recursive clean in a Makefile - shell

Question

I'm trying to create a Makefile which can build/clean recursively when it's called. I have the build working, but I'm getting errors with the clean command.
My directory structure is something like:
main
|
+-- Makefile
|
+-- common
| |
| +-- gcas_debug
| | |
| | +-- Makefile
| + -- gcas_nvdata
| |
| +-- Makefile
+-- gcinit
+-- Makefile
When I call make in the main directory it goes through and builds everything as I desire, but when I call make clean it does with:
mike#mike-VirtualBox:~/iCOM/framework$ make clean
for d in common/gcas_debug common/gcas_nvdata; \
do \
make --directory=$f clean; \
done
make: the `-C' option requires a non-empty string argument
Usage: make [options] [target] ...
Options:
-b, -m Ignored for compatibility.
...
I don't understand why the clean command isn't working... Any suggestions?
Full (main) Makefile:
lib_gcas_debug := common/gcas_debug
lib_gcas_nvdata := common/gcas_nvdata
libraries := $(lib_gcas_debug) $(lib_gcas_nvdata)
DESTDIR=$(PWD)/output
bindir=
gc_init := gcinit
EXE := $(gc_init)/$(gc_init)
.PHONY: all $(gc_init) $(libraries)
all: $(gc_init)
$(gc_init) $(libraries):
$(MAKE) --directory=$#
$(gc_init): $(libraries)
install: $(gc_init)
install -d -m 0755 $(DESTDIR)$(bindir)
install -m 0755 $(EXE) $(DESTDIR)$(bindir)
clean:
for d in $(libraries); \
do \
$(MAKE) --directory=$$f clean; \
done
EDIT: If I swap the for d with for $d I get instead:
mike#mike-VirtualBox:~/iCOM/framework$ make clean
for in common/gcas_debug common/gcas_nvdata; \
do \
make --directory= clean; \
done
/bin/sh: -c: line 0: syntax error near unexpected token `common/gcas_debug'
/bin/sh: -c: line 0: `for in common/gcas_debug common/gcas_nvdata; \'
make: *** [clean] Error 1

Answer 1

This worked for me:
SUBDIRS := foo bar baz
.PHONY: subdirs $(SUBDIRS) clean all
subdirs: $(SUBDIRS)
$(SUBDIRS):
$(MAKE) -C $# $(MAKECMDGOALS)
clean: $(SUBDIRS)
rm -rf dist
dist: $(SUBDIRS) dist/.build_marker
dist/.build_marker:
mkdir -p dist
for d in $(SUBDIRS) ; do cp $$d/dist/* dist ; done
touch dist/.build_marker
I only need to use the for loop in the dist target to copy files. This allows make -j build parallelism, not to mention simpler-to-read Makefiles.

Answer 2

Read the for loop again:
for d in [...]; do make --directory=$f
Didn't you mean $d, as in
for d in [...]; do make --directory=$d
So, the Makefile should look:
for d in common/gcas_debug common/gcas_nvdata; \
do \
make --directory=$d clean; \
done