I got the following error:
make: *** No rule to make target cardemo.o, needed by cardemo.exe. Stop
Trying to make this makefile
#Makefile for djgpp
#ALLEG =-lalleg
CC =gcc
OBJECTS = cardemo.o
all: cardemo.exe
#executables
cardemo.exe:$(OBJECTS)
$(CC) $(OBJECTS) $(ALLEG) -o $#
clean:
del *.o
del cardemo.exe
This is my first time creating a makefile with the help of Tutorials and Templates from Google just some days ago so excuse me if you find other mistakes thanks.
According to [GNU]: Catalogue of Built-In Rules:
Compiling C programs
n.o is made automatically from n.c with a recipe of the form $(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) -c.
Example:
cardemo.c:
int main()
{
return 0;
}
Makefile:
#Makefile for djgpp
#ALLEG = -lalleg
#CC = gcc
OBJECTS = cardemo.o
all: cardemo.exe
#executables
cardemo.exe: $(OBJECTS)
$(CC) $(OBJECTS) $(ALLEG) -o $#
clean:
del *.o
del cardemo.exe
Output:
(qaic-env) [cfati#cfati-5510-0:/mnt/e/Work/Dev/StackOverflow/q075071635]> ~/sopr.sh
### Set shorter prompt to better fit when pasted in StackOverflow (or other) pages ###
[064bit prompt]> ls
Makefile cardemo.c
[064bit prompt]> make
cc -c -o cardemo.o cardemo.c
cc cardemo.o -o cardemo.exe
[064bit prompt]> ls
Makefile cardemo.c cardemo.exe cardemo.o
Everything went fine, so the only logical conclusion one could draw is that you don't have a file called cardemo.c in the same directory.
If you modify OBJECTS related line (to OBJECTS = cardemo_notexist.o), you will get the same error.
To get past this, either:
Rename the source file from whatever name has now (could it be carddemo.c ?) to cardemo.c
Note: as #Mopower mentioned in a comment, original was Cardemo.c
Rename the object name so it has the source file stem name: OBJECTS = sourcefile_name.o
If renaming any of the 2 items above is not an option (or maybe cardemo.c is located in a different directory), add a compilation rule that will build cardemo.o from sourcefile_name.c:
cardemo.o: sourcefile_name.c
$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $# $<
The problem is that you have putted $(OBJECTS) in the dependencies spot, which means makefile will need to make that file first (if it doesn't exist), so you should add a rule to make objs from c file like this:
%.o: %.c
$(CC) -o $# -c $<
$# means the target name, $< means the first dependency (You can also use $^ here, $^ means all the dependencied).
I try to compile a project with generated object stored in a sub directory :
myproject:
|
src: .cpp, .cpp ...
|
release: .o, .o ...
Here's a part of Makefile:
SRC ?= src
OBJ_PATH = $(SRC)/Release
vpath %.o $(OBJ_PATH)
...
OBJS := $(addprefix $(OBJ_PATH)/,obj1.o obj2.o )
all: build
obj1.o: $(SRC)/Manager.cpp
$(EXEC) $(CC) $(INCLUDES) $(CCFLAGS) $(GNCD_FLGS) -c $(<) -o $(OBJ_PATH)/$# #-o $# -c $<
obj2.o: $(SRC)/Synth.cpp
$(EXEC) $(CC) $(INCLUDES) $(CCFLAGS) $(GNCD_FLGS) $(DEFS) -c $(<) -o $(OBJ_PATH)/$# #-o $# -c $<
myApp: obj1.o obj2.o
$(EXEC) $(CC) $(LDFLAGS) $(GNCD_FLGS) -o $# $(OBJS) $+ $(LIBS)
$(EXEC) mkdir -p $(OBJ_PATH)/$(TRGT_ARCH)/$(TRGT_OS)/$(BLD_TP)
$(EXEC) cp $# $(OBJ_PATH)/$(TRGT_ARCH)/$(TRGT_OS)/$(BLD_TP)
$(OBJECTS) : Stt.h
build: myApp
run: build
$(EXEC) ./myApp
..but i got an error link:
Could not open input file 'obj1.o'
Makefile:86: recipe for target 'myApp' failed
So it seems couldn't find object in src/Release dir;
any ideas ?
thank's
Your recipe for myApp use $+, which list the prerequisites. It expands in obj1.o obj2.o. But you build obj1.o and obj2.o in $(OBJ_PATH). So the linker try to find the objects in the root directory, but cannot find them, since they are in $(OBJ_PATH).
Since your recipe explicitely lists them (with $(OBJS)), you do not need the automatic variable.
Sidenote
According to Paul's Second rule of Makefiles, it is best that every rule updates a file corresponding exactly to the target name (including the path part) (in other words, always use $# in the recipe), in order to always know which is the exact file updated.
In your case, if you want to build the objects files in OBJ_PATH, you could use a rule of the form $(OBJ_PATH)/obj.o for each.
You could also replace the dependency of myApp by $(OBJS), and use the automatic variable (btw, is there a reason why you prefer $+ over $^ (does the same thing but do not conserv duplicates in the prerequisites list) ?).
The following example makefile works as expected, using vpath to find object files and source files. But in the last line, where i tell make about the dependency of one object file on the other, I need to specify the directory $(objd)/ of the prerequisite file, otherwise i get an error (see error message below the code). How come the vpath directive isn't sufficient in the last line?
# Program Name
prog = avpar
#dirs
objd=obj
modd=mod
# extra places to search for prerequisites
vpath %.f90 ../modules
vpath %.o obj/
# etc
FC = gfortran
flags = -I$(modd) -J$(modd) #-fopenmp
obj_files = $(prog).o rw_mod.o
# compile
p$(prog): $(obj_files)
$(FC) $(flags) $^ -o $#
$(objd)/%.o: %.f90
$(FC) $(flags) -c $< -o $#
$(objd)/$(prog).o: $(objd)/rw_mod.o
That is, changing the last line to:
$(objd)/$(prog).o: rw_mod.o
gives the error:
make: *** No rule to make target 'rw_mod.o', needed by 'obj/avpar.o'. Stop.
EDIT
with this form of the last lines it does also work, without the directory specification:
#compile
p$(prog): $(obj_files)
$(FC) $(flags) $^ -o $#
$(objd)/rw_mod.o: rw_mod.f90
$(FC) $(flags) -c $< -o $#
$(objd)/$(prog).o: $(prog).f90 rw_mod.o
$(FC) $(flags) -c $< -o $#
vpath can only be used to find prerequisites that exist.
Makefiles rule 3
Use VPATH to locate the sources from the objects directory, not to locate the objects from the sources directory.
There's no rule that matches rw_mod.o so the rule for obj/avpar.o fails, vpath won't prepend stuff during prerequisite rule lookup, the only way it would work here would be if obj/rw_mod.o already existed.
It's unlikely that rule is correct anyway, why would one object file depend on another?
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
** Question edited **
Here's a typical Makefile template :
TARGET = my_prog # project name
CC = gcc -o
CFLAGS = -Wall
SOURCES := $(wildcard *.c)
INCLUDES := $(wildcard *.h)
OBJECTS := $(SOURCES:.c=*.o)
rm = rm -f
$(TARGET): $(OBJECTS)
#$(CC) $(TARGET) $(CFLAGS) $(SOURCES)
#echo "Compilation complete!"
clean:
#$(rm) $(TARGET) $(OBJECTS)
#echo "Cleanup complete!"
Question : why is the line 11 (#S(CC) $(TARGET) ...) still echoing when calling make ?
Answer : Because the problem is in the default rule and line 11 is fine.
** UPDATE **
I now have this Makefile
# project name
TARGET = my_prog
CC = gcc -c
CFLAGS = -Wall -I.
LINKER = gcc -o
LFLAGS = -Wall
SOURCES := $(wildcard *.c)
INCLUDES := $(wildcard *.h)
OBJECTS := $(SOURCES:.c=*.o)
rm = rm -f
$(TARGET): $(OBJECTS)
$(LINKER) $(TARGET) $(LFLAGS) $(OBJECTS)
$(OBJECTS): $(SOURCES) $(INCLUDES)
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(SOURCES)
clean:
$(rm) $(TARGET) $(OBJECTS)
Question : Why is $(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(SOURCES) being executed n times, where n is the number of source files ?
** UPDATE 2 **
Would this be a good way to solve this (seems to work...) ?
$(TARGET): obj
$(LINKER) $(TARGET) $(LFLAGS) $(OBJECTS)
obj: $(SOURCES) $(INCLUDES)
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(SOURCES)
The command $(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(SOURCES) is executed n times, because the rule is executed n times, because there are n objects to be built, because the $(TARGET) rule has that many objects as prerequisites. If you want the command to be run only once, replace all those prerequisites with a single PHONY prerequisite, whose rule executes the command.
But there's no reason to do it that way. You can just make the command more selective, so that it builds only the one object that was the actual target. That way Make doesn't waste time rebuilding the same objects over and over, and if one or two source files have been changed, Make will rebuild only the relevant objects, not all of them:
$(OBJECTS): %.o : %.c $(INCLUDES)
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $<
This rule is conservative-- it assumes that every object depends on every header, so it will sometimes rebuild things unnecessarily. You can make it better, either by hand if you know the real dependencies or automatically with a more advanced technique.
EDIT:
Your "update 2" is a decent solution, but I would suggest you add the line
.PHONY: obj
to tell Make that there will be no file called "obj". Otherwise Make will run the obj rule every time, trying to build that file.
This still has the problem that if you change one source file, e.g. foo.c, Make will rebuild all the objects.
The $< I used above is an automatic variable. It means "the first prerequisite". So when Make tries to build foo.o, it will evaluate to foo.c.
EDIT:
Jack Kelly (curse him!) has pointed out that I am wrong about how PHONY targets work: the obj rule will always run, and so will the TARGET rule, whether any source files have changed or not. So the "update 2" method is effective, but crude.
I think the output is coming from generating the .o files, not geverating my_prog
Looks like you don't have a rule for creating the .o files, so make is using the default one.
Try putting this:
#echo "starting compilation"
on the line before your line 11 build command
And you can see that "starting compilation" is output after the gcc line.
Perhaps line 10 should read:
$(TARGET): $(SOURCES)
?