I'm relatively new to (GNU) Make, and find it incedibly difficult. I consider switching to SCons, but still, I'd like to understand.
I have a makefile in a folder, that contains subdirectories ./src, ./obj/[release|debug] and ./bin[release|debug]. The makefile should be able to grab the C++ sources in ./src, compile them into object files in the appropriate ./obj directory, and link these object files and put the result in the appropriate ./bin directory. Here is my makefile (edited for simplicity):
CONFIG = release
#CONFIG = debug
OBJS = Container.o
OBJDIR = obj/$(CONFIG)
BINDIR = bin/$(CONFIG)
VPATH = src $(BINDIR)
vpath %.o $(OBJDIR)
.PHONY: release
release: $(OBJS)
$(CXX) $(LXXFLAGS) -o $(BINDIR)/$# $^
Container.o: Container.cpp Container.hpp
$(CXX) -c $(CXXFLAGS) -o $(OBJDIR)/$# $<
The first time I run make, the "release" target will search for "Container.o" in the current folder, as well as in $(OBJDIR). Failing to find it, the secong target will be correctly executed, generating the object file in the correct folder. The "release" target will then execute, but the linker will complain that "Container.o" is not found...
The second time I run make, the "release" target will search for "Container.o" and find it in $(OBJDIR). The linker will then execute correctly (the path where "Container.o" has been found is prepended to the filename).
Is there a way to make it work in a single pass? It drives me crazy!
Make does have a long learning curve, and you're attempting something tricky (and which runs right into one of Make's big weaknesses, poor wildcard handling). I'm not sure that my answer will help more than confuse, but at least it will solve your specific problem.
If you want to use the CONFIG approach, this will do it:
CONFIG = release
#CONFIG = debug
OBJS = Container.o
TRUE_OBJS = $(addprefix obj/$(CONFIG)/, $(OBJS))
vpath %.cpp src
.PHONY: $(CONFIG)
$(CONFIG): bin/$(CONFIG)/$(CONFIG)
bin/$(CONFIG)/$(CONFIG): $(TRUE_OBJS)
$(CXX) $(LXXFLAGS) -o $# $^
$(TRUE_OBJS): obj/$(CONFIG)/%.o : %.cpp
$(CXX) -c $(CXXFLAGS) -o $# $<
But you can do without it (and without the chore of editing the makefile whenever you want to change configurations):
OBJS = Container.o
vpath %.cpp src
.PHONY: release debug
release: bin/release/release
debug: bin/debug/debug
bin/release/release: $(addprefix obj/release/, $(OBJS))
bin/debug/debug: $(addprefix obj/debug/, $(OBJS))
bin/release/release bin/debug/debug:
$(CXX) $(LXXFLAGS) -o $# $^
obj/release/%.o obj/debug/%.o: %.cpp
$(CXX) -c $(CXXFLAGS) -o $# $<
Related
I'm trying to create a makefile for a very basic c++ program. I'm trying to implement the automatic generation of dependencies by running g++ with the -M flag, storing this output in a .d file, and then including those .d files in my main makefile. The makefile content is below
CC=g++
CPPFLAGS=-Wall -Wextra -g -std=c++11
SOURCEDIR=src
SOURCES = $(wildcard $(SOURCEDIR)/*.cpp)
BUILDDIR=build
OBJDIR=$(BUILDDIR)/objs
OBJS=$(SOURCES:$(SOURCEDIR)/%.cpp=$(OBJDIR)/%.o)
DEP_FILES = $(OBJS:.o=.d)
OUTFILE=hello.out
$(OUTFILE) : $(OBJS)
$(CC) -o $# $^ $(CPPFLAGS)
include $(DEP_FILES)
$(OBJDIR)/%.d : $(SOURCEDIR)/%.cpp
$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) $< -MM -MT $(#:.d=.o) > $#
$(DEP_FILES) : | $(OBJDIR)
$(OBJS): | $(OBJDIR)
$(OBJDIR):
mkdir -p $(OBJDIR)
.PHONY: clean
clean:
rm -f $(BUILDDIR) -r
rm -f *~
rm -f $(OUTFILE)
When I run make, the directory build/objs/ is generated and a .d file is generated with rules in it. Here's main.d file:
build/objs/main.o: src/main.cpp src/main.h
And here's the myfunc.d file:
build/objs/myfunc.o: src/myfunc.cpp src/main.h
Here's the issue
Since I'm calling include on these .d files, I'd expect the .o files which they specify to then be created, and then the main outfile to be created as the main rule. However, make creates the .d files, and then skips directly to the main compilation step without creating any .o files:
g++ -o hello.out build/objs/myfunc.o build/objs/main.o -Wall -Wextra -g -std=c++11
This fails with the following error, since the .o files are never created:
g++: error: build/objs/myfunc.o: No such file or directory
g++: error: build/objs/main.o: No such file or directory
g++: fatal error: no input files
How can I use this makefile to generate the .o files necessary for g++? Thank you for any help in advance!
I saw you got your makefile working but I just wanted to add a few things you might want to consider for future projects. I recommend using the vpath variable rather than specifying $(OBJDIR)/%.o in your makefile recipes. I actually read somewhere that it's not "cannon" to build object files in a separate directory, but in the cursory search I conducted before posting, I couldn't find the document.
That being said, I wrote a makefile that does what you wanted; it builds the output folder, generates the dependencies, and compiles the program. I specifically included the $(COMPILE.cpp) definition so you could see what it's composed of. $(CC) is specifically the C compiler, and $(CFLAGS) is specifically flags for the C compiler. They're just variables, obviously, so you can change them like you did and it will work fine, but the main think to keep in mind is that whoever uses your programs will expect to be able to configure the compilation as they see fit. This means they will set the $(CXX) and $(CXXFLAGS) expecting to set the C++ compiler and flags. $(CPPFLAGS) stands for C/C++ Preprocessor flags.
It's not the cleanest makefile, and if I was to change something, I would just compile the object files in place and save myself that headache. That cuts down on unnecessary make hacking, but for the purposes of answering your question, here it is. Anyways I hope this helps you somewhat, let me know if you have any questions.
Oh yea, I almost forgot; notice I changed your make clean script. I used $(RM) instead of simply rm -f. When you use utilities in your makefiles, you want to use them as variables. Again, this is to allow your users as much freedom and flexibility as possible when they're compiling your program.
vpath %.cpp src
vpath %.hpp include
vpath %.o build/objs
vpath %.d build/objs
.SUFFIXES:
.SUFFIXES: .cpp .hpp .o .d
SRCDIR = src
INCLUDESDIR = include
BUILDDIR = build
OBJDIR = $(BUILDDIR)/objs
SRCS = $(wildcard $(SRCDIR)/*.cpp)
OBJS = $(patsubst %.cpp, %.o, $(notdir $(SRCS)))
DEP_FILES = $(patsubst %.o, %.d, $(OBJS))
INCLUDE_DIRS = -I $(INCLUDESDIR)
CXX = g++
CPPFLAGS =
CXXFLAGS = -Wall -Wextra -g -std=c++11
PROGRAM = hello.out
COMPILE.cpp = $(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) $(CPPFLAGS) $(INCLUDE_DIRS) $(TARGET_ARCH)
all: $(PROGRAM)
$(PROGRAM): %: $(OBJS)
$(LINK.cpp) $(INCLUDE_DIRS) $(addprefix $(OBJDIR)/, $^) $(LOADLIBES) $(LDLIBS) -o $#
%.o: %.cpp
$(COMPILE.cpp) -c -o $(OBJDIR)/$# $<
%.d: %.cpp
mkdir -p $(OBJDIR)
$(COMPILE.cpp) $^ -MM -MT $(addprefix $(OBJDIR)/, $(#:.d=.o)) > $(OBJDIR)/$#
include $(DEP_FILES)
.PHONY: clean
clean:
#echo $(RM)
$(RM) $(BUILDDIR) -r
$(RM) *~
$(RM) $(PROGRAM)
For anyone having a similar issue, here's the correct solution is in the comments. Here for convenience: The included .d files generate dependencies but not a recipe for making the .o files, and since I'm putting things in various directories the default rule doesn't work here, so the .o files aren't created. The solution was to add in the following rule to my main makefile.
$(OBJDIR)/%.o :
$(CC) -c -o $# $< $(CPPFLAGS)
Thanks Matt and Renaud for your answers!
SEE UPDATES BELOW
Research Done: I'm finding learning how to evolve Makefiles from one situation to another is difficult. There are a ton of questions and answers out there but few of them actually show how a Makefile can evolve as your project changes. They also all seem to use various different techniques and idioms of Makefiles so translating between one question and another can be tricky when you are learning Makefiles for the first time, as I am.
Problem: My problem is that I have a project that started at as a flat directory structure but then is migrating to a structure with sub-directories. What I can't do is get my Makefile to along for the ride.
First I'll show what I created that works and then I show how I want it to evolve and how that doesn't work.
Flat Directory Structure, Working Makefile
I have project directory that has all my C files and one header file plus my Makefile:
project
Makefile
c8_asm.c
c8_dasm.c
c8_terp.c
chip8.h
Here is my Makefile (which works just fine):
CC = gcc
CFLAGS += -c -Wall -std=c99
CFLAGS += -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200809L
LDLIBS += -lm
# Targets
all: c8_dasm c8_asm c8_terp
c8_dasm: c8_dasm.o
$(CC) $(LDLIBS) c8_dasm.o -o $#
c8_asm: c8_asm.o
$(CC) $(LDLIBS) c8_asm.o -o $#
c8_terp: c8_terp.o
$(CC) $(LDLIBS) c8_terp.o -o $#
# Using implicit rules for updating an '.o' file from a correspondingly
# named '.c' file.
c8_dasm.o: chip8.h
c8_asm.o: chip8.h
c8_terp.o: chip8.h
.PHONY: clean
clean:
rm c8_dasm c8_asm c8_terp c8_dasm.o c8_asm.o c8_terp.o
I get all my .o files and my executables are created in the project directory.
Evolving The Project
But what I wanted to do is have my sources files (all .c and .h) in a src directory. I wanted to build into an obj directory and have the executables go in a bin directory. So my project would look like this:
project
src
c8_asm.c
c8_dasm.c
c8_terp.c
chip8.h
Makefile
Sub-Directory Structure, Makefile NOT Working
To accommodate the above, I changed my Makefile accordingly:
CC = gcc
CFLAGS += -c -Wall -std=c99
CFLAGS += -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200809L
LDLIBS += -lm
SRC_DIR = src
OBJ_DIR = obj
BIN_DIR = bin
SOURCES := $(wildcard $(SRC_DIR)/*.c)
OBJECTS := $(SOURCES:$(SRC_DIR)/%.c=$(OBJ_DIR)/%.o)
MKDIR_P ?= mkdir -p
# Targets
all: $(BIN_DIR)/c8_dasm $(BIN_DIR)/c8_asm $(BIN_DIR)/c8_terp
$(BIN_DIR)/c8_dasm: $(OBJ_DIR)/c8_dasm.o
$(CC) $(LDLIBS) $(OBJ_DIR)/c8_dasm.o -o $#
$(BIN_DIR)/c8_asm: $(OBJ_DIR)/c8_asm.o
$(CC) $(LDLIBS) $(OBJ_DIR)/c8_asm.o -o $#
$(BIN_DIR)/c8_terp: $(OBJ_DIR)/c8_terp.o
$(MKDIR_P) $(dir $#)
$(CC) $(LDLIBS) $(OBJ_DIR)/c8_terp.o -o $#
$(OBJECTS): $(OBJ_DIR)/%.o : $(SRC_DIR)/%.c
$(MKDIR_P) $(dir $#)
$(CC) $< -o $(OBJ_DIR)/$#
# Using implicit rules for updating an '.o' file from a correspondingly
# named '.c' file.
$(OBJ_DIR)/c8_dasm.o: $(SRC_DIR)/chip8.h
$(OBJ_DIR)/c8_asm.o: $(SRC_DIR)/chip8.h
$(OBJ_DIR)/c8_terp.o: $(SRC_DIR)/chip8.h
.PHONY: clean
clean:
rm -r $(BUILD_DIR)
rm $(OBJECTS)
Upon running this I get the following:
mkdir -p obj/obj/
gcc src/c8_dasm.c -o obj/c8_dasm.o
gcc -lm obj/c8_dasm.o -o bin/c8_dasm
ld: can't link with a main executable file 'obj/c8_dasm.o' for architecture x86_64
clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)
make: *** [bin/c8_dasm] Error 1
I wanted to stop here and get some assistance because I fear I'm making this Makefile for complicated than it need be and I'm trying to avoid getting into bad habits.
I'm hoping to hear opinions about what I'm not conceptualizing correctly here.
FIRST UPDATE
I managed to take it bit by bit and get it mostly working. Here is what I ended up with:
CC = gcc
CFLAGS += -c -Wall -std=c99
CFLAGS += -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200809L
LDLIBS += -lm
# Directories.
SRC_DIR = src
BIN_DIR = bin
$(shell mkdir -p $(BIN_DIR))
# Patterns for files.
SOURCES := $(wildcard $(SRC_DIR)/*.c)
OBJECTS := $(SOURCES:$(SRC_DIR)/%.c=$(SRC_DIR)/%.o)
EXECUTABLES := c8_dasm c8_asm c8_terp
# Targets
all: $(EXECUTABLES)
c8_dasm: $(SRC_DIR)/c8_dasm.o
$(CC) $^ $(LDLIBS) -o $(BIN_DIR)/$#
#echo "C8 Disassembler Built"
c8_asm: $(SRC_DIR)/c8_asm.o
$(CC) $^ $(LDLIBS) -o $(BIN_DIR)/$#
#echo "C8 Assembler Built"
c8_terp: $(SRC_DIR)/c8_terp.o
$(CC) $^ $(LDLIBS) -o $(BIN_DIR)/$#
#echo "C8 Interpreter Built"
# Using implicit rules for updating an '.o' file from a correspondingly
# named '.c' file.
c8_dasm.o: $(SRC_DIR)/chip8.h
c8_asm.o: $(SRC_DIR)/chip8.h
c8_terp.o: $(SRC_DIR)/chip8.h
.PHONY: clean
clean:
rm $(OBJECTS)
rm -r $(BIN_DIR)
Of course, as I'm finding with Make this leads to other obscure problems. For example doing this:
make
make clean
works fine. Meaning all files are generated and the files are cleaned, including the bin directory.
However, if I do this:
make c8_dasm
make clean
This builds fine. But the clean fails to delete the bin directory (although it does delete the object files). This happens regardless of what individual executable I try to build.
No amount of searching is helping me find out why that is.
SECOND UPDATE
I found that problem was solved as well. It just required using the "-f" for the rm statements in the clean target.
THIRD UPDATE
To get the object file directory part working, I tried (from this: path include and src directory makefile) to construct my Makefile as follows:
CC = gcc
CFLAGS += -c -Wall -std=c99
CFLAGS += -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200809L
LDLIBS += -lm
SRC_DIR = src
OBJ_DIR = obj
BIN_DIR = bin
$(shell mkdir -p $(BIN_DIR))
$(shell mkdir -p $(OBJ_DIR))
SOURCES := $(wildcard $(SRC_DIR)/*.c)
OBJECTS := $(SOURCES:$(SRC_DIR)/%.c=$(OBJ_DIR)/%.o)
EXECUTABLES := c8_dasm c8_asm c8_terp
all: $(EXECUTABLES)
c8_dasm: $(SRC_DIR)/c8_dasm.o
$(CC) $^ $(LDLIBS) -o $(BIN_DIR)/$#
#echo "C8 Disassembler Built"
c8_asm: $(SRC_DIR)/c8_asm.o
$(CC) $^ $(LDLIBS) -o $(BIN_DIR)/$#
#echo "C8 Assembler Built"
c8_terp: $(SRC_DIR)/c8_terp.o
$(CC) $^ $(LDLIBS) -o $(BIN_DIR)/$#
#echo "C8 Interpreter Built"
$(OBJ_DIR)/%.o: $(SRC_DIR)/%.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $< -o $(BIN_DIR)/$#
.PHONY: clean
clean:
rm -rf $(BIN_DIR)
rm -f $(OBJECTS)
I was able to condense the original three lines using chip8.h into one target but I have no way to know if that's correct. It compiles at least. I also changed the OBJECTS line to reflect the new OBJ_DIR I created.
However, this doesn't put the object files in the right place. It still puts them in the src directory rather than the obj directory.
This is why it makes sense to not do anything complicated with Makefiles. Just put the actual directory names in your commands. Never rely on wildcards.
People using C and C++ and using Makefiles spend too much time trying to get those to work rather than just actually getting things done. That's why you see so many of the questions that you see and why the answers vary so much.
In your specific case, your targets don't always have to contain the directory and that's part of the problem. The rules getting generated don't have an actual target in your file because of the directories you are prepending to everything. You have to think in terms of what is getting generated by each target: meaning, the output. So if c8_dasm is getting output, that's your target. The directory has nothing to do with that. So you need to remove all of your directory substitutions where they aren't needed.
But before doing that, ask yourself this: if your first solution was working, why change it? It's better to not even do directories when you're using Make. Just have everything in the same directory as you started off with. You can even see that this allows your Makefile to be much cleaner.
I believe I may have figured this out. Below is my Makefile. It seems to do what I want. It does the following:
Compiles all object files into the obj directory.
Compiles and links so that executables are generated in the bin directory.
Recognizes if any .c files are changed and recompiles accordingly.
Recognizes if the .h file is changed and recompiles all C files that reference it.
This seems to satisfy all the criteria but I can't tell if I've painted myself into some corner that I can't see yet.
CC = gcc
CFLAGS += -c -Wall -std=c99
CFLAGS += -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200809L
LDLIBS += -lm
SRC_DIR = src
OBJ_DIR = obj
BIN_DIR = bin
$(shell mkdir -p $(BIN_DIR))
$(shell mkdir -p $(OBJ_DIR))
SOURCES := $(wildcard $(SRC_DIR)/*.c)
OBJECTS := $(SOURCES:$(SRC_DIR)/%.c=$(OBJ_DIR)/%.o)
EXECUTABLES := c8_dasm c8_asm c8_terp
all: $(EXECUTABLES)
c8_dasm: $(OBJ_DIR)/c8_dasm.o
$(CC) $^ $(LDLIBS) -o $(BIN_DIR)/$#
#echo "C8 Disassembler Built"
c8_asm: $(OBJ_DIR)/c8_asm.o
$(CC) $^ $(LDLIBS) -o $(BIN_DIR)/$#
#echo "C8 Assembler Built"
c8_terp: $(OBJ_DIR)/c8_terp.o
$(CC) $^ $(LDLIBS) -o $(BIN_DIR)/$#
#echo "C8 Interpreter Built"
$(OBJ_DIR)/%.o: $(SRC_DIR)/%.c $(SRC_DIR)/chip8.h
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $< -o $#
.PHONY: clean
clean:
rm -rf $(BIN_DIR)
rm -rf $(OBJ_DIR)
Stackoverflow is whining about too many comments, so I'll make this another "answer." After our back-and-forth to my original comment, your last comment is correct. That's what I wanted you to see.
Understand that you can't use Make to do what you want to do exactly.
So here's really the answer: You can't create multiple executables AND with only some of the object files applying to each one AND while using a directory structure. Make is in no way capable of handling that.
Right now you're trying to use Make in a way that it wasn't intended for which is why you're running into so many problems. If you keep playing around you're going to run into is a series of errors that say "duplicate symbol" because you will be compiling each of your files multiple times for each executable, assuming you follow most of the advice you'll find.
Check out this How can I create a Makefile for C projects with SRC, OBJ, and BIN subdirectories? to see what I mean. That one works because all object files are being used to create a single executable. But as you've stated, that's not going to be the case for you. And that's what Make can't handle. That's why you're not finding an answer to that.
And while your chip8.h file is now not going to cause problems in terms of allowing you to compile, your Makefile with that third update would not recognize when the chip8.h file itself has changed. You would have to change a .c file to force a recompile so that changes to your .h were recognized. So you either have to stick with your second update or use something other than Make.
I have a recipe in my makefile that relies on several object files. I would like it to simply link the them, but they are always recompiling.
I've googled around and found information I did not know(marked with #) and changed it a bit, but the problem persisted.
I am led to believe make expects the name of the recipe be the name of the file, and I am failing to accomplish that. The problem is I do not what else to try and fix this. I would appreciate any help
CC = g++
#.PHONY: sfml-app
LIBS = -lsfml-graphics -lsfml-window -lsfml-system
APPLICATION = sfml-app
INCLUDE_DIR = -I include/
SOURCE_DIR = source
OUTPUT_DIR = bin
SOURCES = $(wildcard $(SOURCE_DIR)/*.cpp)
OBJECTS = $(notdir $(patsubst %.cpp, %.o, $(SOURCES)))
#$(OUTPUT_DIR)/$(APPLICATION): $(OBJECTS)
#bin/sfml-app: $(OBJECTS)
#sfml-app: $(OBJECTS)
#$(APPLICATION): $(OBJECTS)
$(CC) $(OUTPUT_DIR)/*.o $(LIBS) -o $(OUTPUT_DIR)/$(APPLICATION)
%.o: $(SOURCE_DIR)/%.cpp
$(CC) -c $< $(INCLUDE_DIR) -o $(OUTPUT_DIR)/$#
clean:
rm $(OUTPUT_DIR)/*
print-% : ; #echo $* = $($*)
This rule doesn't create the file it promises to:
%.o: $(SOURCE_DIR)/%.cpp
$(CC) -c $< $(INCLUDE_DIR) -o $(OUTPUT_DIR)/$#
See that -o $(OUTPUT_DIR)/$#? That's instructing the compiler to create a file in $(OUTPUT_DIR) instead of in the working directory.
If you really want your object files to go in $(OUTPUT_DIR), you need to make sure that your rule indicates that:
$(OUTPUT_DIR)/%.o: $(SOURCE_DIR)/%.cpp
$(CC) -c $< $(INCLUDE_DIR) -o $#
Or better, to act like the standard %.o: %.c rule (which will include CFLAGS etc):
$(OUTPUT_DIR)/%.o: $(SOURCE_DIR)/%.cpp
$(COMPILE.c) $(OUTPUT_OPTION) $<
I note your input files are named *.cpp - usually, that convention is for C++ files (i.e. to be compiled with $(COMPILE.cc), which will invoke $(CXX) rather than $(CC)). Check that you've not mixed up your C and C++ sources!
I have the following makefile but it just executes the 1st command where it builds me the .o files and not the .so files. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks,
SHELL = /bin/sh
CC = gcc
CFLAGS = -g -Wall
LDFLAGS = -shared
TARGET = Stepper.so
SOURCES = $(shell echo ./*.c)
HEADERS = $(shell echo ./*.h)
OBJECTS = $(SOURCES:.c=.o)
LIBS = liblua523.a
PREFIX = $(DESTDIR)/usr/local
BINDIR = $(PREFIX)/bin
$(OBJECTS): $(SOURCES) $(HEADERS)
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $(SOURCES) -o $(OBJECTS)
$(TARGET): $(OBJECTS)
$(CC) $(LDFLAGS) -o $(TARGET) $(OBJECTS) $(LIBS)
clean:
rm $(OBJECTS)
Unless you specify a different target on the command line, make always builds the first real target found in the makefile. In this case, the first real target is the first object file, so that's all that's built.
This is why you typically see makefiles with a first target of all or similar, which just depends on the various other targets you want built during a standard invocation of "make" with no arguments.
However, your makefile is really not right, in a number of ways. The fact that it's running it all means you actually only have one source file. As soon as you have >1 it will fail.
This:
SOURCES = $(shell echo ./*.c)
is not very efficient; you should use wildcard here:
SOURCES = $(wildcard ./*.c)
This rule:
$(OBJECTS): $(SOURCES) $(HEADERS)
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $(SOURCES) -o $(OBJECTS)
Tells make, "for every object file, if any source file or any header file has changed, recompile it". Basically, it means that if you change ANYTHING in the directory, EVERYTHING will rebuild. If you want that you might as well write a shell script and not bother with make at all.
Further, the compiler will fail when you have >1 source file, as it will try to run:
gcc -g -Wall -c foo.c bar.c -o foo.o bar.o
which is not right.
You don't need to define this rule at all; make has a built-in rule which knows how to build an object file from a source file. Just replace it with this:
$(OBJECTS): $(HEADERS)
(no recipe) so make knows that the objects depend on the headers as well as the source. Note this is not ideal since all objects rebuild if any header changes but it's fine for a simple program.
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