Makefile executes the command only once - c

Question

I am using the Makefile of MinGW (Windows 8.1, GCC 7.3.0) to build a medium-sized project automatically detecting all source files under the folder src and compiling all object files into the obj folder, but unfortunately it is only executing the command over the first detected file and stops there.
This is the first time I write a Makefile script for anything beyond one source file and maybe I am getting some rule wrongly. Thanks in advance!
CC := gcc
SRC := src
OBJ := obj
MAIN := main
PACK := libbundle
SOURCES := $(wildcard $(SRC)/*.c)
OBJECTS := $(patsubst $(SRC)/%.c,$(OBJ)/%.o, $(SOURCES))
CFLAGS := -I$(SRC)
$(OBJECTS): $(SOURCES)
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $< -o $#
# build:
# ar rcs $(PACK).a $(OBJECTS)
# $(CC) -shared -o $(PACK).so $(OBJECTS)
# $(CC) -o $(MAIN).c $(PACK).so
Output:
gcc -Isrc -c src/firstsource.c -o obj/firstsource.o
...and stops there!

Answer 1

Problem - rule with multiple targets
Your rule
$(OBJECTS): $(SOURCES)
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $< -o $#
has multiple targets. I don't believe this is appropriate here. See discussion here of where rules with multiple targets are useful.
Also, this rule specifies multiple prerequisites - but $< represents only the first prerequisite. You can use $+ to capture all prerequisites - but then you lose the ability to use the -o option. See below if you want to use multiple prerequisites.
What $(OBJECTS): $(SOURCES) means in detail
Suppose, for example, that your src/ directory contains firstsource.c and secondsource.c. Then your variables become
$(SOURCES) -> src/firstsource.c src/secondsource.c
$(OBJECTS) -> obj/firstsource.o obj/secondsource.o
(Actually - and somewhat non-intuitively - firstsource will be placed after secondsource, but let's ignore that for simplicity's sake.)
So the rule
$(OBJECTS): $(SOURCES)
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $< -o $#
is equivalent to
obj/firstsource.o obj/secondsource.o: src/firstsource.c src/secondsource.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $< -o $#
This rule, in turn, is equivalent to two rules (since it has multiple targets) - each with the same prerequisites:
obj/firstsource.o: src/firstsource.c src/secondsource.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $< -o $#
obj/secondsource.o: src/firstsource.c src/secondsource.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $< -o $#
Can you see the problem here?
Since $< represents only the first prerequisite, the recipe for the first rule becomes
gcc -Isrc -c src/firstsource.c -o obj/firstsource.o
which is fine for the first rule, but for the second rule it won't work
gcc -Isrc -c src/firstsource.c -o obj/secondsource.o
because you are using the wrong input file.
By the way ... You mentioned that
unfortunately it [i.e. make] is only executing the command over the first detected file and stops there.
This is because - when you invoke make without any arguments - it calls the first rule in the file and no more.
Option 1: Use multiple rules
What is more suitable here are multiple rules - each with only a single target. So try replacing the above with the following.
$(OBJ)/%.o: $(SRC)/%.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $< -o $#
compile-only: $(OBJECTS)
You could invoke make on this modified Makefile as
make -B compile-only
Option 2: Single target with multiple prerequisites
If you have multiple prerequisites in your target, you can refer to them in your recipe using the special variable $+. However, you can not use the -o option in this case - so will not be able to specify the output directory for the object files. (To work around this, you could cd to the obj directory before compiling - but then you will need to tweak the SOURCES variable.)
CC := gcc
CFLAGS := -Isrc
SRC := src
SOURCES := $(wildcard $(SRC)/*.c)
myobjs: $(SOURCES)
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $+
This will place all the object files in the top-level directory. As mentioned, you can tweak SOURCES and cd the obj directory if you must place the object files in a separate directory.
Aside - pre-defined recipes for pattern rules
I understand the rationale in placing the build output in a separate directory as you have done, but - if you were willing to place the build output in the same directory as the source files - you could simplify your Makefile using make's predefined pattern rules.
SOURCES := $(wildcard $(SRC)/*.c)
OBJECTS := $(SOURCES:.c=.o)
compile: $(OBJECTS)

Answer 2

You should use standard targets in your Makefile, the most important one being "all". And it should be the first target in the Makefile so that make and make all do the same thing.
all: $(OBJECTS)

Answer 3

With $(OBJECTS): $(SOURCES) you are telling make that each file in $(OBJECTS) depends on every file in $(SOURCES) and will execute the commands below as any of the objects fails the test of being newer than any of the sources. The command will be executed only once and stop.
What you need is to specify that each object file depends on its correspondient source file. As I see you are using GMAKE syntax, I'll show you the GNU make syntax for such a rule:
$(OBJECTS): obj/%.o: src/%.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $< -o $#
this is as if you had a rule for each .o file that says how to compile it from its proper source file.
you will also need to say which files are your default targets, with something like:
.PHONY: all
all: $(OBJECTS)
clean:
$(RM) $(TOCLEAN)
put that rule the first one, so it will be selected by default.
This will make all your default target. It will explode into all your object files, and for each object you have a rule that says how to compile it (not neccessary, as gnu make already know how to compile a C program, but repeating it here doesn't hurt)
your final Makefile is:
CC := gcc
SRC := src
OBJ := obj
MAIN := main
PACK := libbundle
CFLAGS := -I$(SRC)
PICFLAGS := -fPIC
SOURCES := $(wildcard $(SRC)/*.c)
OBJECTS := $(patsubst $(SRC)/%.c, $(OBJ)/%.o, $(SOURCES))
TOCLEAN += $(OBJECTS)
PICOBJECTS := $(patsubst $(OBJ)/%.o, $(OBJ)/%.pic, $(OBJECTS))
TOCLEAN += $(PICOBJECTS)
.PHONY: all
.SUFFIXES: .c .o .pic
all: $(PACK).a $(MAIN)
clean:
$(RM) $(TOCLEAN)
$(MAIN): $(MAIN).o $(PACK).so
$(CC) $(LDFLAGS) -o $# $+
TOCLEAN += $(MAIN)
$(PACK).a: $(OBJECTS)
ar r $(PACK).a $(OBJECTS)
TOCLEAN += $(PACK).a
$(PACK).so: $(PICOBJECTS)
$(LD) $(LDFLAGS) -shared -o $(PACK).so $(PICOBJECTS)
TOCLEAN += $(PACK).so
# this to create a normal .o file in $(OBJ) directory.
$(OBJECTS): $(OBJ)/%.o: $(SRC)/%.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o $# -c $<
# this to create a PIC (Position Independent Code) .pic object in $(OBJ) directory.
# (REQUIRED FOR .so SHARED OBJECT)
$(PICOBJECTS): $(OBJ)/%.pic: $(SRC)/%.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(PICFLAGS) -o $# -c $<