Make: Can we have directories as a target in GNUmakefile - gcc

Question

I am working on GNUmake to create symlink to specific file by parsing whole directory which has a folder which needs to be linked.
Here is my makefile snippet.
TGT_LINK = /lan/test/workspace/build/tools
all_target: release_buid complete_test $(TGT_LINK)
$(TGT_LINK):
if [ ! -d $# ]; then mkdir -p $#; fi
cd $#; \
tar_ln=`\ls -d synopsystcl* | sed 's/synopsys//'`; \
sour_dir=`\ls -d synopsystcl*`; \
if ! [ -e $tar_ln ]; then \
ln -s $sour_dir $tar_ln; \
fi
Directory : /lan/test/workspace/build/tools Contains following content in it
polaris.so link.a dynamic.so kbuild.so README.txt license.txt synopsystcl5.5 build.json
Here i am trying to create symlink with name tcl5.5 pointing to synopsystcl5.5 with my above target $(TGT_LINK) code.
tcl5.5 -> synopsystcl5.5
After successful completion of two targets : release_buid complete_test , build is not proceeding to go for next target $(TGT_LINK) to create symlink. Could you please help whats wrong in code?

Answer 1

I would let make itself to check and recreate symlink as needed, i.e.:
TGT_LINK = /lan/test/workspace/build/tools
all_target: release_buid complete_test symlink
.PHONY: symlink
symlink: $(patsubst $(TGT_LINK)/tcl%, $(TGT_LINK)/synopsystcl%, $(wildcard $(TGT_LINK)/tcl*))
$(TGT_LINK)/synopsystcl%: $(TGT_LINK)/tcl%
set -e; \
cd $(#D); \
rm -f $(#F); \
ln -s $(<F) $(#F)
I would also consider reordering targets if there are dependencies indeed. One should never assume that dependency list is processed left to right; it will also lead to errors when parallel build (-j) is involved. If you have dependencies that something should happen before something else, it should be explicitly stated, e.g.:
all_target: symlink
symlink: complete_test
complete_test: release_buid