How can I create a Makefile to compile my C code correctly?

Question

The problem is that my webserver works fine when I compile my code in terminal using gcc directly:

gcc webserver.c ../include/webserverinit.c ../include/webserver_request_response.c -o webserver

but after using Makefile the code doesn't work fine. I don't get any error but one of the functions doesn't work correctly

I don't understand what is happening here. I know my code is ok and to make sure the Makefile is working fine, I used some Makefile generator as well but it is still the same.

I know my code is ok and to make sure the Makefile is working fine I used some Makefile generator as well but it is still the same

Makefile that I'm using:

CC=gcc
WEBSERVER_OBJECT=./objects/webserver.o
WEBSERVER_SOURCE=./src/webserver.c
WEBSERVERINIT_OBJECT=./objects/webserverinit.o #Library to start the webserver and listening on the port
WEBSERVERINIT_SOURCE=./include/webserverinit.c
WEBSERVERINIT_HEADER=./include/webserverinit.h
WEBSERVER_REQUEST_RESPONSE_OBJECT=./objects/webserver_request_response.o #Library for receiving requests and sending respons
WEBSERVER_REQUEST_RESPONSE_SOURCE=./include/webserver_request_response.c
WEBSERVER_REQUEST_RESPONSE_HEADER=./include/webserver_request_response.h
OBJECTS=./objects/webserver.o ./objects/webserverinit.o ./objects/webserver_request_response.o #objects folder
HEADERS=./include/webserverinit.h ./include/webserver_request_response.h #headers
OBJECTDIR=./objects

webserver: ${OBJECTS}
    ${CC} ${OBJECTS} -o webserver

${WEBSERVER_OBJECT}: ${WEBSERVER_SOURCE} ${HEADERS}
    ${CC} -c  ${WEBSERVER_SOURCE} -o ${WEBSERVER_OBJECT}

${WEBSERVERINIT_OBJECT}: ${WEBSERVERINIT_SOURCE} ${WEBSERVERINIT_HEADER}
    ${CC} -c ${WEBSERVERINIT_SOURCE} -o ${WEBSERVERINIT_OBJECT}   

${WEBSERVER_REQUEST_RESPONSE_OBJECT}: ${WEBSERVER_REQUEST_RESPONSE_SOURCE} ${WEBSERVER_REQUEST_RESPONSE_HEADER}
    ${CC} -c ${WEBSERVER_REQUEST_RESPONSE_SOURCE} -o ${WEBSERVER_REQUEST_RESPONSE_OBJECT} 
clean:
    rm -rf ${OBJECTDIR}/*.o webserver

I want my code works with Makefile as well but it is not working with Makefile. What should I do?

Answer 1

How can I create a Makefile to compile my C code correctly?

You need a source code editor (e.g. emacs) which knows the peculiarities of Makefiles in particular the weird role of tab characters in them.

CFLAGS=-c -o

That is probably wrong. You might want CFLAGS= -g -Wall instead. Hint: run make -p to understand the builtin rules of make and take advantage of them.

WEBSERVERINIT_SOURCE=./include/webserverinit.c

And that looks strange (I guess that you should replace include with src).

---

First, you need to read documentation. In particular, about invoking GCC on the command line, and later read the GNU make documentation. Spend several hours to read each of them.

Then, you might want to use the -v and -H flags to gcc. Both are helpful.

At last, you should use remake : it is an improved variant of make (designed to ease debugging of your Makefile). You'll use it with the -x flag.