Calling makefile in a subdirectory

Question

I have a source code folder structure as follows

src
 |-tests
 |-abc

I have a makefile in src which has a target called tests. tests has its own makefile which it uses to compile the source code into binary.(multiple targets).All that is managed by the Makefile in the test directory.

My src make file has the following targets.

all: main tests

main: $(DEPENDENCY IN SRC and ABC)
   command

tests: ??
     make -C tests

What dependancy can I specify for tests target in the main Makefile.. I don't want this Makefile to be aware of the source files in the tests folder.

Answer 1

all: main tests

main: $(DEPENDENCY IN SRC and ABC)
   command

tests:
     $(MAKE) -C tests

this will unconditionally invoke make of tests on its private subdirectory. Note that usage of special $(MAKE) variable helps to propagate command-line parameters and reduces overhead.