How to merge two different Makefiles?

Question

How to merge two different Makefiles?

3.4k Views Asked by martijnn2008 At 25 April 2025 at 19:52

I have did some reading on "Merging Makefiles", one suggest I should leave the two Makefiles separate in different folders [1]. For me this look counter intuitive, because I have the following situation:

I have 3 source files (main.cpp flexibility.cpp constraints.cpp) one of them (flexibility.cpp) is making use of the COIN-OR Linear Programming library (Clp) When installing this library on my computer it makes sample Makefiles, which I have adjust the Makefile and it currently makes a good working binary.

# Copyright (C) 2006 International Business Machines and others.
# All Rights Reserved.
# This file is distributed under the Eclipse Public License.

# $Id: Makefile.in 726 2006-04-17 04:16:00Z andreasw $

##########################################################################
#    You can modify this example makefile to fit for your own program.   #
#    Usually, you only need to change the five CHANGEME entries below.   #
##########################################################################

# To compile other examples, either changed the following line, or
# add the argument DRIVER=problem_name to make
DRIVER = main

# CHANGEME: This should be the name of your executable
EXE = clp

# CHANGEME: Here is the name of all object files corresponding to the source
#           code that you wrote in order to define the problem statement
OBJS =  $(DRIVER).o constraints.o flexibility.o

# CHANGEME: Additional libraries
ADDLIBS =

# CHANGEME: Additional flags for compilation (e.g., include flags)
ADDINCFLAGS =

# CHANGEME: Directory to the sources for the (example) problem definition
# files
SRCDIR = .


##########################################################################
#  Usually, you don't have to change anything below.  Note that if you   #
#  change certain compiler options, you might have to recompile the      #
#  COIN package.                                                         #
##########################################################################

COIN_HAS_PKGCONFIG = TRUE
COIN_CXX_IS_CL = #TRUE
COIN_HAS_SAMPLE = TRUE
COIN_HAS_NETLIB = #TRUE

# C++ Compiler command
CXX = g++

# C++ Compiler options
CXXFLAGS = -O3 -pipe -DNDEBUG -pedantic-errors -Wparentheses -Wreturn-type -Wcast-qual -Wall -Wpointer-arith -Wwrite-strings -Wconversion -Wno-unknown-pragmas -Wno-long-long   -DCLP_BUILD

# additional C++ Compiler options for linking
CXXLINKFLAGS =  -Wl,--rpath -Wl,/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib

# C Compiler command
CC = gcc

# C Compiler options
CFLAGS = -O3 -pipe -DNDEBUG -pedantic-errors -Wimplicit -Wparentheses -Wsequence-point -Wreturn-type -Wcast-qual -Wall -Wno-unknown-pragmas -Wno-long-long   -DCLP_BUILD

# Sample data directory
ifeq ($(COIN_HAS_SAMPLE), TRUE)
  ifeq ($(COIN_HAS_PKGCONFIG), TRUE)
    CXXFLAGS += -DSAMPLEDIR=\"`PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --variable=datadir coindatasample`\"
      CFLAGS += -DSAMPLEDIR=\"`PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --variable=datadir coindatasample`\"
  else
    CXXFLAGS += -DSAMPLEDIR=\"\"
      CFLAGS += -DSAMPLEDIR=\"\"
  endif
endif

# Netlib data directory
ifeq ($(COIN_HAS_NETLIB), TRUE)
  ifeq ($(COIN_HAS_PKGCONFIG), TRUE)
    CXXFLAGS += -DNETLIBDIR=\"`PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --variable=datadir coindatanetlib`\"
      CFLAGS += -DNETLIBDIR=\"`PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --variable=datadir coindatanetlib`\"
  else
    CXXFLAGS += -DNETLIBDIR=\"\"
      CFLAGS += -DNETLIBDIR=\"\"
  endif
endif

# Include directories (we use the CYGPATH_W variables to allow compilation with Windows compilers)
ifeq ($(COIN_HAS_PKGCONFIG), TRUE)
  INCL = `PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --cflags clp`
else
  INCL = 
endif
INCL += $(ADDINCFLAGS)

# Linker flags
ifeq ($(COIN_HAS_PKGCONFIG), TRUE)
  LIBS = `PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --libs clp`
else
  ifeq ($(COIN_CXX_IS_CL), TRUE)
    LIBS = -link -libpath:`$(CYGPATH_W) /home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib` libClp.lib 
  else
    LIBS = -L/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib -lClp 
  endif
endif

# The following is necessary under cygwin, if native compilers are used
CYGPATH_W = echo

# Here we list all possible generated objects or executables to delete them
CLEANFILES = clp \
    main.o \
    flexibility.o \
    constraints.o \

all: $(EXE)

.SUFFIXES: .cpp .c .o .obj

$(EXE): $(OBJS)
    bla=;\
    for file in $(OBJS); do bla="$$bla `$(CYGPATH_W) $$file`"; done; \
    $(CXX) $(CXXLINKFLAGS) $(CXXFLAGS) -o $@ $$bla $(LIBS) $(ADDLIBS)

clean:
    rm -rf $(CLEANFILES)

.cpp.o:
    $(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) $(INCL) -c -o $@ `test -f '$<' || echo '$(SRCDIR)/'`$<


.cpp.obj:
    $(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) $(INCL) -c -o $@ `if test -f '$<'; then $(CYGPATH_W) '$<'; else $(CYGPATH_W) '$(SRCDIR)/$<'; fi`

.c.o:
    $(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(INCL) -c -o $@ `test -f '$<' || echo '$(SRCDIR)/'`$<


.c.obj:
    $(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(INCL) -c -o $@ `if test -f '$<'; then $(CYGPATH_W) '$<'; else $(CYGPATH_W) '$(SRCDIR)/$<'; fi`

The other Makefile compiles a lot of code and makes use of bison and flex. This one is also made by someone else. I am able to alter this Makefile when I want to add some code. This Makefile also makes a binary.

CFLAGS=-Wall
LDLIBS=-LC:/GnuWin32/lib -lfl -lm
LSOURCES=lex.l
YSOURCES=grammar.ypp
CSOURCES=debug.cpp esta_plus.cpp heap.cpp main.cpp stjn.cpp timing.cpp tmsp.cpp token.cpp chaining.cpp flexibility.cpp exceptions.cpp
HSOURCES=$(CSOURCES:.cpp=.h) includes.h
OBJECTS=$(LSOURCES:.l=.o) $(YSOURCES:.ypp=.tab.o) $(CSOURCES:.cpp=.o)

all: solver

solver: CFLAGS+=-g -O0 -DDEBUG
solver: $(OBJECTS) main.o debug.o
    g++ $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $^ $(LDLIBS)

solver.release: CFLAGS+=-O5
solver.release: $(OBJECTS) main.o
    g++ $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $^ $(LDLIBS)

%.o: %.cpp
    g++ -c $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $<

lex.cpp: lex.l grammar.tab.cpp grammar.tab.hpp
    flex -o$@ $<

%.tab.cpp %.tab.hpp: %.ypp
    bison --verbose -d $<

ifneq ($(LSOURCES),)
$(LSOURCES:.l=.cpp): $(YSOURCES:.y=.tab.h)
endif

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

clean:
    rm -f $(OBJECTS) $(OBJECTS:.o=.d) $(YSOURCES:.ypp=.tab.cpp) $(YSOURCES:.ypp=.tab.hpp) $(YSOURCES:.ypp=.output) $(LSOURCES:.l=.cpp) solver solver.release 2>/dev/null

.PHONY: all clean debug release

Both of these Makefiles are, for me, hard to understand. I don't know what they exactly do. What I want is to merge the two of them so I get only one binary. The code compiled in the second Makefile should be the result. I want to add flexibility.cpp and constraints.cpp to the second Makefile, but when I do. I get the problem following problem:

flexibility.h:4:26: fatal error: ClpSimplex.hpp: No such file or directory
#include "ClpSimplex.hpp"

So the compiler can't find the Clp library. I also tried to copy-paste more code from the first Makefile into the second, but it still gives me that same error.

Q: Can you please help me with merging the two makefiles or pointing out a more elegant way?
Q: In this case is it indeed better to merge the two Makefiles?

I also tried to use cmake, but I gave upon that one quickly, because I don't know much about flex and bison.

g++ -O3 -pipe -DNDEBUG -pedantic-errors -Wparentheses -Wreturn-type -Wcast-qual -Wall -Wpointer-arith -Wwrite-strings -Wconversion -Wno-unknown-pragmas -Wno-long-long   -DCLP_BUILD -DSAMPLEDIR=\"`PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --variable=datadir coindatasample`\" `PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --cflags clp`  -c -o main.o `test -f 'main.cpp' || echo './'`main.cpp
g++ -O3 -pipe -DNDEBUG -pedantic-errors -Wparentheses -Wreturn-type -Wcast-qual -Wall -Wpointer-arith -Wwrite-strings -Wconversion -Wno-unknown-pragmas -Wno-long-long   -DCLP_BUILD -DSAMPLEDIR=\"`PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --variable=datadir coindatasample`\" `PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --cflags clp`  -c -o constraints.o `test -f 'constraints.cpp' || echo './'`constraints.cpp
g++ -O3 -pipe -DNDEBUG -pedantic-errors -Wparentheses -Wreturn-type -Wcast-qual -Wall -Wpointer-arith -Wwrite-strings -Wconversion -Wno-unknown-pragmas -Wno-long-long   -DCLP_BUILD -DSAMPLEDIR=\"`PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --variable=datadir coindatasample`\" `PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --cflags clp`  -c -o flexibility.o `test -f 'flexibility.cpp' || echo './'`flexibility.cpp
bla=;\
    for file in main.o constraints.o flexibility.o; do bla="$bla `echo $file`"; done; \
    g++ -Wl,--rpath -Wl,/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib -O3 -pipe -DNDEBUG -pedantic-errors -Wparentheses -Wreturn-type -Wcast-qual -Wall -Wpointer-arith -Wwrite-strings -Wconversion -Wno-unknown-pragmas -Wno-long-long   -DCLP_BUILD -DSAMPLEDIR=\"`PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --variable=datadir coindatasample`\" -o clp $bla `PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --libs clp`

This is coming out of the first Makefile, looks like there are some errors in it? Printing things like echo looks really stupid.

Original Q&A

There are 2 best solutions below

Klaus On 28 May 2014 at 09:12

What I want is to merge the two of them so I get only one binary.

I believe you have a complete wrong understanding what make does and what a Makefile is good for and there is a big misunderstanding what the concept of libraries, modules and programs ( binaries ) is.

As a first hint: You can have multiple Makefiles in one directory. They can have every name you want to give them! "Makefile" is only the standard name which is searched first from the make command. Typical names are *.mk for modules of makefiles.

The next thing is, that there is no problem to call a makefile directly from make with another name. Simply use make -f xyz.mk to get this makefile in action.

The next thing is, that you can also include one makefile from another with "include".

I have not enough time to create your makefiles at all. But you should start with a little analyses:

What are your sources
What are your intermediate products / libraries / object - files
which objects will be linked to final product or libraries
which are the final products build up.

After that you can simply build your makefile toolchain. But you have start with some basic reading and some experiments with make.

**martijnn2008** · Accepted Answer

I have run the first Makefile and used the output on the terminal to edit the second Makefile. I also have added the -std=c++11 flag which solved a few errors. The thing is compiling with the included libraries. I should be able to move on without any problems.

The working result with a few warnings:

CFLAGS=-Wall
LDLIBS=-LC:/GnuWin32/lib -lfl -lm
LSOURCES=lex.l
YSOURCES=grammar.ypp
CSOURCES=debug.cpp esta_plus.cpp heap.cpp main.cpp stjn.cpp timing.cpp tmsp.cpp token.cpp chaining.cpp exceptions.cpp constraints.cpp flexibility.cpp
HSOURCES=$(CSOURCES:.cpp=.h) includes.h
OBJECTS=$(LSOURCES:.l=.o) $(YSOURCES:.ypp=.tab.o) $(CSOURCES:.cpp=.o)

# C++ Compiler options
CXXFLAGS = -std=c++11 -O3 -pipe -DNDEBUG -pedantic-errors -Wparentheses -Wreturn-type -Wcast-qual -Wall -Wpointer-arith -Wwrite-strings -Wconversion -Wno-unknown-pragmas -Wno-long-long -DCLP_BUILD

EXTRAFLAG = -std=c++11 -Wl,--rpath -Wl,/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib -O3 -pipe -DNDEBUG -pedantic-errors -Wparentheses -Wreturn-type -Wcast-qual -Wall -Wpointer-arith -Wwrite-strings -Wconversion -Wno-unknown-pragmas -Wno-long-long   -DCLP_BUILD -DSAMPLEDIR=\"`PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --variable=datadir coindatasample`\" 

EXTRALIB = `PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --libs clp`

all: solver

solver: CFLAGS+=-g -O0 -DDEBUG
solver: $(OBJECTS) main.o debug.o
    g++ $(CFLAGS) $(EXTRAFLAG) -o $@ $^ $(LDLIBS) $(EXTRALIB)

solver.release: CFLAGS+=-O5
solver.release: $(OBJECTS) main.o
    g++ $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $^ $(LDLIBS)

main.o: main.cpp
    g++ $(CXXFLAGS) -DSAMPLEDIR=\"`PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --variable=datadir coindatasample`\" `PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --cflags clp`  -c -o main.o `test -f 'main.cpp' || echo './'`main.cpp

flexibility.o: flexibility.cpp
    g++ $(CXXFLAGS) -DSAMPLEDIR=\"`PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --variable=datadir coindatasample`\" `PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib64/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/lib/pkgconfig:/home/martijn/Downloads/COIN/coin-Clp/share/pkgconfig: pkg-config --cflags clp`  -c -o flexibility.o `test -f 'flexibility.cpp' || echo './'`flexibility.cpp

%.o: %.cpp
    g++ -c $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $<

lex.cpp: lex.l grammar.tab.cpp grammar.tab.hpp
    flex -o$@ $<

%.tab.cpp %.tab.hpp: %.ypp
    bison --verbose -d $<

ifneq ($(LSOURCES),)
$(LSOURCES:.l=.cpp): $(YSOURCES:.y=.tab.h)
endif

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

clean:
    rm -f $(OBJECTS) $(OBJECTS:.o=.d) $(YSOURCES:.ypp=.tab.cpp) $(YSOURCES:.ypp=.tab.hpp) $(YSOURCES:.ypp=.output) $(LSOURCES:.l=.cpp) solver solver.release 2>/dev/null

.PHONY: all clean debug release

How to merge two different Makefiles?

There are 2 best solutions below

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