Makefile to move .o files to Different Directory

Question

I have source code in one directory and have a makefile in a different directory. I am able to compile the code using the make system's vpath mechanism. The .o files are being created in the same folder where the makefile is. But I want to move those .o files to a different directory called obj. I tried the following:

vpath %.o obj

However, they are still being created in the same folder as the makefile. Can anyone help me to solve this issue?

Here are some highlighted lines of the makefile:

PATH_TO_OBJ:- ../obj
SRC :- .c files
OBJS :- $(SRC:.c = .o)
.c.o = $(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c 
exe: cc $(LFLAGS) -o $(PATH_TO_OBJ) $(SRC).

After this also, .o file is creating in same folder of Makefile. Not moving to obj

You look at this page, it should solve your problem : http://mad-scientist.net/make/vpath.html . If you really want to understand your error, please post a minimal working example of your Makefile — lucasg, Jul 01 '13 at 07:14
You are missing a `/` between `$(PATH_TO_OBJ)` and `$(SRC)`. Also there must be not spaces between them. By the way you should format your code in question to make it readable for others. — Kolyunya, Jul 01 '13 at 09:17

Kolyunya · Answer 1 · 2013-07-01T08:46:48.067

5

-o option defines where to save the output file, produced by a gcc compiler.

gcc main.c -c -o path/to/object/files/main.o

edited Jul 01 '13 at 08:46

answered Jul 01 '13 at 07:15

Kolyunya

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still not getting. hre is my makefile – rock_buddy Jul 01 '13 at 08:37
You are missing a `/` between `$(PATH_TO_OBJ)` and `$(SRC)`. Also there must be not spaces between them. – Kolyunya Jul 01 '13 at 09:17

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 01 '13 at 07:17

Make's VPATH is only for finding source files. The placement of object files is up to the thing that is building them. There's a nice description at http://mad-scientist.net/make/vpath.html (I see someone beat me to posting this in a comment).

The *BSD build systems use variants of make that can place object files (and other generated files, including C sources from lex and yacc variants) in /usr/obj automatically. If you have access to that version of make, that will likely be a good way to deal with whatever underlying problem you are trying to solve.

Makefile to move .o files to Different Directory

2 Answers2