Thread: Compiling serious C projects

2. The soultion to above problem would be to create a small makefiles in each module/folder which defines what needs to be compiled. But this solution also have drawback, if we change compiler or sth else system level then we need to change maybe 1000 makefiles.

I still recommend this solution.

I understand make to be a general purpose program: as long as the compiler, or toolchain, can be invoked on the command line, you can set up a make file.
CC= allows you to name the C compiler
CXX= allows you to name the C++ compiler

You can set flags as well like this. GNU make: Implicit Variables

So, in general, I don't really understand the complaint. Make-fu should be able to solve it as long as you put variables to judicious use.


Maybe it's time to use an IDE and shift to a project-oriented workflow.

We are told to avoid nested makefiles because it's hard to correctly pass environment variables around and makes multitasking at the same level (meaning while the other Makefile is running) impossible.

I don't share that opinion though. I think a separate makefile is necessary when you want to build multiple executables. My general rule is one executable (or linking) per makefile.

To answer your question, if you're concerned about having to change compiler or system you either need to use implicit variables as whiteflags suggested, use the classic ./configure script or use a wrapper program such as cmake.