I have 3 files in my directory as follows:
foo.h
foo.cc
main.cc
build/ <-- Created if doesn't exist.
I want the .o and executable files to be generated in a build folder in the same directory.
I also don't want the code recompiling if nothing has changed.
Here is my Makefile:
CC=g++
CFLAGS=-std=c++17
OBJS=build/foo.o
.PHONY: all clean
all: build/main
build/main: main.cc $(OBJS)
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o $# $^
build/%.o: %.cc build
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $# $<
build:
mkdir -p build
clean:
rm -rf build
If I run make build/foo.o, it doesn't re-compile if nothing has changed in the source code.
But make all or make build/main always re-compiles everything. What am I doing wrong?
I don't have this issue if I output the compiled code in the same directory.
Ugh, just minutes after posting this, I found the answer on Google.
Problem is that because the build directory timestamp gets updated even if one file in the directory is created/updated, it will rebuild always from scratch.
There are several approaches listed in the link above to fix it. I ended up just adding a pipe (|) operator to the build rule to make it an order-only pre-requisite. i.e. this line:
build/%.o: %.cc |build
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $# $<
and that seems to have fixed it :|
My project's directory is mounted via NFS. From the directory under which it is mounted, I call make -f msh/Makefile cd=msh. (msh is my mount.) cd is a variable in the Makefile that is prepended to source files. This works fine with source files directly under cd. However, if the source files are under a subdirectory within cd, Make fails, saying that there is no rule to make that target. It does not fail if I call Make from within my mount.
This is my Makefile.
CC?=gcc
CFLAGS:=-Wall -Werror -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200112L $(CFLAGS)
cd?=.
objects_nix=if/tty.o
objects:=sub.o if.o $(objects_nix)
ifdef SO
CFLAGS+=-fPIC
bin=libmsh.so
else
bin=libmsh.a
endif
.PHONY : clean
$(bin) :
libmsh.a : $(objects)
$(AR) -r -c -s $# $(objects)
libmsh.so : $(objects)
#echo
#echo If you have resumed compilation after not having used the SO flag,
#echo you should run make clean.
#echo
$(LD) $(LDFLAGS) -shared -o $# $(objects)
test : $(cd)/test.c $(bin)
ifdef SO
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -I$(cd) $(LDFLAGS) -L. -lmsh -Wl,-rpath,. -o $# $(cd)/test.c
else
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -I$(cd) $(LDFLAGS) -o $# $(cd)/test.c $(bin)
endif
%.o : $(cd)/%.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $# $<
clean :
rm -f libmsh.so libmsh.a
rm -f $(objects)
rm -f test.o test
I have tried creating another rule for the subdirectory, and this works. But I'd like it to work with only the one rule.
You have told Make how to make a .o file from .c file in $(cd). It does not know how to make a .o file if the .c file in some other directory. You can solve this in various ways, such as:
Add an explicit rule for all directories. You have already done that.
Use VPATH.
Create a Makefile for each directory.
I have an embarrassingly simple makefile question but I can't google it due to lack of knowledge - I don't know the words for things I don't know.
Basically, I want to run the makefile in the current directory, look into the ./SRC directory for source files and when everything is finished, move the object files into the ./OBJ directory.
Makefile:
move_obj:
mv -f -t ./OBJ_DIR ./$(OBJ_FILES)
file.o: other_file.h
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(CPPFLAGS) -c file.c
move_obj
I want to call "move_obj" after compiling the source files but since I don't know what
result: dependency
evaluation
actually represents (and all makefile introduction guides I've found state "This is what a makefile looks like, off you go then"), I don't know why this isn't working. I assume I need some evaluate command or need to define a function or...?
Thanks for any help in advance.
You can do this by creating another rule for example move, like below
all: $(EXECUTABLE) move
$(EXECUTABLE): $(OBJECTFILES)
$(CC) -o $# $<
$(OBJECTFILES): $(SOURCEFILES)
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $# -I $(INCLUDE_PATH) $<
# Move the .o to Object directory #
move:
$(MV) $(OBJECTFILES) $(OBJECT_PATH)
But by doing the above, you will defeat the purpose of the Makefile.
Since your rule is dependent on .o, Make will look for .o in current directory and not find it (because you've moved it) and thus rebuild.
To avoid this, you should output it to ./obj directory and use it from there.
Something like
gcc -g -Wall -o obj/foo.o -c src/foo.c -I ./include
gcc -g -Wall -o obj/main.o -c src/main.c -I ./include
gcc -o exe obj/foo.o obj/main.o -lanylibrary
Below is the makefile doing the same.
C_FLAGS := -g -Wall -Wextra
CC := gcc
RM := rm
LINKFLAGS := -lanylibrary
.PHONY: $(TARGET) clean
VPATH:= ./src/ ./obj/ ./include/
# Path for .c , .h and .o Files
SRC_PATH := ./src/
OBJ_PATH := ./obj/
INC_PATH := -I ./include
# Executable Name
TARGET := exe
# Files to compile
OBJ1 := foo.o \
main.o
OBJ := $(patsubst %,$(OBJ_PATH)%,$(OBJ1))
# Build .o first
$(OBJ_PATH)%.o: $(SRC_PATH)%.c
#echo [CC] $<
#$(CC) $(C_FLAGS) -o $# -c $< $(INC_PATH)
# Build final Binary
$(TARGET): $(OBJ)
#echo [INFO] Creating Binary Executable [$(TARGET)]
#$(CC) -o $# $^ $(LINKFLAGS)
# Clean all the object files and the binary
clean:
#echo "[Cleaning]"
#$(RM) -rfv $(OBJ_PATH)*
#$(RM) -rfv $(TARGET)
Refer to this answer for a better understanding
EDIT:
You can also output your executable to directory, add the following changes to your Makefile.
Ensure that the bin directory is created beforehand, and not deleted by clean.
# Path for .c , .h and .o Files, and ./bin directory
BIN_PATH := ./bin
# Executable Name
TARGET := $(BIN_PATH)/exe
# Clean all the object files and the binary
clean:
#echo "[Cleaning]"
#$(RM) -rfv $(OBJ_PATH)*
#$(RM) -fv $(TARGET)
If you want to build a target(move_obj) after another(file.o), add the move_obj to the dependency list of file.o so that the commands under the move_obj will be executed.
So your Makefile should be:
file.o: other_file.h move_obj
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(CPPFLAGS) -c file.c
move_obj:
mv -f -t ./OBJ_DIR ./$(OBJ_FILES)
As Colonel Thirty Two mentioned in the comment section, instead of compiling and then move, you can build the object files in the required directory
file.o: other_file.h
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(CPPFLAGS) -c file.c -o ./$(OBJ_FILES)/$#
This is flawed in various ways.
result normally is an actual file that should be present after the recipe is executed. If the file is already there and is not older than any of its dependencies, make does nothing. So instead of creating a file somewhere and then moving it around with another rule, make sure the rule creates it where it should FINALLY be. Otherwise make can never check whether it has to rebuild it (and always will). In this case, use the -o flag of the compiler to directly create it where it should be (e.g. -o $(OBJ_DIR)/file.o)
dependency should list ALL files that are needed to build the result, so make really rebuilds it if ANY of these files changed. In your case, at least file.c is missing from the dependency list
In order to place files in a directory, you should make sure it exists. you could do it like this:
$(OBJ_DIR):
mkdir -p $(OBJ_DIR)
$(OBJ_DIR)/file.o: $(OBJ_DIR) file.c other_file.h
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(CPPFLAGS) -c file.c -o $(OBJ_DIR)/file.o
Your move_obj recipe, although not suitable in this case, would be a PHONY target, meaning it does not create a file. If you need such rules, mark them accordingly by mentioning them as dependency of the special target .PHONY:
.PHONY: move_obj
The reason for this is that you could (by accident) have a file named move_obj in your working directory. In that case, make would decide there's nothing to do for move_obj, and this is not what you want. Marking it as phony tells make that this rule does not create its target and the recipe must be executed no matter what.
All in all, your question comes down to misunderstanding a Makefile as kind of a script. It is not. It's a declarative file that tells make what has to be done in order to build files (your evaluation block) and when this needs to be done (your dependency block). It's better not to try to misuse a Makefile as a script.
I have many file with extension .cpp
f001.cpp
abc.cpp
...
I try compile any file with this
%.cpp:
g++ -o $* $*.cpp
but I get
make: *** No hay objetivos. Alto.
Does this work?
f001.o:
%.o: %.cpp
g++ -o $# $<
EDIT:
Good! Now try this:
OBJETIVOS = f001.o abc.o def.o ghi.o
todos: $(OBJETIVOS)
%.o: %.cpp
g++ -o $# $<
There is one problem here. Usually abc is the executable binary file, and abc.o is the object file. You are building executable files, but calling them abc.o. If you want them to be executable files, it would be better to call them abc.
with the answer of #Beta, I solved with
files = $(basename $(shell ls *cpp))
all: $(files)
%: %.cpp
g++ -o $# $<
clean:
rm $(files)
https://gist.github.com/3726212
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