depending on directories in make

Some sort of sentinel file will solve this quite nicely. Allows you to write a single pattern rule to create all folders, does not have any rogue recompilation issues, and is -j safe.

OBJDIR := objdir/
OBJS := $(addprefix ${OBJDIR},foo.o bar.o baz.o)

all: ${OBJS}

${OBJDIR}%.o : %.c ${OBJDIR}.sentinel
     ${COMPILE.c} ${OUTPUT_OPTION} $<

# A single pattern rule will create all appropriate folders as required
.PRECIOUS: %/.sentinel # otherwise make (annoyingly) deletes it
%/.sentinel:
     mkdir -p ${@D}
     touch $@

As answered already, you cannot put a directory with output files as a dependency, because it is updated every time.

One solution (stated above) is to put a mkdir -p before each build, like this:

objdir:=../obj
$(objdir)/%.o: %.C
    @mkdir -p $(objdir) $(DEPDIR) ...
    $(COMPILE) -MM -MT$(objdir)/$(notdir $@) $< -o $(DEPDIR)/$(notdir $(basename $<).d )
    $(COMPILE) -o $(objdir)/$(notdir $@ ) -c $<

But I don't love this solution, because it forces running an extra process lots and lots of times. However, knowing the reason for the error, there is another way:

exe: dirs $(OBJ)

In the primary target, the one building the executable, just insert a target dirs before the objects. Since it's hit in order:

dirs:
    @mkdir -p $(objdir) $(DESTDIR) ...

and this is only done once for the entire build, rather than once per file.

As others have said, the problem is that a directory is considered "changed" whenever directory members are added or removed, so make sees your output directory changing all the time, and reruns all the compilations which you have told it depend on the output directory.

As an alternative to the workarounds described by others, recent GNU make versions have support for "order-only prerequisites". The description of order-only prerequisites in the manual includes an example of how to use them for directory creation.

You also can try with Order-only prerequisites.

There is a similar example, of your question, available.

 OBJDIR := objdir
 OBJS := $(addprefix $(OBJDIR)/,foo.o bar.o baz.o)
 
 $(OBJDIR)/%.o : %.c
         $(COMPILE.c) $(OUTPUT_OPTION) $<
 
 all: $(OBJS)
 
 $(OBJS): | $(OBJDIR)
 
 $(OBJDIR):
         mkdir $(OBJDIR)