I have a main makefile to compile my lib: sdklib.a : all: sdklib.a sdklib_arm64.a: FORCE $(MAKE) -f makefile.iphone TARGET=arm64 all sdklib_armv7.a: FORCE $(MAKE) -f makefile.iphone TARGET=armv7 all sdklib_armv7s.a: FORCE $(MAKE) -f makefile.iphone TARGET=armv7s all FORCE: sdklib.a: sdklib_arm64.a sdklib_armv7s.a sdklib_armv7.a lipo -create -output sdklib.a sdklib_arm64.a sdklib_armv7s.a sdklib_armv7.a And my makefile.iphone is : Compiler to use. Can be g++ or clang++ CXX = clang all: sdklib_$(TARGET).a TMPDIR=tmp_$(TARGET) PLATFORM_BASE=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS.sdk COMMON_FLAGS = -Isrc/main/cpp -Isrc/main/objc -I../api/tmp_$(TARGET)/src/main/proto -I../protobuf/src/main/cpp -Wno-unused-command-line-argument -arch $(TARGET) -emit-llvm -mios-simulator-version-min=6.1 -fobjc-abi-version=2 -isysroot $(PLATFORM_BASE) -stdlib=libc++ -pthread -DHAVE_PTHREAD -DGOOGLE_PROTOBUF_NO_RTTI -fPIC -fno-rtti -fobjc-arc -framework AdSupport -framework AppTrackingTransparency -framework CoreLocation -framework CoreMotion -framework Foundation -framework UIKit -framework SystemConfiguration -Wall -Wno-deprecated-declarations -Werror OBJC_FLAGS = $(COMMON_FLAGS) CPP_FLAGS = $(COMMON_FLAGS) -std=c++11 Compiler flags to generate dependencies (.newdep) files. .newdep files are then renames as .dep DEPFLAGS = -MT $@ -MMD -MP -MF $(TMPDIR)/$*.newdep CC_COMPILE = $(CXX) $(DEPFLAGS) $(CPP_FLAGS) -c M_COMPILE = $(CXX) $(DEPFLAGS) $(OBJC_FLAGS) -c MM_COMPILE = $(CXX) $(DEPFLAGS) $(CPP_FLAGS) -c After compilation rename the .newdep files. This avoid a failing compilation to corrupt the dependency stuff. POSTCOMPILE = mv -f $(TMPDIR)/$.newdep $(TMPDIR)/$.dep LDFLAGS_COMMON := -lprotobuf -lstdc++ -lpthread Linker flags. On server use the server lib with all protos, on phone use only phone visible ones. LDFLAGS_LIB := ../api/libapi.a $(LDFLAGS_COMMON) Shell commands to build tmp directory tree as a clone of sources tree. $(shell find src/main/cpp -type d | grep -v $(TMPDIR) | xargs -I {} mkdir -p $(TMPDIR)/{}) $(shell find src/main/objc -type d | grep -v $(TMPDIR) | xargs -I {} mkdir -p $(TMPDIR)/{}) Rules to compile $(TMPDIR)/%.o: %.cc $(TMPDIR)/%.o: %.cc $(CC_COMPILE) $(OUTPUT_OPTION) $< $(POSTCOMPILE) $(TMPDIR)/%.o: %.m $(TMPDIR)/%.o: %.m $(M_COMPILE) $(OUTPUT_OPTION) $< $(POSTCOMPILE) $(TMPDIR)/%.o: %.mm $(TMPDIR)/%.o: %.mm $(MM_COMPILE) $(OUTPUT_OPTION) $< $(POSTCOMPILE) Include all dependency files. -include $(shell find $(TMPDIR) -name '*.dep') Scan folder for cc files. CC_SRC = $(shell find src/main/cpp -name '.cc') M_SRC = $(shell find src/main/objc -name '.m') MM_SRC = $(shell find src/main/objc -name '*.mm') Generate .o names for all .cc, .mm and .m files. OBJS=$(addprefix $(TMPDIR)/,$(CC_SRC:.cc=.o)) $(addprefix $(TMPDIR)/,$(MM_SRC:.mm=.o)) $(addprefix $(TMPDIR)/,$(M_SRC:.m=.o)) Methods to remove items from a list if they match or does not match a string. FILTER_OUT = $(foreach v,$(2),$(if $(findstring $(1),$(v)),,$(v))) FILTER_OUT_NOT = $(foreach v,$(2),$(if $(findstring $(1),$(v)),$(v),)) SDKLIB_OBJS = $(call FILTER_OUT,_test., $(call FILTER_OUT,_tool., $(OBJS))) Static target for tests. sdklib_$(TARGET).a: $(SDKLIB_OBJS) ar rcs sdklib_$(TARGET).a $(SDKLIB_OBJS) clean: rm -f sdklib_$(TARGET).a rm -rf $(TMPDIR)