target pattern contains no '%'. Stop.

[Reverend Jim]

When I try to build a C++ project I get the error message in the title line. I am trying to help my son move his development from a unix cluster to his laptop. He is running Windows XP Pro and has installed the Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers. The version is Helios Repease 20100617-1415. He also has installed cygwin 1.7.7. The problem is (I think) related to ticpp. The error message from the compiler is

make: ***target pattern contains no '%'. Stop.

When I click on the error message it takes me to the following section of subdir.mk

# Each subdirectory must supply rules for building sources it contributes
ticpp-read-only/ticpp.o: D:/FRODAN/frodaN_home/ticpp-read-only/ticpp.cpp
@echo 'Building file: $<'
@echo 'Invoking: Cygwin C++ Compiler'
g++ -IE:/cygwin/lib/gcc/i686-pc-cygwin/3.4.4/include -I"D:\FRODAN\frodaN_home\frodaN" -O0 -g3 -Wall -c -fmessage-length=0 -MMD -MP -MF"$(@:%.o=%.d)" -MT"$(@:%.o=%.d)" -o"$@" "$<"
@echo 'Finished building: $<'
@echo ' '

Can anyone tell me what this error message means and what I can do to resolve it? I have done most of my development in (many years of coding) with a simple text editor. Any projects developed under a GUI were in Visual Studio so I know very little about eclipse.

[Narue]

I'd speculate that $@ (your target) is a Windows-style path with the "<drive>:\" pattern. The colon from Windows paths can cause this error because suddenly you're looking at an unexpected separator in the pattern rather than a complete target.

What does your make invocation on the command line look like?

[Reverend Jim]

I'd speculate that $@ (your target) is a Windows-style path with the "<drive>:\" pattern. The colon from Windows paths can cause this error because suddenly you're looking at an unexpected separator in the pattern rather than a complete target.

What does your make invocation on the command line look like?

I don't know what you are asking. I do not "invoke" the compiler on the command line. I use "Project -> Build All" from the Eclipse menu. There are literally hundreds of options and I do not know where to look.

[Narue]

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar enough with Eclipse to walk you through the build settings. Perhaps someone else will be able to pick up the thread from here.

[nezachem]

The standard recommendation is to replace all the windows style paths with cygwin paths, such as /cygdrive/d/FRODAN/whatever. make dropped support for windows style paths since at least 2006.

[Reverend Jim]

The standard recommendation is to replace all the windows style paths with cygwin paths, such as /cygdrive/d/FRODAN/whatever. make dropped support for windows style paths since at least 2006.

Well then, that's a problem because I did not enter any paths by typing them in. In all cases I selected folders from within dialogs presented by Eclipse. God only knows where all of that information is stored. If Eclipse wants to store the paths in a form that is not compatible with the compiler then that just plain seems wrong.

[nezachem]

Regarding Eclipse, I am as illiterate as you are. However, I know for sure that Eclipse works very well with cygwin. I do recommend to either
- redo the whole import again, making sure that at each step the cygwin compatible option is selected, OR
- find all makefiles and their fragments of the project, and replace the paths cygwin style anywhere they are spelled out.