule based on output option
The following solution isn't nice in my opinion, as I really love the built-in rules. However, GNU make doesn't support something like vpath for output directories. And the built-in rules cannot match, as the % in %.o would match obj/foo of obj/foo.o, leaving make with a search in vpath %.c src/ for stuff like src/obj/foo.c, but not src/foo.c.
But this is as close to the built-in rules as you can get, and therefore to my best knowledge the nicest solution that's available.
$(OBJDIR)/%.o: %.c
$(COMPILE.c) $(OUTPUT_OPTION) $<
Explanation: $(COMPILE.c) $(OUTPUT_OPTION) $< actually is how .c.o is implemented, see http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/make.git/tree/default.c (and it's even mentioned in the manual)
Besides, if $(OBJDIR) would only ever contain auto-gererated files, you could create it on-the-fly with an order-only prerequisite, making the clean rule slightly simpler:
$(OBJDIR):
mkdir -p $(OBJDIR)
$(OBJDIR)/%.o: %.c | $(OBJDIR)
$(COMPILE.c) $(OUTPUT_OPTION) $<
.PHONY: clean
clean:
$(RM) -r $(OBJDIR)
This requires that the feature order-only is available, which you can check using $(filter order-only, $(.FETAURES)). I've checked on Kubuntu 14.04 GNU make 3.81 and OpenSUSE 13.1 GNU make 3.82. Both were built with order-only enabled, and am now left puzzled why Kubuntu 14.04 comes with an older version of GNU make than OpenSUSE 13.1. Anyways, gonna download make 4.1 now :)
For anyone that is working with a directory style like this:
project
> src
> pkgA
> pkgB
...
> bin
> pkgA
> pkgB
...
The following worked very well for me. I made this myself, using
the GNU make manual as my main reference; this, in particular, was extremely helpful for my last rule, which ended up being the most important one for me.
My Makefile:
PROG := sim
CC := g++
ODIR := bin
SDIR := src
MAIN_OBJ := main.o
MAIN := main.cpp
PKG_DIRS := $(shell ls $(SDIR))
CXXFLAGS = -std=c++11 -Wall $(addprefix -I$(SDIR)/,$(PKG_DIRS)) -I$(BOOST_ROOT)
FIND_SRC_FILES = $(wildcard $(SDIR)/$(pkg)/*.cpp)
SRC_FILES = $(foreach pkg,$(PKG_DIRS),$(FIND_SRC_FILES))
OBJ_FILES = $(patsubst $(SDIR)/%,$(ODIR)/%,\
$(patsubst %.cpp,%.o,$(filter-out $(SDIR)/main/$(MAIN),$(SRC_FILES))))
vpath %.h $(addprefix $(SDIR)/,$(PKG_DIRS))
vpath %.cpp $(addprefix $(SDIR)/,$(PKG_DIRS))
vpath $(MAIN) $(addprefix $(SDIR)/,main)
# main target
#$(PROG) : all
$(PROG) : $(MAIN) $(OBJ_FILES)
$(CC) $(CXXFLAGS) -o $(PROG) $(SDIR)/main/$(MAIN)
# debugging
all : ; $(info $$PKG_DIRS is [${PKG_DIRS}])#echo Hello world
%.o : %.cpp
$(CC) $(CXXFLAGS) -c $< -o $#
# This one right here, folks. This is the one.
$(OBJ_FILES) : $(ODIR)/%.o : $(SDIR)/%.h
$(CC) $(CXXFLAGS) -c $< -o $#
# for whatever reason, clean is not being called...
# any ideas why???
.PHONY: clean
clean :
#echo Build done! Cleaning object files...
#rm -r $(ODIR)/*/*.o
By using $(SDIR)/%.h as a prerequisite for $(ODIR)/%.o, this forced make to look in source-package directories for source code instead of looking in the same folder as the object file.
I hope this helps some people. Let me know if you see anything wrong with what I've provided.
BTW: As you may see from my last comment, clean is not being called and I am not sure why. Any ideas?
For all those working with implicit rules (and GNU MAKE). Here is a simple makefile which supports different directories:
#Start of the makefile
VPATH = ./src:./header:./objects
OUTPUT_OPTION = -o objects/$#
CXXFLAGS += -Wall -g -I./header
Target = $(notdir $(CURDIR)).exe
Objects := $(notdir $(patsubst %.cpp,%.o,$(wildcard src/*.cpp)))
all: $(Target)
$(Target): $(Objects)
$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) -o $(Target) $(addprefix objects/,$(Objects))
#Beware of -f. It skips any confirmation/errors (e.g. file does not exist)
.PHONY: clean
clean:
rm -f $(addprefix objects/,$(Objects)) $(Target)
Lets have a closer look (I will refer to the current Directory with curdir):
This line is used to get a list of the used .o files which are in curdir/src.
Objects := $(notdir $(patsubst %.cpp,%.o,$(wildcard src/*.cpp)))
#expands to "foo.o myfoo.o otherfoo.o"
Via variable the output is set to a different directory (curdir/objects).
OUTPUT_OPTION = -o objects/$#
#OUTPUT_OPTION will insert the -o flag into the implicit rules
To make sure the compiler finds the objects in the new objects folder, the path is added to the filename.
$(Target): $(Objects)
$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) -o $(Target) $(addprefix objects/,$(Objects))
# ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is meant as an example and there is definitly room for improvement.
For additional Information consult:
Make documetation. See chapter 10.2
Or:
Oracle: Programming Utilities Guide
You can specify the -o $# option to your compile command to force the output of the compile command to take on the name of the target. For example, if you have:
sources: cpp/class.cpp and cpp/driver.cpp
headers: headers/class.h
...and you want to place the object files in:
objects: obj/class.o obj/driver.o
...then you can compile cpp/class.cpp and cpp/driver.cpp separately into obj/class.o and obj/driver.o, and then link, with the following Makefile:
CC=c++
FLAGS=-std=gnu++11
INCS=-I./headers
SRC=./cpp
OBJ=./obj
EXE=./exe
${OBJ}/class.o: ${SRC}/class.cpp
${CC} ${FLAGS} ${INCS} -c $< -o $#
${OBJ}/driver.o: ${SRC}/driver.cpp ${SRC}/class.cpp
${CC} ${FLAGS} ${INCS} -c $< -o $#
driver: ${OBJ}/driver.o ${OBJ}/class.o
${CC} ${FLAGS} ${OBJ}/driver.o ${OBJ}/class.o -o ${EXE}/driver
None of these answers seemed simple enough - the crux of the problem is not having to rebuild:
makefile
OBJDIR=out
VPATH=$(OBJDIR)
# make will look in VPATH to see if the target needs to be rebuilt
test: moo
touch $(OBJDIR)/$#
example use
touch moo
# creates out/test
make test
# doesn't update out/test
make test
# will now update test
touch moo
make test