Makefile errors when I change a directory name

Question

I have a Makefile that compiles, but I want to change the name of one of the directories from "release" to "objects". This is the original Makefile -

# This makefile compiles ....

INCLUDE = -I/usr/include/X11 -I/usr/local/include -I/usr/local/include/FL/images -I/usr/include/freetype2

CC=g++ 
CFLAGS=-w -D LINUX -O3 -fpermissive 
OBJDIR=release  # HERE IS THE DIRECTORY I WANT TO CHANGE
SRCDIR=src

LDFLAGS= -L/usr/X11R6/lib$(LIBSELECT) -lpthread -lfltk -lXext -lXft -lfontconfig -lXinerama -lpthread -ldl -lm -lX11

SOURCES_RAW= robot_driver_agent.cpp robot_driver_position.cpp robot_driver_priorityqueue.cpp main.cpp robot_driver_tree.cpp robot_driver_stack.cpp robot_driver_grid.cpp robot_driver_path.cpp grid_analyzer.cpp tcpserver.cpp tcpclient.cpp servercontrol.cpp clientcontrol.cpp robot.cpp udpserver.cpp udpclient.cpp owncontrol.cpp guiwindow.cpp rs232.cpp

TARGET:= go
TARGETD:= go_d

OBJECTS:=$(SOURCES_RAW:.cpp=.o)
OBJECTS:=$(patsubst %.o, $(OBJDIR)/%.o, $(OBJECTS))

SOURCES:=$(SOURCES_RAW)
SOURCES:=$(patsubst %.cpp, $(SRCDIR)/%.cpp, $(SOURCES))

all: $(TARGET)

$(TARGET): $(OBJECTS)
    $(CC) -w -D LINUX $(INCLUDE) $^ -o $@ $(LDFLAGS)

release/%.o: src/%.cpp
    test -d $(OBJDIR) || mkdir $(OBJDIR)
    $(CC) -g -c $< $(CFLAGS) -o $@ 

debug: $(TARGETD)

$(TARGETD): $(OBJECTS)
    $(CC) -w -D LINUX $(INCLUDE) $^ -o $@ $(LDFLAGS)

%.o: $(SRCDIR)/%.cpp
    $(CC) -c -g $< $(CFLAGS)-o $@



.PHONY : clean
clean:
    rm -f $(OBJDIR)/*.o
    rm -f $(TARGET) $(TARGETD)

All I do is change the OBJDIR symbol to "objects" so it would just be -

OBJDIR=objects

But when I do that, I get the error -

make: *** No rule to make target `objects/robot_driver_agent.o', needed by `go'.

What am I missing? Is "objects" a word reserved for something in make so I can't use it for directories? Is it something in the make file that I need to change? Honestly, I don't know that much about makefiles so any help at all would be great. Thanks.

Answer 1

You have a rule:

release/%.o: src/%.cpp
    ...

So that when OBJDIR=release and Make wants to build release/robot_driver_agent.o, it knows just what to do. Then you try OBJDIR=objects, it wants to build objects/robot_driver_agent.o, and it doesn't know how because there's no rule that fits. Try changing the rule to:

$(OBJDIR)/%.o: src/%.cpp
    ...