Create directories using make file

by

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)

More Related Contents:

  1. Makefile to put object files from source files different directories into a single, separate directory?
  2. What is the purpose of .PHONY in a Makefile?
  3. Creating Makefile with libraries
  4. OS detecting makefile
  5. Recursive wildcards in GNU make?
  6. Makefile (Auto-Dependency Generation)
  7. How to place object files in separate subdirectory
  8. How to generate a Makefile with source in sub-directories using just one makefile
  9. Passing arguments to “make run”
  10. GNU Makefile rule generating a few targets from a single source file
  11. Getting make to create object files in a specific directory
  12. How to write loop in a Makefile?
  13. How to use all *.c files in a directory with the Cmake build system?
  14. What’s the opposite of ‘make install’, i.e. how do you uninstall a library in Linux?
  15. How to use LDFLAGS in makefile
  16. How do you get the list of targets in a makefile?
  17. “multiple target patterns” Makefile error
  18. How do I check if file exists in Makefile so I can delete it?
  19. Is it possible to set CFLAGS to a linux kernel module Makefile?
  20. How to ensure a target is run before all the other build rules in a makefile?
  21. Building C-program “out of source tree” with GNU make
  22. What are Makefile.am and Makefile.in?
  23. Run make in each subdirectory
  24. CFLAGS vs CPPFLAGS
  25. CMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM not found
  26. Wildcard targets in a Makefile
  27. How do I perform arithmetic in a makefile?
  28. How to print out a variable in makefile
  29. Make error of mixed implicit and normal rules
  30. Generic rule from makefile to CMake

Leave a Comment