make file vpath not replacement

Question

i have little problem with making a make file, this is the code :

SHELL = /bin/sh

CC := gcc
CFLAGS := -Wall
VPATH = src:obj

HEADERS := parser.h
dirs = out obj

%.o : mkdirs %.c $(HEADERS)
    $(CC) -c $(word 2,$^) -o obj/$@ 

all : parser.o
    ar cr out/libsip.a $<  

clean : 
    rm -f -r $(dirs)

mkdirs :
    mkdir -p $(dirs)

when i try to execute make i get this error :

mkdir -p out obj
gcc -c src/parser.c -o obj/parser.o 
ar cr out/libsip.a parser.o
file parser.o not found

i don't understand why parser.o don't get replaced by the right path, i used automatic variable

Answer 1

%.o : mkdirs %.c $(HEADERS)
    $(CC) -c $(word 2,$^) -o obj/$@ 

all : parser.o
    ar cr out/libsip.a $<

You are telling make to create a parser.o file in the current directory.

Your %.o rule then creates the file in the obj directory not the current directory.

The ar command then can't find it.

VPATH is for finding prerequisites. If obj/parser.o already existed then make would find it for the all target I believe.

See How Not to Use VPATH.