CODEWITHSUNDEEP
makefile
sop
sop

Reputation: 3625

Makefile trace target not found but exists and runs it

I created a makefile to build some code and when adding --trace option to debug/make sure everything is good, I noticed that there is a print saying some target is not found, even if it is there and it executes it. So I created a more simple example to point this and ask around why this is happening.

My makefile:

APP_NAME = apl
ODIR = obj

all: $(APP_NAME)

$(ODIR):
    @mkdir -p $(ODIR)

$(APP_NAME): $(ODIR)

If I execute it with make all it creates the obj folder. If I add the --trace option at the end it says that the obj target does not exist and it creates the folder:

$ make all --trace 
makefile:7: target 'obj' does not exist
mkdir -p obj
$ ll
drwxrwxr-x.  2 user user  4096 Aug 17 10:44  obj

I have a linux machine with fedora installed. Can anyone help me understand why that message?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 786

Answers (1)

G.M.
G.M.

Reputation: 12909

The trace message...

makefile:7: target 'obj' does not exist

is simply informational. It's telling you why the mkdir -p obj was executed. If you specify some dependency for $(OBJ) and arrange for that dependency to be newer than $(OBJ) then the message would be something like...

makefile:7: update target 'obj' due to: <dependency name>

Upvotes: 6

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