Question

I am trying to compile a C library for genetic programming called lil-gp.

I do not know if this kind of questions are appropriate to ask here but i am seeking serious help about this.

The makefile resides under the directory lilgp1.1/1.1/kernel and named as GNUmakefile.kernel. And it looks like this:

kobjects = main.o gp.o eval.o tree.o change.o crossovr.o reproduc.o \
    mutate.o select.o tournmnt.o bstworst.o fitness.o genspace.o \
    exch.o populate.o ephem.o ckpoint.o event.o pretty.o individ.o \
    params.o random.o memory.o output.o

kheaders = event.h defines.h types.h protos.h protoapp.h

.PHONY : all clean

LIBS += -lm
CFLAGS += -I. -I$(KERNELDIR) 

all : $(TARGET)

lilgp.h = $(addprefix $(KERNELDIR)/,$(kheaders)) $(uheaders)

$(kobjects) : %.o : $(KERNELDIR)/%.c
    $(CC) -c $(CFLAGS) $< -o $@

$(uobjects) : %.o : %.c
    $(CC) -c $(CFLAGS) $< -o $@

$(kobjects) $(uobjects) : $(lilgp.h)

$(TARGET) : $(kobjects) $(uobjects)
    $(CC) $(LFLAGS) -o $@ $^ $(LIBS) 

clean :
    \rm -f $(kobjects) $(uobjects) core

As a first move I followed these steps:

1. I renamed it as Makefile
2. Second i moved all : $(TARGET) just above to the clean: ...

But GNU make complains me that :

make: *** No rule to make target `/main.c', needed by `main.o'.  Stop.

Answer 1

Simple answer: read the documentation that’s included in the package (especially chapters 3 and 6).

Longer answer: if you would have read the documentation, you would have known that you’re not supposed to use GNUmakefile.kernel directly. You need to choose one of the sample apps in the package and run make in its directory. Each one of the apps directories contains a (short) GNUmakefile that includes GNUmakefile.kernel.
Alternatively, you can implement your own problem, by providing your own top level Makefile.