Why does this makefile execute a target on 'make clean' - c++

This is my current makefile.
CXX = g++
CXXFLAGS = -Wall -O3
LDFLAGS =
TARGET = testcpp
SRCS = main.cpp object.cpp foo.cpp
OBJS = $(SRCS:.cpp=.o)
DEPS = $(SRCS:.cpp=.d)
.PHONY: clean all
all: $(TARGET)
$(TARGET): $(OBJS)
$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) $(OBJS) -o $(TARGET)
.cpp.o:
$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) -c $< -o $#
%.d: %.cpp
$(CXX) -M $(CXXFLAGS) $< > $#
clean:
rm -f $(OBJS) $(DEPS) $(TARGET)
-include $(DEPS)
It works perfectly with one exception. If the directory is already clean (no *.d, *.o) and I run 'make clean', it re-creates the dependencies, then immediately deletes them:
[user#server proj]$ make
g++ -M -Wall -O3 foo.cpp > foo.d
g++ -M -Wall -O3 object.cpp > object.d
g++ -M -Wall -O3 main.cpp > main.d
g++ -Wall -O3 -c main.cpp -o main.o
g++ -Wall -O3 -c object.cpp -o object.o
g++ -Wall -O3 -c foo.cpp -o foo.o
g++ -Wall -O3 main.o object.o foo.o -o testcpp
[user#server proj]$ make clean
rm -f main.o object.o foo.o main.d object.d foo.d testcpp
[user#server proj]$ make clean
g++ -M -Wall -O3 foo.cpp > foo.d
g++ -M -Wall -O3 object.cpp > object.d
g++ -M -Wall -O3 main.cpp > main.d
rm -f main.o object.o foo.o main.d object.d foo.d testcpp
[user#server proj]$
I don't understand why the second 'make clean' would re-generate the dependency files. How can I avoid this? This isn't a big deal for this contrived example, but for a large project, it can be quite time-consuming.
Thanks.

It's because the .d files are being -included unconditionally. As far as make knows, they could add dependencies or commands to the clean target. All included files are built first for this reason, otherwise you might get an incorrect or failed build. To disable this, you want to conditionally include the dependency files:
ifneq ($(MAKECMDGOALS),clean)
-include $(DEPS)
endif
An alternative solution is to generate the dependency files using touch and have them replaced by actual data as a side-effect of compilation. This is how automake does its dependency tracking, as it makes one-time builds faster. Look into the -MD and -MMD options to gcc if you want to go this route. Use a pattern rule like:
%.d:
#touch $#
To initially create the dependency files.

If you want to skip the include for multiple targets, you can use the filter function.
MAKEFILE_TARGETS_WITHOUT_INCLUDE := clean distclean doc
# Include only if the goal needs it
ifeq ($(filter $(MAKECMDGOALS),$(MAKEFILE_TARGETS_WITHOUT_INCLUDE)),)
-include $(DEPS)
endif

It wants to regenerate the dependency files because it always tries to regenerate all of the makefiles, including -include'd makefiles, before doing anything else. (Well, actually, for me it doesn't do that - I have GNU Make 3.81 - so maybe it's a bug in your version that was fixed, or an optimization that mine has and yours doesn't. But anyway.)
The easiest way around this is to write your rules so they generate the .d files as a side effect of regular compilation, rather than giving explicit rules to generate them. That way, when they're not there, Make doesn't know how to generate them so it doesn't try (in a clean tree, the .cpp.o rules are enough, you don't need the header file dependencies). Look at an Automake-generated makefile -- a simple one -- to see how it's done.

The leading - in -include means that make won't complain if the dependencies are missing and can't be remade, but it doesn't mean it won't try to make them first (and, in this case, succeed) -- after all, anything interesting or important could be in the included files, whence the let's-try-making them attempt. I don't think there's a way to stop that.
For docs on include and -include, see here.

Related

My makefile keeps compiling over itself; what am I doing wrong?

I'm not sure if there is some built-in variable or rule that I don't know about, or if something is wrong with make, or if I'm just crazy.
For one of my projects, I have a makefile as follows:
CC=g++
CFLAGS=-O3 `libpng-config --cflags`
LFLAGS=-lm `libpng-config --ldflags`
OBJS=basic_render.o render.o mandel.o
BINS=basic_render
.PHONY: all clean
all: $(BINS)
clean:
rm -f $(BINS) $(OBJS)
%.o: %.cpp
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $# $<
%: $(OBJS)
$(CC) $(LFLAGS) -o $# $(OBJS)
When building, I want to simply be able to run
make clean
make
to build everything in the BINS list.
This works all right at first, but for some reason, the behaviour changes after I edit a source file.
Before editing source file:
$ make clean
rm -f basic_render basic_render.o render.o mandel.o
$ make
g++ -O3 `libpng-config --cflags` -c -o basic_render.o basic_render.cpp
g++ -O3 `libpng-config --cflags` -c -o render.o render.cpp
g++ -O3 `libpng-config --cflags` -c -o mandel.o mandel.cpp
g++ -lm `libpng-config --ldflags` -o basic_render basic_render.o render.o mandel.o
rm mandel.o basic_render.o render.o
I can do this over and over again and it works just fine. After I make changes to basic_render.cpp (literally just changing a couple of constants), it suddenly changes to this:
$ make clean
g++ -O3 `libpng-config --cflags` -c -o basic_render.o basic_render.cpp
g++ -O3 `libpng-config --cflags` -c -o render.o render.cpp
g++ -O3 `libpng-config --cflags` -c -o mandel.o mandel.cpp
g++ -lm `libpng-config --ldflags` -o makefile basic_render.o render.o mandel.o
rm mandel.o basic_render.o render.o
makefile:1: warning: NUL character seen; rest of line ignored
makefile:1: *** missing separator. Stop.
not only did make clean just try to compile the program, it compiled basic_render with the output set in Makefile, overwriting the Makefile itself.
After editing basic_render.cpp, I looked in Makefile, and it hadn't changed, so it's not like my editor is changing the makefile or something.
So, what am I doing wrong here?
Here is an MCVE of your problem:
$ ls -R
.:
bar.c main.c Makefile
$ cat main.c
extern int bar(void);
int main(void)
{
bar();
return 0;
}
$ cat bar.c
int bar(void)
{
return 42;
}
$ cat Makefile
OBJS := main.o bar.o
BINS := prog
.PHONY: all clean
all: $(BINS)
%: $(OBJS)
$(CC) -o $# $(OBJS)
clean:
$(RM) $(OBJS) $(BINS)
Make first time:
$ make
cc -c -o main.o main.c
cc -c -o bar.o bar.c
cc -o prog main.o bar.o
rm bar.o main.o
Pause to notice the undesired consequence of 10.4 Chains of Implicit Rules:
rm bar.o main.o
All of the object files are auto-deleted after the program is linked, defeating the purpose
of Make. The implicit rules to blame for that are our own implicit rule:
%: $(OBJS)
$(CC) -o $# $(OBJS)
plus the built-in implicit rule1:
%.o: %.c
# recipe to execute (built-in):
$(COMPILE.c) $(OUTPUT_OPTION) $<
which together make an implicit rule chain that results in all of the object files
becoming intermediate files.
Moving on, let's update a source file:
$ touch main.c
and make a second time:
$ make
cc -c -o main.o main.c
cc -c -o bar.o bar.c
cc -o Makefile main.o bar.o
rm bar.o main.o
Makefile:1: warning: NUL character seen; rest of line ignored
Makefile:1: *** missing separator. Stop.
There is our Makefile clobbered by the linkage:
cc -o Makefile main.o bar.o
This snafu is explained in the manual 3.5 How Makefiles Are Remade:
Sometimes makefiles can be remade from other files, such as RCS or SCCS files.
If a makefile can be remade from other files, you probably want make to get an
up-to-date version of the makefile to read in.
To this end, after reading in all makefiles, make will consider each as a goal
target and attempt to update it. If a makefile has a rule which says how to update it
(found either in that very makefile or in another one) or if an implicit rule applies to it
(see Using Implicit Rules), it will be updated if necessary.
After all makefiles have been checked, if any have actually been changed,
make starts with a clean slate and reads all the makefiles over again.
(It will also attempt to update each of them over again, but normally this will
not change them again, since they are already up to date.)
(Emphasis mine). Is there an implicit rule that is applicable to Makefile considered
as a target? Yes, it is:
%: $(OBJS)
$(CC) -o $# $(OBJS)
since the target pattern % matches any file whatever. If we restore our clobbered
Makefile and try the same experiment thing again, this time with debugging:
make -d >debug.log 2>&1
the output will show us:
...
Reading makefiles...
Reading makefile 'Makefile'...
Updating makefiles....
Considering target file 'Makefile'.
Looking for an implicit rule for 'Makefile'.
...
...
Found an implicit rule for 'Makefile'.
...
...
Finished prerequisites of target file 'Makefile'.
Prerequisite 'main.o' is newer than target 'Makefile'.
Prerequisite 'bar.o' is newer than target 'Makefile'.
Must remake target 'Makefile'.
cc -o Makefile main.o bar.o
...
We can avoid this upshot, and also the self-defeating auto-deletion of
our object files, by not using a match-anything implicit rule to perform our
linkage. The customary thing is to make a program from its object files by
an explicit rule, e.g.
Makefile (2)
OBJS := main.o bar.o
BIN := prog
.PHONY: all clean
all: $(BIN)
$(BIN): $(OBJS)
$(CC) -o $# $(OBJS)
clean:
$(RM) $(OBJS) $(BIN)
It appears that you cherish the option to have BINS be a list of multiple
programs:
I want to simply be able to run
make clean
make
to build everything in the BINS list.
But consider that with:
BINS := prog1 prog2
and the recipe:
%: $(OBJS)
$(CC) $(LFLAGS) -o $# $(OBJS)
as your way of making everything in the BINS list, you will just make the same program
twice, with two different names. And even if you wanted to do this, the way to do
it would be:
Makefile (3)
OBJS := main.o bar.o
BINS := prog1 prog2
.PHONY: all clean
all: $(BINS)
$(BINS): $(OBJS)
$(CC) -o $# $(OBJS)
clean:
$(RM) $(OBJS) $(BIN)
which runs like:
$ make
cc -c -o main.o main.c
cc -c -o bar.o bar.c
cc -o prog1 main.o bar.o
cc -o prog2 main.o bar.o
[1] You can get GNU Make to show you all its builtin-rules, and all the rest
of its rules for a particular build, with make --print-data-base ...
I would suggest that the % target is somehow matching the makefile file and therefore using it as the target(1).
My advice would be to change that line to:
$(BINS): $(OBJS)
and that should hopefully prevent make from thinking it should create a new makefile when the objects change.
(1) Apart from the explicit rules you provide, make also has quite a lot of implicit rules.
If even one of those rules decides that it depends on makefile (this is often configured since a change to the makefile usually means that a full rebuild should be done, as the rules may well have changed), then the % target may then be used for the makefile.
And, since the objects have changed, the makefile that depends on them will be rebuilt.
I personally have never seen a % target since I believe that means the rule may match any target, including source files which you probably don't want overwritten.
If you're interested in seeing all those implicit rules, make -d should give you quite a bit of information such as the rules used and conditions checked for whether files need to be rebuilt - just be prepared to wade through a lot of output.

How to recompile only what changed in makefile with automatically finds .cpp files?

I wrote the following makefile, which successfully compiles all the .cpp in the current folder into a static library.
The clean_library target is used because if I try to compile and there is already the .a file, the compilation stops with the following error:
ar: libbackend.a is a fat file (use libtool(1) or lipo(1) and ar(1) on it)
ar: libbackend.a: Inappropriate file type or format
make: *** [libbackend] Error 1
I would like to speed up the compilation compiling only those .cpp which change. Currently all the .o files are recreated each time.
I can achieve this removing the -arch part and removing the dependency clean_library.
How can I achieve the same behaviour without that?
A workaround is to create a target which builds for a single architecture and call the target which build for all the architectures only when needed/when the work is finished.
CC = g++
FLAGS = -g -std=c++14 -Wall -Wextra -O0 #debug
# FLAGS = -std=c++14 -Ofast # release
SRCS = $(wildcard *.cpp)
OBJS = $(SRCS:.cpp=.o)
OUT = my_library
$(OUT): $(OBJS)
ar rcs $(OUT).a $^
# libtool -static -o $(OUT).a $^ #other possibilty
%.o: %.cpp Makefile #clean_library
$(CC) $(FLAGS) -c $< -o $# -arch x86_64 -arch i386
.PHONY: clean clean_library
clean: clean_library
rm -rf *.o
clean_library:
rm -rf $(OUT).a
Your question is not very clear about what you want to do. Is your goal to compile the same code multiple times in different ways?
You cannot have exactly the same targets compiled different ways, and still only have the modified files updated: make cannot know which way a pre-existing object file was compiled. When make starts up and sees a foo.o file, was it compiled for debug? Release? There's no way to know, so this can't work. You have to recompile everything to be sure.
What people do to work around this is name the output from the different types of compilation differently. The most common way to do this is to use a subdirectory: put all the files compiled for debug in the debug subdirectory and all the files compiled for release in the release subdirectory. So your makefile would look something like this:
CC = g++
debug_FLAGS = -g -std=c++14 -Wall -Wextra -O0
release_FLAGS = -std=c++14 -Ofast
SRCS := $(wildcard *.cpp)
OBJS := $(SRCS:.cpp=.o)
OUT := my_library.a
all: debug/$(OUT) release/$(OUT)
%/$(OUT):
ar rcs $# $^
# libtool -static -o $# $^ #other possibilty
debug/$(OUT): $(addprefix debug/,$(OBJS))
debug/%.o: %.cpp Makefile | debug
$(CC) $(debug_FLAGS) -c $< -o $# -arch x86_64 -arch i386
release/$(OUT): $(addprefix release/,$(OBJS))
release/%.o: %.cpp Makefile | release
$(CC) $(release_FLAGS) -c $< -o $# -arch x86_64 -arch i386
debug release:
mkdir -p $#
clean:
rm -rf debug release
.PHONY: debug release clean
If you want to have lots of different options it might be worthwhile to get even more fancy but for just two you probably don't need to go to the extra effort.

Confused how my Makefile is remaking object files

My make file is failing to find my include directory when it tries to remake object files. For example, when I call make tests I get the output:
g++ -c -o sdl_class.o sdl_class.cpp
sdl_class.cpp:9:23: fatal error: sdl_class.h: No such file or directory
#include <sdl_class.h>
^
compilation terminated.
make: *** [sdl_class.o] Error 1
My Makefile is this:
#Originally from: http://www.cs.colby.edu/maxwell/courses/tutorials/maketutor/
#But will be heavily modified
IDIR =../include
CC=g++
CFLAGS=-w -I$(IDIR)
#ODIR=obj
LDIR =../lib
LIBS=-lSDL2
_DEPS = sdl_class.h SDL_image.h
DEPS = $(patsubst %,$(IDIR)/%,$(_DEPS))
OBJ = sdl_class.o tests.o
#OBJ = $(patsubst %,$(ODIR)/%,$(_OBJ))
%.o: %.cpp $(DEPS)
$(CC) -c -o $# $< $(CFLAGS) $(LIBS)
tests: sdl_class.o tests.o
$(CC) -o $# $^ $(CFLAGS) $(LIBS)
all: $(OBJ)
$(CC) -o $# $^ $(CFLAGS) $(LIBS)
.PHONY: clean
clean:
rm -f *.o *~ core $(IDIR)/*~
My understanding is that when I call make tests, that it should attempt to remake the sdl_class.o file. This should then call the %.o rule, which should try to make the object file by calling something like:
g++ -c -o sdl_class.o sdl_class.cpp -w -I../include -lSDL2
However, this is not the case as it looks like it is calling $(CC) -c -o $# $< $(CFLAGS) $(LIBS), as you can see from above.
Do I have a fundamental misunderstanding about how make builds its rules? Seems likely, this is my first Makefile. Perhaps I am confused on how compilation works in general, as I'm somewhat new to that as well.
I would say that the problem is that one or more of the files ../include/sdl_class.h or ../include/SDL_image.h does not exist. Because of that, make is deciding that your pattern rule does not match (because not all the prerequisites can be found or made) and it defaults to the built-in rule to create object files from .cpp files.
The built-in rules use the make variables CXX for the C++ compiler and CXXFLAGS for the C++ flags: the CC and CFLAGS variables are used for the C compiler. That's why your settings for CFLAGS are being ignored.
If you run make -d sdl_class.o you'll see which file make is looking for and why it decides to not use your pattern rule.
If you rewrite your rules like this it will work better:
%.o: %.cpp
$(CC) -c -o $# $< $(CFLAGS)
sdl_class.o tests.o: $(DEPS)
because make will now complain that the relevant files can't be found or created.
There are other issues, of course. You shouldn't be passing $(LIBS) to your compile command; that belongs only in your link line. And, you should probably stick to the standard variables CXX for the C++ compiler, CPPFLAGS for preprocessor flags like -I and -D, and CXXFLAGS for C++ compiler flags. Also, linker library flags like -L../lib go in LDFLAGS and linker libraries like -lSDL2 go in LDLIBS.
CC/CCFLAGS are for C compilation. You should use CXX and CXXFLAGS for C++. They are used in built-in rules and in the LINK.cc macro, making the Makefile much simpler, and thus less error prone.
CXXFLAGS = -Wall ...
prog : foo.o bar.o
$(LINK.cc) -o $# $^
see Default linker setting in Makefile for linking C++ object files

Makefile to build shared library

I've been building a C++11 library, and the number of header/source files has grown to the point where compiling programs invoking it, entails passing 20+ .cpp files to g++. I've been reading up on shared libraries and it seems to be the best solution.
However, as headers/source change frequently, I'm hoping to create a makefile that would automatically generate all the .so files from the headers and source.
To better demonstrate what I'm trying to do, I'll take one of my sub-libraries, Chrono and show how I would do this manually.
I first create the object files like so,
$ g++ -std=c++11 -fPIC -g -c -Wall ../src/Chrono/cpp/DateTime.cpp
$ g++ -std=c++11 -fPIC -g -c -Wall ../src/Chrono/cpp/Schedule.cpp
$ g++ -std=c++11 -fPIC -g -c -Wall ../src/Chrono/cpp/Duration.cpp
$ g++ -std=c++11 -fPIC -g -c -Wall ../src/Chrono/cpp/DayCount.cpp
So that I now have DateTime.o, Schedule.o, Duration.o, and DayCount.o in the current directory. I then create the .so file,
$ g++ -shared -Wl,-soname,libChrono.so.1 -o libChrono.so.1.0.1 DateTime.o Schedule.o Duration.o DayCount.o -lc
I then go,
$ rm ./*.o && ldconfig -n ./
So that my working directory now contains, libChrono.so.1.0.1 and the symlink libChrono.so.1.
There are quite a few subdirectories I need to do this for, so you can see that this quickly grows inefficient whenever changes to headers/source are made. I would be grateful if anyone can help me design a makefile that accomplishes all this simply by invoking make.
Thanks!
UPDATE:
Based on goldilock's advice and some digging, I managed to bang together:
CXX=g++
CFLAGS=-std=c++11
TARGET=./lib/libChrono.so.1.0.1
CHRONODIR=./src/Chrono
CHRONOSRC=$(wildcard $(CHRONODIR)/cpp/*.cpp)
CHRONOOBJ=$(join $(addsuffix ../obj/, $(dir $(CHRONOSRC))), $(notdir (CHRONOSRC:.cpp=.o)))
all: $(TARGET)
#true
clean:
#-rm -f $(TARGET) $(CHRONOOBJ)
./lib/libChrono.so.1.0.1: $(CHRONOOBJ)
#echo "======================="
#echo "Creating library file $#"
#echo "======================="
#$(CXX) -shared -Wl,-soname,$(join $(basename $#), .1) -o $# $^ -l
#echo "-- $# file created --"
$(CHRONODIR)/cpp/../obj/%.o : $(CHRONOSRC)
#mkdir -p $(dir $#)
#echo "============="
#echo "Compiling $<"
#$(CXX) $(CFLAGS) -fPIC -g -Wall -c $< -o $#
4 .o files are produced in lib/ but I get multiple definition complaints from ld. Before I was compiling the object files separately, but this unwinds CHRONOOBJ on one line. Any ideas?
Fortunately you included the origin of your problem:
I've been building a C++11 library, and the number of header/source files has grown to the point where compiling programs invoking it, entails passing 20+ .cpp files to g++.
Because this reveals a potential XY problem. The straightforward solution to this is to put object files into an archive (aka. a static library) and use that.
GNU make has an implicit rule for creating C++ .o files. It amounts to this:
%.o: %.cpp
$(CXX) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CXXFLAGS) -c $<
Meaning, if you make DateTime.o in a directory with a makefile that doesn't redefine this, it will make DateTime.o. You may want to add things to $(CXXFLAGS) however, e.g.:
CXXFLAGS += -Wall -Wextra --std=c++11
If you intend to stick with the shared lib route, -fPIC can go there too. That one line could be your entire makefile.
However, you also want to put these together, so you must first declare all the objects and a rule for combining them:
OBJS = DateTime.o Schedule.o Duration.o
libChrono.a: $(OBJS)
ar crvs $# $^
This last line (see man ar) creates the archive (libChrono.a) containing all the objects in $(OBJS). You can then use this with whatever program by placing it in the same directory (or a directory in the library path) and linking -lChrono. Only the necessary parts will be extracted and compiled in. This saves you having to maintain a shared lib in a system directory.
If you still think you need a shared lib, $# and $^ are automatic variables; you can use similar methodology to create a .so, something along the lines of:
SO_FLAGS = -shared
libChrono.so.1.0.1: $(OBJS)
$(CXX) $(SO_FLAGS) -Wl,-soname,libChrono.so.1 -o $# $^ -lc
If that is your first rule, make will take care of everything: building first the objects and then the library. Notice this one has excluded your normal $(CXXFLAGS) to duplicate exactly the compiler line from the question.

C++ - Makefile Good Practice

I have a Makefile that works for how I'm using it, but will anyone tell me if what I'm doing is good practice? Or if there is a better, cleaner or more efficient way to achieve the goal I am reaching?
Here is my Makefile Code.
# Object files to either reference or create
OBJECTS = Proj2.o Blackjack.o Deck.o Card.o Hand.o Player.o
# The executable file that will be created
EXEC = Proj2.out
# The c++ flags to use for compilation
CXXFLAGS = -Wall
# The c++ compiler to use for compilation
CXX = g++
# This section is called on 'make'
# Will call compile, and then call clean
all: compile clean
# Perform action on all object files (May or may not exist)
# The makefile will implicitly compile all .o files needed
# Will also compile them into the EXEC file listed
compile: $(OBJECTS)
$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) -o $(EXEC) $(OBJECTS)
# This section is called after compilation is completed
# This will clean all existing .o files listed in the directory
clean:
rm -f *.o
Here is the terminal output when I call make.
g++ -Wall -c -o Proj2.o Proj2.cpp
g++ -Wall -c -o Blackjack.o Blackjack.cpp
g++ -Wall -c -o Deck.o Deck.cpp
g++ -Wall -c -o Card.o Card.cpp
g++ -Wall -c -o Hand.o Hand.cpp
g++ -Wall -c -o Player.o Player.cpp
g++ -Wall -o Proj2.out Proj2.o Blackjack.o Deck.o Card.o Hand.o Player.o
rm -f *.o
Is it good practice to use a Makefile like this? Specifically, am I doing the cleaning part of my Makefile correctly?
You should not make all depend on clean at all. By doing this you are ensuring that every time you run make, you have to recompile everything. If you want to do that then using make is itself useless: just write a shell script that compiles and links your code.
The clean target should be a separate target and if you want to clean your workspace you run make clean explicitly.
The other problem with your makefile is that the link rule lists compile as the target, but it builds $(EXE). It's almost never a good idea to have a rule create a file which is not exactly the target you told make it would build. To ensure this, always use $# as the target to generate. Rewrite it like this:
compile: $(EXE)
$(EXE): $(OBJECTS)
$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) -o $# $^