How to add a Makefile post-build step

I spend most of my time working in Visual Studio and like its ability for performing post-build steps. These can be used to copy files, register DLLs, or run unit tests.

In my work at MSU I need to use a makefile and have been writing my code test-first. As such, I found I was spending a lot of time typing make and then typing ./runTests. Ideally, I could just have the tests run automatically after each build.

Looking around on the internet for quick steps to add a post-build step to make wasn’t so fruitful. I ran in to a bunch of old forum posts that mentioned Visual Studio-generated makefiles with post-build steps. A little thinking about the idea sprang the solution straight to mind.

It turns out it is really simple and quite intuitive. Here’s my current makefile:

CC=g++
CFLAGS=-c -Wall -pedantic-errors -Wextra -Wunused -Werror

all: findRoute findRoute-test runTests

rebuild: clean all

runTests: findRoute-test
	./findRoute-test.exe

findRoute: main.o cities.o flight_charges.o traffic_controller.o
	$(CC) main.o cities.o flight_charges.o traffic_controller.o -o findRoute

findRoute-test: main-test.o cities.o flight_charges.o traffic_controller.o
	$(CC) main-test.o cities.o flight_charges.o traffic_controller.o -o findRoute-test

main.o: main.cpp
	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) main.cpp

cities.o: cities.cpp
	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) cities.cpp

flight_charges.o: flight_charges.cpp
	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) flight_charges.cpp

traffic_controller.o: traffic_controller.cpp
	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) traffic_controller.cpp

main-test.o: main-test.cpp
	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) main-test.cpp

clean:
	rm -rf *o findRoute*

The runTests step above states that the findRoute-test step is a prerequisite. If that step passes, then it simply executes the next line, that being the test executable.

I found this very intuitive as it is no different than any other executable like the compiler. I hope this helps someone else who is thinking of doing the same or a variation.

Do you see anything above that could be improved? I love getting comments that help me get better.