Question

Help me with makefile, please. I want `make’ to recompile only files that have been changed. Here is my makefile:

ROOT_DIR= ..
BUILD_TYPE= Release
BUILD_DIR= $(ROOT_DIR)/$(BUILD_TYPE)
O_DIR= $(BUILD_DIR)/obj

TARGETS= ftp_auto_backup sftp_auto_backup

CXX= g++
CXXFLAGS= -DBOOST_THREAD_USE_LIB -O3 -Wall -fmessage-length=0
FTP_LDFLAGS= -static-libstdc++ -static-libgcc -s -L $(ROOT_DIR)/lib/Release -l:libboost_thread-mgw46-mt-1_49.a -l:libcommon.a \
    -l:libfile.a -l:libfilesearcher.a -l:libftpclient.a -l:libftplib.a -l:libdbclient.a -l:libsqlite3.a -l:libscheduler.a -l:libws2_32.a
SFTP_LDFLAGS= -static-libstdc++ -static-libgcc -s -L $(ROOT_DIR)/lib/Release -l:libboost_thread-mgw46-mt-1_49.a -l:libcommon.a \
    -l:libfile.a -l:libfilesearcher.a -l:libdbclient.a -l:libsqlite3.a -l:libscheduler.a -l:libsftpclient.a -l:libws2_32.a -l:libssh.dll

OBJECTS= appconfig.o backuplauncher.o clientbackup.o main.o
LD_OBJECTS= $(addprefix $(O_DIR)/,$(OBJECTS))

all: init $(TARGETS)

debug: CXXFLAGS= -O0 -g3 -Wall -fmessage-length=0
debug: BUILD_TYPE= Debug
debug: all

init:
    @mkdir -p $(BUILD_DIR)
    @mkdir -p $(O_DIR)

ftp_auto_backup: set_type_ftp $(OBJECTS) 
    $(CXX) -o $(BUILD_DIR)/$@.exe $(LD_OBJECTS) $(FTP_LDFLAGS)

sftp_auto_backup: set_type_sftp $(OBJECTS)
    $(CXX) -o $(BUILD_DIR)/$@.exe $(LD_OBJECTS) $(SFTP_LDFLAGS)

set_type_ftp:
    $(eval CXXFLAGS+=-DPROJECT_TYPE=FTP)

set_type_sftp:
    $(eval CXXFLAGS+=-DPROJECT_TYPE=SFTP)

%.o: %.cpp
    $(CXX) -c $(CXXFLAGS) $< -o $(O_DIR)/$@

clean:
    rm -rf $(addprefix $(ROOT_DIR)/Release/obj/,$(OBJECTS)) $(addprefix $(ROOT_DIR)/Debug/obj/,$(OBJECTS))
    rm -rf $(addprefix $(ROOT_DIR)/Release/,$(addsuffix .exe,$(TARGETS))) $(addprefix $(ROOT_DIR)/Debug/,$(addsuffix .exe,$(TARGETS)))

Yes, I know about Generating Prerequisites Automatically, but should I really use it?
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Your targets depend on objects in the current directory, not in obj/. Change to this:

ftp_auto_backup: set_type_ftp $(LD_OBJECTS)
    $(CXX) -o $(BUILD_DIR)/$@.exe $(LD_OBJECTS) $(FTP_LDFLAGS)

sftp_auto_backup: set_type_sftp $(LD_OBJECTS)
    $(CXX) -o $(BUILD_DIR)/$@.exe $(LD_OBJECTS) $(SFTP_LDFLAGS)

# (...)

$(O_DIR)/%.o: %.cpp
    $(CXX) -c $(CXXFLAGS) $< -o $@

And yes, if you want your object files to recompile not only when you change the .cpp file, but also when you change the header (.h) files, you need to generate those prerequisites…