PRB: /Tp and /Tc Show Unexpected Behavior with Wildcards

• The Microsoft C/C++ Compiler (CL.EXE), included with: - Microsoft C/C++ for MS-DOS, version 7.0 - Microsoft Visual C++ for Windows, versions 1.0, 1.5 - Microsoft Visual C++ 32-bit Edition, versions 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, 4.0, 4.1,

       4.2, 5.0
  

SUMMARY

When compiling multiple .CPP or .CXX files using a wildcard syntax and the /Tc command line option, for example

   cl /Tc *.cpp

CAUSE

This behavior is by design. As stated in the online and hard copy documentation for Microsoft C/C++ version 7.0 and all versions of Microsoft Visual C++ 16- and 32-bit Editions, the following is the correct syntax for the /Tc and /Tp command line options:

   /Tc<filename>   -or-   /Tc <filename>
   /Tp<filename>   -or-   /Tp <filename>

MORE INFORMATION

The following are two possible workarounds for the potential inconvenience presented by this behavior:

• Use a makefile to control compilations involving the /Tc or /Tp switch. Instead of using wildcards, list the files as dependents of the respective .OBJ files. This offers two advantages over using wildcards:

      - Only the files that have changed with respect to their .OBJ
        are recompiled.
  

      - The proper compiler is invoked for the file to be compiled.
  

  -or-

• Rename all files in question such that they have the expected extensions. For example, rename SRC.CPP to SRC.C if you want the C compiler to be invoked on the source.

Sample Code

If you wish to compile file1.c, file2.c and file3.c with the C++ compiler and link them to create exefile.exe, use the following makefile:

   .c.obj:
      cl /c /Tp $<

   exefile.exe : file1.obj file2.obj file3.obj
      link $**, exefile.exe;