title: makefile: dependency not build
body: <p><em>The question was edited after MadScientist's answer. See history for the original makefile, but the problem stays the same.</em></p>
  
  <p>I have a small makefile:</p>
  
  <pre><code>DEPFLAGS=-MD -Mo $(OUTDIR)/$*.Td
  POSTCOMPILE=@mv -f $(OUTDIR)/$*.Td $(OUTDIR)/$*.d &amp;&amp; touch $@
  VPATH=../src
  OUTDIR=../out
  SOURCES:=$(notdir $(wildcard ../src/*.c))
  OBJECTS:=$(SOURCES:%.c=$(OUTDIR)/%.o)
  
  all: $(OBJECTS) $(OBJECTS:%.o=%.d)
  
  $(OUTDIR)/%.o : %.c
  $(OUTDIR)/%.o : %.c $(OUTDIR)/%.d
      @$(CC) $(DEPFLAGS) -c $&lt; -o $@
      @$(POSTCOMPILE)
  
  $(OUTDIR)/%.d : ;
  .PRECIOUS: $(OUTDIR)/%.d
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Directory structure looks like:</p>
  
  <pre><code>src
    contains file.c
  out
    empty, after make: contains file.o and file.d
  make
    contains the makefile
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>When I call the makefile everything works fine and two files are generated: <i>file.o</i> and <i>file.d</i></p>
  
  <p>However, when I delete <i>file.d</i> nothing happens. I would expect that make finds a missing dependency for <i>file.c</i> and starts a rebuild. Why doesn't it happen?</p>
  
  <p>Make version is 3.81 built for i386-pc-mingw32 under Windows 7.</p>