Gnu Makefile - Handling dependencies

Question

What approach do C++ programmers on Unix platform use to create and manage Makefiles?

I was using hand made Makefiles for my projects but they don\'t handle header file

Answer 1

I top tip that I have found useful when building dependency files is to include the dependency file as a target in the generated rule:

file.d file.o : file.c header.h header2.h ...

Thus make will regenerate the dependencies if the source or any of the headers change. Including phony targets for the headers (GCC -MP) should then allow stable builds when headers are removed - the absense of required header remains a compilation error, not a make dependency error.

Assuming that dependency files are generated into the same directory as the object files, the following should work for GCC on Unix:

-include $(OBJ:.o=.d)

$(OBJDIR)/%d : $(SRCDIR)/%.cpp
        mkdir -p $(@D)
        echo -n "$@ " > $@.tmp
        $(CXX) $(CPPFLAGS) -MM -MP -MT $(@:.d=.o) $< >> $@.tmp
        mv $@.tmp $@

(from memory)