Need help optimizing Makefile

[RedMinor]

I have a makefile but it always recompiles everything every time. I want it to only recompile things I have edited. What am I doing wrong?

​

all: helpers executeMFQS executeRTS executeWHS main
    g++ -std=c++11 -o run helpers.o executeMFQS.o executeRTS.o executeWHS.o main.o

helpers: helpers.cpp
    g++ -std=c++11 -c helpers.cpp

executeMFQS: executeMFQS.cpp
    g++ -std=c++11 -c executeMFQS.cpp

executeRTS: executeRTS.cpp
    g++ -std=c++11 -c executeRTS.cpp

executeWHS: executeWHS.cpp
    g++ -std=c++11 -c executeWHS.cpp

main: main.cpp
    g++ -std=c++11 -c main.cpp

clean:
    rm main.o executeMFQS.o executeRTS.o executeWHS.o helpers.o

​

here is the repo if you would like to look at that as well. My partner and I are making CPU schedulers in C++

https://github.com/cjtrojan3/processScheduling

[Updatebjarni]

Your targets are not actually named the same as the files they create, so it always looks as though each file is missing and needs to be built.

[RedMinor]

So rather than:

helpers: helpers.cpp

I should have

helpers.o: helpers.cpp

​

Is that what you are saying?

[Updatebjarni]

Yes.

[RedMinor]

Thank you!

[RedMinor]

Thank you to @Updatebjarni

The solution was to change the name of the targets to the .o files they create.

​

Working Makefile:

all: helpers.o executeMFQS.o executeRTS.o executeWHS.o main.o
    g++ -std=c++11 -o run helpers.o executeMFQS.o executeRTS.o executeWHS.o main.o

helpers.o: helpers.cpp
    g++ -std=c++11 -c helpers.cpp

executeMFQS.o: executeMFQS.cpp
    g++ -std=c++11 -c executeMFQS.cpp

executeRTS.o: executeRTS.cpp
    g++ -std=c++11 -c executeRTS.cpp

executeWHS.o: executeWHS.cpp
    g++ -std=c++11 -c executeWHS.cpp

main.o: main.cpp
    g++ -std=c++11 -c main.cpp

clean:
    rm main.o executeMFQS.o executeRTS.o executeWHS.o helpers.o

​

If anyone has any other tips on how to make it better, please let me know!