GenericMakefile

A generic makefile for use with C projects. Allows for easy project setup without the need to create tedious build rules or dependency lists. Release builds produce size-optimized binaries.

Features

Automatically finds and compiles all source files within the source directory.
Compiles most recently modified files first, to hopefully find problems earlier.
Automatically generates dependencies as files are compiled, ensuring that files are correctly recompiled when dependencies have updated.
Includes configurations for normal (release) build and debug build suitable for GDB debugging or profiling. Debug builds include applicable GCC sanitizers.
Times the compilation of each file and the entire build.
Generates version numbers based on git tags (see below), which are passed the compiler as preprocessor macros (in debug mode).
By default, builds in a "quiet" mode that only lists the actions being performed. By passing V=true to make, you can compile in verbose mode to see the full compiler commands being issued.
8 default targets:
- 64-bit, dynamic-linked, release
- 64-bit, dynamic-linked, debug
- 64-bit, static-linked, release
- 64-bit, static-linked, debug
- 32-bit, dynamic-linked, release
- 32-bit, dynamic-linked, debug
- 32-bit, static-linked, release
- 32-bit, static-linked, debug
Customizable compiler/linker flags for each of the build targets. Sensible defaults baked in optimizing for size.
Post-build step to strip symbols from release binaries.
Incorporates calls to cppcheck as a build prerequisite. Also available as check target.
Incorporates scan-build when available for additional static analysis.
Optional indent target for style/whitespace conformity. Defaults to K&R, but with spaces instead of tabs and allowing 120-character lines.

Versioning

Tags should be made in the format vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH[-description], where MAJOR, MINOR, and PATCH are numeric. The v prefix is optional. The following macros will be generated and passed to the preprocessor:

VERSION_MAJOR (int) - The major version number from the most recent tag.
VERSION_MINOR (int) - The minor version number from the most recent tag.
VERSION_PATCH (int) - The patch version number from the most recent tag.
VERSION_REVISION (int) - The number of commits since the most recent tag.
VERSION_HASH (string) - The SHA of the current commit. Includes the "-dirty" suffix if there are uncommitted changes.

If the makefile is not used in a git repository, or is in a repository with no tags, the version macros are not created.

External Requirements

cppcheck
indent (optional)
scan-build (optional)

Limitations

Assumes GNU make.
Timing does not work correctly with MacOS. See issue #6 for a workaround patch that allows timing in seconds on Mac.
Doesn't really support multiple types of source files in the same project.
No easy way to exclude files from the build. You can either change the extension of files to be excluded, or use preprocessor flags for conditional compilation.
Don't use -lmcheck if your application is multi-threaded. mcheck is not thread-safe. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/314961 for more info.

Protips

Use scan-build make for additional static analysis

Thanks to

My friend Jay and people on Stack Overflow for help with regex to parse the version info.
The residents of /r/programming for suggesting numerous tweaks and improvements.
Josh, for his review and suggestions!