How can I configure my makefile for debug and release builds?

Question

I have the following makefile for my project, and I\'d like to configure it for release and debug builds. In my code, I have lots of #ifdef DEBUG macros in plac

Answer 1

If by configure release/build, you mean you only need one config per makefile, then it is simply a matter and decoupling CC and CFLAGS:

CFLAGS=-DDEBUG
#CFLAGS=-O2 -DNDEBUG
CC=g++ -g3 -gdwarf2 $(CFLAGS)

Depending on whether you can use gnu makefile, you can use conditional to make this a bit fancier, and control it from the command line:

DEBUG ?= 1
ifeq ($(DEBUG), 1)
    CFLAGS =-DDEBUG
else
    CFLAGS=-DNDEBUG
endif

.o: .c
    $(CC) -c $< -o $@ $(CFLAGS)

and then use:

make DEBUG=0
make DEBUG=1

If you need to control both configurations at the same time, I think it is better to have build directories, and one build directory / config.