There are a couple of kind of similar issues but I could not fit any of the proposed concepts to my case.
Just to give a little bit of context: I have a set of Julia files which create plots as PDFs which are part of a make procedure to create scientific papers, something like:
plots = $(shell find $(PLOT_PATH)/*.jl | sed 's/\.jl/\.pdf/g')
$(PLOT_PATH)/%.pdf: $(PLOT_PATH)/%.jl $(JULIA_SYSIMAGE)
$(JL) --project $< -o $(PLOT_PATH)
$(DOCUMENT_FILENAME).pdf: FORCE $(plots) $(figures)
latexmk $(DOCUMENT_FILENAME).tex
In the current setup, each XYZ.jl file is creating a XYZ.pdf file and it works absolutely fine.
Now I am dealing with cases where it would be much easier to create multiple plots from single Julia files, so a script like this:
#!/usr/bin/env julia
using PGFPlotsX
...
...
pgfsave("whatever.pdf")
pgfsave("another.pdf")
pgfsave("yetanother.pdf")
so that one could do a grep pgfsave SCRIPT | awk... to figure out the targets. However, I could not figure out how to generate dynamic targets (plots) based on the contents of the dependency file (Julia script).
An MWE for my problem is the following: I have a couple of files (dependencies) which are generating a bunch of targets, which are defined inside those files (and can be access via awk/grep/sed/whatever). For now, let's say that these are simply *.txt files and each line is a target.
file: a.txt
foo
bar
baz
file: b.txt
naarf
fjoord
A very basic (non-working) manual Makefile to demonstrate the goal would be something like this (it does not work as it cannot figure out how to make foo etc. but it shows the pattern for *.txt which needs to be repeated):
file: Makefile
all_products := $(shell find *.txt | xargs cat)
final_product: $(all_products)
echo $< > $#
(foo bar baz): a.txt
touch $(shell cat $<)
(narf fjoord): b.txt
touch $(shell cat $<)
so in principle, I need something to "process" the dependency (*.txt) to create a list of the targets, like
$(shell cat $%): %.txt
echo $< > $#
but I cannot manage to get a reference to the dependency on the target side ($% does not work).
Any ideas? Maybe the whole approach is just a bad idea ;)
A combination of GNU make foreach, eval and call functions is probably what you need. With your example:
TXT := $(wildcard *.txt)
.PHONY: all
.DEFAULT_GOAL := all
define MY_MACRO
$(1)-targets := $$(shell cat $(1))
$$($(1)-targets): $(1)
echo $$< > $$#
all: $$($(1)-targets)
endef
$(foreach t,$(TXT),$(eval $(call MY_MACRO,$(t))))
(pay attention to the $$ in the macro definition, they are needed). And then:
$ make
make
echo a.txt > foo
echo a.txt > bar
echo a.txt > baz
echo b.txt > naarf
echo b.txt > fjoord
If you want the recipe to build all targets at once you'll need a recent enough GNU make version (4.3 or later) and its new rule with grouped targets (x y z&: w):
TXT := $(wildcard *.txt)
.PHONY: all
.DEFAULT_GOAL := all
define MY_MACRO
$(1)-targets := $$(shell cat $(1))
$$($(1)-targets)&: $(1)
touch $$($(1)-targets)
all: $$($(1)-targets)
endef
$(foreach t,$(TXT),$(eval $(call MY_MACRO,$(t))))
And then:
$ make
touch foo bar baz
touch naarf fjoord
Note that in this case we could also use a simpler and less GNU make-dependent solution. Just use empty dummy files as time stamps, for instance .a.txt.tag for a.txt, and a static pattern rule:
TXT := $(wildcard *.txt)
TAG := $(patsubst %,.%.tag,$(TXT))
.PHONY: all
all: $(TAG)
$(TAG): .%.tag: %
touch `cat $<` $#
I'm trying to take some source files, create some customised versions of those sources, then process those customised sources down to output files I can use. I'm using this make file. Note that this file is not fully complete, currently it only does the CSS* make, once that's working I will add the PHP* make which is similar:
# root sources
CSSSOURCES = $(wildcard *.scss)
PHPSOURCES = $(wildcard *.phtml)
# partials, creates a configed source
CSSMSOURCES = $(addprefix m.,$(CSSSOURCES:.scss=.m))
CSSDSOURCES = $(addprefix d.,$(CSSSOURCES:.scss=.d))
PHPMSOURCES = $(addprefix m.,$(PHPSOURCES:.phtml=.m))
PHPDSOURCES = $(addprefix d.,$(PHPSOURCES:.phtml=.d))
# targets
CSSMTARGETS = $(CSSMSOURCES:.m=.css)
CSSDTARGETS = $(CSSDSOURCES:.d=.css)
PHPMTARGETS = $(PHPMSOURCES:.m=.php)
PHPDTARGETS = $(PHPDSOURCES:.d=.php)
# ensure no clash with built in rules
.SUFFIXES: .m .d .scss .css .phtml .php
all: $(CSSMTARGETS)
%.m: %.scss
echo "%define MOBILE" | cat - $< >tmp
mv tmp $#
%.d: %.scss
echo "%define DESKTOP" | cat - $< >tmp
mv tmp $#
%.css: %.m %d
cat $< | mym1.pl >$#
rm $<
.PHONY: test
test:
#echo "sources - $(CSSSOURCES)"
#echo "msources - $(CSSMSOURCES)"
#echo "targets - $(CSSMTARGETS)"
Instead of creating the CSS targets I get this error:
make: *** No rule to make target 'm.page.css', needed by 'all'. Stop.
make operates on file names; if there is no file named m.page.m and no file named m.page.d - which is what m.page.css depends on in accordance with your declared dependencies - then Make will conclude that it needs to create these. If it does not have any rules (built-in or by way of a recipe) to create those, the error message you get tells you pretty much exactly that.
I'm guessing what you actually want is something like
m.%: %
echo "%define MOBILE" | cat - $< >$#
d.%: %
echo "%define DESKTOP" | cat - $< >$#
This tells make how to create m.whatever and d.whatever from whatever; so it now knows how to create m.x.phtml from x.phtml and d.y.scss from y.scss etc.
(Notice also how this avoids the separate mv of a static temporary file name, as discussed in comments.)
%.css: %.scss
mym1.pl <$< >$#
%.php: %.phtml
mym1.pl <$< >$#
This tells make how to create m.z.css from m.z.scss, d.w.php from d.w.phtml, etc. I'm guessing here that mym1.pl can handle both cases.
(Notice also the refactoring to avoid useless use of cat.)
This does away with the somewhat mysterious .m and .d suffixes so you probably have to refactor the variables at the top of your Makefile.
Instead of creating the CSS targets I get this error:
make: *** No rule to make target 'm.page.css', needed by 'all'. Stop.
Your makefile provides exactly one rule by which m.page.css could be built or updated:
%.css: %.m %d
cat $< | mym1.pl >$#
rm $<
In order for that rule to apply, however, both of the prerequisites, expressed as %.m and %d [sic] need to exist or be able to be built. There are problems with both.
The former in this case represents a file m.page.m. This apparently does not already exist, but you have a rule by which it could be built from m.page.scss. Except you don't have an m.page.scss or any rule to build one. The corresponding root source file is actually page.sccs.
The latter prerequisite, %d, would have an analogous problem, but it doesn't even get that far because you have omitted a period from the prerequisite name (should be %.d, not %d).
The rule quoted above is moreover bogus because it designates two prerequisites but only uses one. That's not inherently wrong, but it does not do anything useful to serve you here.
Replacing your current pattern rules with these should help:
m.%.m: %.scss
echo "%define MOBILE" | cat - $< >tmp
mv tmp $#
d.%.d: %.scss
echo "%define DESKTOP" | cat - $< >tmp
mv tmp $#
%.css: %.m
cat $< | mym1.pl >$#
rm $<
%.css: %.d
cat $< | mym1.pl >$#
rm $<
I would like make to copy files from the source directory into a target directory. And i would like to avoid copying unchanged files. Therefore, I am trying to utilize make function of checking for newer files with a %.:%. rule.
Now, in this instance, the source and target EXTENSION are the same. There are object files elsewhere but not for the graphical assets.
I use make to copy images.
TARGET := target
SOURCE := source
GRAPHICS := $(foreach dir,$(SOURCE), $(wildcard $(dir)/*.jpg ) $(wildcard $(dir)/**/*.jpg ) $(wildcard $(dir)/*.png ) $(wildcard $(dir)/**/*.png ) $(wildcard $(dir)/*.gif ) $(wildcard $(dir)/**/*.gif ) )
JPG = $(GRAPHICS:.jpg=.tmp)
PNG = $(GRAPHICS:.png=.tmp)
GIF = $(GRAPHICS:.gif=.tmp)
And then use the following rule to copy files into target directory:
%.tmp:%.jpg
find $< | cpio -p -d -v $(TARGET)
Questions
Is it possible to string replace the TARGET directory here
and thereby use the make newer capability?
I tried
JPG = $(GRAPHICS:$(TARGET).jpg=.tmp)
But that fails with No rule to make target. Is it only possible to compare source and object in the same directory?
Can one make a rule such that the source and object are the same extension?
%.jpg:%.jpg
The closest I can come up with is:
$(TARGET)%.jpg:%.jpg
but that never runs. Even after a clean.
Here is the solution.
This 'setup' remains the same.
TARGET := target
SOURCE := source GRAPHICS := $(foreach dir,$(SOURCE), $(wildcard $(dir)/*.jpg )
$(wildcard $(dir)/**/*.jpg ) $(wildcard $(dir)/*.png ) $(wildcard $(dir)/**/*.png )
$(wildcard $(dir)/*.gif ) $(wildcard $(dir)/**/*.gif ) )
Now add a prefix to ALL (space separated) values in the $GRAPHICS string
TARGET_GRAPHICS := $(addprefix $(TARGET)/, $(GRAPHICS) )
Note that patsubst aka -- TARGET_GRAPHICS := $(patsubst %, $(TARGET)/%, $(GRAPHICS) ) -- only worked for the first entry. Perhaps I was doing it incorrectly.
Provide a pattern match for each file type. Here do whatever you wish. In my case, copy the input into the target directory. cpio will make the needed directories. cp -p might also work as needed.
$(TARGET)/%.jpg : %.jpg
#echo "--- .jpg copying " $< " to " $# " into dir " $(<D)
#find $< | cpio -p -d -v $(TARGET)
$(TARGET)/%.png : %.png
#echo "--- .png copying " $< " to " $#
#find $< | cpio -p -d -v $(TARGET)
$(TARGET)/%.gif : %.gif
#echo "--- .gif Copying " $< " to " $#
#find $< | cpio -p -d -v $(TARGET)
So you want the copy of d1/d2/f.png into out/d1/d2/f.png to make use of make's dependency checking?
out/d1/d2/f.png: d1/d2/f.png
out/d1/d2/f.png:
cp $< $#
Adding a jpg file d3/g.jpg say,
out/d3/g.jpg: d3/g.jpg
out/d1/d2/f.png: d1/d2/f.png
out/d1/d2/f.png out/d3/g.jpg:
cp $< $#
We can express this more cleanly with a static pattern rule.
out/d3/g.jpg out/d1/d2/f.png: out/% %
cp $< $#
Nice. So adding your ${GRAPHICS} and fleshing things out a bit
outdir := out/
targets := $(addprefix ${outdir},${GRAPHICS})
.PHONY: all
all: ${targets} ; : $# Success
${targets}: ${outdir}%: %
echo $< | cpio -d -p ${outdir}
Parallel safe too, so make -j9 will exercise your 8 CPUs nicely.
How can I have the variable for $(MAKEFILE) be defined during target execution?
Basically I have a few make files in subdirectories that are named for a specific platform "Makefile.aix" and just Makefile in all other directories. I would like to set a variable for $(MAKEFILE) that gets defined in each subdirectory. Code would look something like this.
MAKEFILE = Makefile
SUBDIR = ./sub ./sub2
ifneq ($(wildcard Makefile),)
MAKEFILE = Makefile
else
MAKEFILE = Makefile.$(PLATFORM)
endif
all:;
#for i in $(SUBDIR);\
do (\
echo Making $$i ...;\
cd $$i;\
make -f $(MAKEFILE)\
); done
Is there just one Makefile.$(PLATFORM) in each subdirectory, or are there several, for different platforms?
In the first case, you could do something like this:
SUBDIR = ./sub ./sub2
define script
cd $(1); \
$(MAKE) -f Makefile*
endef
all:
$(foreach dir, $(SUBDIR), $(call script,$(dir)))
(The empty line inside the define is significant. It can be omitted, if you add a semicolon at the end of the line $(MAKE) ..., leading to one long command line, containing the commands for all directories, which will then be executed in one chunk.)
An alternative script would be (just a matter of personal preference which you like better):
define script
$(MAKE) -C $(1) -f $(notdir $(wildcard $(1)/Makefile*))
endef
If there are several Makefile.$(PLATFORM) files in a directory it becomes more difficult. I'll have to think about that one some more.
UPDATE: In response to your comment, something like this should work:
define script
$(MAKE) -C $(1) -f $(notdir $(wildcard $(1)/Makefile $(1)/Makefile.$(PLATFORM)))
endef
Following your logic, I'd propose update do () section with:
do (\
echo Making $$i ...;\
cd $$i;\
if [ -f Makefile.$(PLATFORM) ] \
then\
make -f Makefile.$(PLATFORM) \
else\
make -f Makefile\
fi\
); done
This is actually not a make style, but I can't suggest anything better without specific of your project
You can do most of this, including the loop over directories, using GNU make's built-in functions. Put the following in a central place, say $(TOP_DIR)/mk/subdir.mk:
makefile-for-dir = \
$(if $(wildcard $(1)/Makefile),Makefile,Makefile.$(PLATFORM))
make-recursive = \
$(foreach _d,$(1),$(MAKE) -C $(_d) -f $(call makefile-for-dir,$(_d)) && ) :
In each makefile that start recursive makes, use
include $(TOP_DIR)/mk/subdir.mk
SUBDIRS = dir1 dir2 dir3
.PHONY: all
all:
+#$(call make-recursive,$(SUBDIRS))
I want to create directories using makefile. My project directory is like this
+--Project
+--output
+--source
+Testfile.cpp
+Makefile
I want to put all the objects and output into the respective output folder. I want to create folder structure which would be like this after compiling.
+--Project
+--output
+--debug (or release)
+--objs
+Testfile.o
+Testfile (my executable file)
+--source
+Testfile.cpp
+Makefile
I tried with several options, but could not succeed. Please help me to make directories using make file. I'm posting my Makefile for your consideration.
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Input dirs, names, files
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
OUTPUT_ROOT := output/
TITLE_NAME := TestProj
ifdef DEBUG
TITLE_NAME += _DEBUG
else
ifdef RELEASE
TITLE_NAME += _RELEASE
endif
endif
# Include all the source files here with the directory tree
SOURCES := \
source/TestFile.cpp \
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# configs
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
ifdef DEBUG
OUT_DIR := $(OUTPUT_ROOT)debug
CC_FLAGS := -c -Wall
else
ifdef RELEASE
OUT_DIR := $(OUTPUT_ROOT)release
CC_FLAGS := -c -Wall
else
$(error no build type defined)
endif
endif
# Put objects in the output directory.
OUT_O_DIR := $(OUT_DIR)/objs
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# settings
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
OBJS = $(SOURCES:.cpp=.o)
DIRS = $(subst /,/,$(sort $(dir $(OBJS))))
DIR_TARGET = $(OUT_DIR)
OUTPUT_TARGET = $(OUT_DIR)/$(TITLE_NAME)
CC_FLAGS +=
LCF_FLAGS :=
LD_FLAGS :=
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# executables
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
MD := mkdir
RM := rm
CC := g++
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# rules
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
.PHONY: all clean title
all: title
clean:
$(RM) -rf $(OUT_DIR)
$(DIR_TARGET):
$(MD) -p $(DIRS)
.cpp.o:
#$(CC) -c $< -o $#
$(OBJS): $(OUT_O_DIR)/%.o: %.cpp
#$(CC) -c $< -o $#
title: $(DIR_TARGET) $(OBJS)
In my opinion, directories should not be considered targets of your makefile, either in technical or in design sense. You should create files and if a file creation needs a new directory then quietly create the directory within the rule for the relevant file.
If you're targeting a usual or "patterned" file, just use make's internal variable $(#D), that means "the directory the current target resides in" (cmp. with $# for the target). For example,
$(OUT_O_DIR)/%.o: %.cpp
#mkdir -p $(#D)
#$(CC) -c $< -o $#
title: $(OBJS)
Then, you're effectively doing the same: create directories for all $(OBJS), but you'll do it in a less complicated way.
The same policy (files are targets, directories never are) is used in various applications. For example, git revision control system doesn't store directories.
Note: If you're going to use it, it might be useful to introduce a convenience variable and utilize make's expansion rules.
dir_guard=#mkdir -p $(#D)
$(OUT_O_DIR)/%.o: %.cpp
$(dir_guard)
#$(CC) -c $< -o $#
$(OUT_O_DIR_DEBUG)/%.o: %.cpp
$(dir_guard)
#$(CC) -g -c $< -o $#
title: $(OBJS)
This would do it - assuming a Unix-like environment.
MKDIR_P = mkdir -p
.PHONY: directories
all: directories program
directories: ${OUT_DIR}
${OUT_DIR}:
${MKDIR_P} ${OUT_DIR}
This would have to be run in the top-level directory - or the definition of ${OUT_DIR} would have to be correct relative to where it is run. Of course, if you follow the edicts of Peter Miller's "Recursive Make Considered Harmful" paper, then you'll be running make in the top-level directory anyway.
I'm playing with this (RMCH) at the moment. It needed a bit of adaptation to the suite of software that I am using as a test ground. The suite has a dozen separate programs built with source spread across 15 directories, some of it shared. But with a bit of care, it can be done. OTOH, it might not be appropriate for a newbie.
As noted in the comments, listing the 'mkdir' command as the action for 'directories' is wrong. As also noted in the comments, there are other ways to fix the 'do not know how to make output/debug' error that results. One is to remove the dependency on the the 'directories' line. This works because 'mkdir -p' does not generate errors if all the directories it is asked to create already exist. The other is the mechanism shown, which will only attempt to create the directory if it does not exist. The 'as amended' version is what I had in mind last night - but both techniques work (and both have problems if output/debug exists but is a file rather than a directory).
Or, KISS.
DIRS=build build/bins
...
$(shell mkdir -p $(DIRS))
This will create all the directories after the Makefile is parsed.
make in, and off itself, handles directory targets just the same as file targets. So, it's easy to write rules like this:
outDir/someTarget: Makefile outDir
touch outDir/someTarget
outDir:
mkdir -p outDir
The only problem with that is, that the directories timestamp depends on what is done to the files inside. For the rules above, this leads to the following result:
$ make
mkdir -p outDir
touch outDir/someTarget
$ make
touch outDir/someTarget
$ make
touch outDir/someTarget
$ make
touch outDir/someTarget
This is most definitely not what you want. Whenever you touch the file, you also touch the directory. And since the file depends on the directory, the file consequently appears to be out of date, forcing it to be rebuilt.
However, you can easily break this loop by telling make to ignore the timestamp of the directory. This is done by declaring the directory as an order-only prerequsite:
# The pipe symbol tells make that the following prerequisites are order-only
# |
# v
outDir/someTarget: Makefile | outDir
touch outDir/someTarget
outDir:
mkdir -p outDir
This correctly yields:
$ make
mkdir -p outDir
touch outDir/someTarget
$ make
make: 'outDir/someTarget' is up to date.
TL;DR:
Write a rule to create the directory:
$(OUT_DIR):
mkdir -p $(OUT_DIR)
And have the targets for the stuff inside depend on the directory order-only:
$(OUT_DIR)/someTarget: ... | $(OUT_DIR)
All solutions including the accepted one have some issues as stated in their respective comments. The accepted answer by #jonathan-leffler is already quite good but does not take into effect that prerequisites are not necessarily to be built in order (during make -j for example). However simply moving the directories prerequisite from all to program provokes rebuilds on every run AFAICT.
The following solution does not have that problem and AFAICS works as intended.
MKDIR_P := mkdir -p
OUT_DIR := build
.PHONY: directories all clean
all: $(OUT_DIR)/program
directories: $(OUT_DIR)
$(OUT_DIR):
${MKDIR_P} $(OUT_DIR)
$(OUT_DIR)/program: | directories
touch $(OUT_DIR)/program
clean:
rm -rf $(OUT_DIR)
I've just come up with a fairly reasonable solution that lets you define the files to build and have directories be automatically created. First, define a variable ALL_TARGET_FILES that holds the file name of every file that your makefile will be build. Then use the following code:
define depend_on_dir
$(1): | $(dir $(1))
ifndef $(dir $(1))_DIRECTORY_RULE_IS_DEFINED
$(dir $(1)):
mkdir -p $$#
$(dir $(1))_DIRECTORY_RULE_IS_DEFINED := 1
endif
endef
$(foreach file,$(ALL_TARGET_FILES),$(eval $(call depend_on_dir,$(file))))
Here's how it works. I define a function depend_on_dir which takes a file name and generates a rule that makes the file depend on the directory that contains it and then defines a rule to create that directory if necessary. Then I use foreach to call this function on each file name and eval the result.
Note that you'll need a version of GNU make that supports eval, which I think is versions 3.81 and higher.
given that you're a newbie, I'd say don't try to do this yet. it's definitely possible, but will needlessly complicate your Makefile. stick to the simple ways until you're more comfortable with make.
that said, one way to build in a directory different from the source directory is VPATH; i prefer pattern rules
OS independence is critical for me, so mkdir -p is not an option. I created this series of functions that use eval to create directory targets with the prerequisite on the parent directory. This has the benefit that make -j 2 will work without issue since the dependencies are correctly determined.
# convenience function for getting parent directory, will eventually return ./
# $(call get_parent_dir,somewhere/on/earth/) -> somewhere/on/
get_parent_dir=$(dir $(patsubst %/,%,$1))
# function to create directory targets.
# All directories have order-only-prerequisites on their parent directories
# https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/html_node/Prerequisite-Types.html#Prerequisite-Types
TARGET_DIRS:=
define make_dirs_recursively
TARGET_DIRS+=$1
$1: | $(if $(subst ./,,$(call get_parent_dir,$1)),$(call get_parent_dir,$1))
mkdir $1
endef
# function to recursively get all directories
# $(call get_all_dirs,things/and/places/) -> things/ things/and/ things/and/places/
# $(call get_all_dirs,things/and/places) -> things/ things/and/
get_all_dirs=$(if $(subst ./,,$(dir $1)),$(call get_all_dirs,$(call get_parent_dir,$1)) $1)
# function to turn all targets into directories
# $(call get_all_target_dirs,obj/a.o obj/three/b.o) -> obj/ obj/three/
get_all_target_dirs=$(sort $(foreach target,$1,$(call get_all_dirs,$(dir $(target)))))
# create target dirs
create_dirs=$(foreach dirname,$(call get_all_target_dirs,$1),$(eval $(call make_dirs_recursively,$(dirname))))
TARGETS := w/h/a/t/e/v/e/r/things.dat w/h/a/t/things.dat
all: $(TARGETS)
# this must be placed after your .DEFAULT_GOAL, or you can manually state what it is
# https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/html_node/Special-Variables.html
$(call create_dirs,$(TARGETS))
# $(TARGET_DIRS) needs to be an order-only-prerequisite
w/h/a/t/e/v/e/r/things.dat: w/h/a/t/things.dat | $(TARGET_DIRS)
echo whatever happens > $#
w/h/a/t/things.dat: | $(TARGET_DIRS)
echo whatever happens > $#
For example, running the above will create:
$ make
mkdir w/
mkdir w/h/
mkdir w/h/a/
mkdir w/h/a/t/
mkdir w/h/a/t/e/
mkdir w/h/a/t/e/v/
mkdir w/h/a/t/e/v/e/
mkdir w/h/a/t/e/v/e/r/
echo whatever happens > w/h/a/t/things.dat
echo whatever happens > w/h/a/t/e/v/e/r/things.dat
See https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/managing-projects-with/0596006101/ch12.html
REQUIRED_DIRS = ...
_MKDIRS := $(shell for d in $(REQUIRED_DIRS); \
do \
[[ -d $$d ]] || mkdir -p $$d; \
done)
$(objects) : $(sources)
As I use Ubuntu, I also needed add this at the top of my Makefile:
SHELL := /bin/bash # Use bash syntax
I use the makefiles in windows environment and my simple solution is as follows,
Create a target makedir and add it as a prerequisites to where ever it is required.
# Default goal
all: gccversion makedir build finalize list sizeafter completed
The makedir target is (applicable only in windows environment)
makedir:
#IF NOT EXIST $(subst /,\,$(BUILD_DIR)) mkdir $(subst /,\,$(BUILD_DIR)) 2> NULL
#IF NOT EXIST $(subst /,\,$(OUTPUT_DIR)) mkdir $(subst /,\,$(OUTPUT_DIR)) 2> NULL
#IF NOT EXIST $(subst /,\,$(DEP_DIR)) mkdir $(subst /,\,$(DEP_DIR)) 2> NUL
#IF NOT EXIST $(subst /,\,$(OBJ_DIR)) mkdir $(subst /,\,$(OBJ_DIR)) 2> NUL
$(subst /,\,$(BUILD_DIR)) converts the directory separator / to \ and
mkdir $(subst /,\,$(BUILD_DIR)) 2> NUL redirects the error if any.
src_dir := src
obj_dir := obj
build_dir := build
dirs := $(src_dir) $(obj_dir) $(build_dir) # new variable
all: $(dirs) $(other_dependencies) # added dependency (*before* any others)
$(dirs): # rule which makes missing directories
mkdir $#
Won't clutter your terminal with "cannot create directory" error messages. If the directories exist, they don't need to be built.
Works like any other dependency, only requires one rule and one variable.