Make file g++ shared library

Question

Im trying to create a library that i could integrate with R in the future, but also use on Command Line

My first step in the path is creating a library, either .a or .so

This is my make file. It compiles fine, but when i look at the folders are empty(Which means i cannot use it in my wilxtest.cpp

EXTERNALLIBS = -lnetcdf_c++ -lgsl -lgslcblas
WILXAPP = src/wilxtest.cpp
CXX = g++
CXXFLAGS = -Wall -ggdb
LIBOBJS: src/wilcoxonParallelTests.o
LIBRARY: lib/WilcoxonParallelTests.a

$(LIBRARY): $(LIBOBJS)
    $(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) ar cr $(LIBRARY) $(LIBOBJS) $(EXTERNALLIBS)

bin/Debug/WilxAstakTest: $(WILXAPP)
    $(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) -o $@ $^ $(EXTERNALLIBS)

Debug: $(LIBRARY) bin/Debug/WilxAstakTest

MkDirs:
    mkdir -p obj
    mkdir -p lib
    mkdir -p bin/Debug

cleanDebug:
    rm -rf obj/*
    rm -rf lib/*
    rm -rf bin/Debug/*

EDITED:

I had ":" instead of "=" after LIBOBJS and LIBRARY. I also didnt have a target to create object file. Here is the updated version:

EXTERNALLIBS = -lnetcdf_c++ -lgsl -lgslcblas
WILXAPP = src/wilxtest.cpp
CXX = g++
CXXFLAGS = -Wall -ggdb
LIBCPP = src/wilcoxonParallelTests.cpp
LIBOBJS = obj/wilcoxonParallelTests.o
LIBRARY = lib/WilcoxonParallelTests.a

$(LIBOBJS): $(LIBCPP)
    $(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) -c $(LIBCPP) -o $(LIBOBJS)

$(LIBRARY): $(LIBOBJS)
    ar -cr $(LIBRARY) $(LIBOBJS)

bin/Debug/WilxAstakTest: $(WILXAPP) $(LIBRARY)
    $(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) -o $@ $^ $(EXTERNALLIBS)

Debug: $(LIBRARY) bin/Debug/WilxAstakTest

MkDirs:
    mkdir -p obj
    mkdir -p lib
    mkdir -p bin/Debug

cleanDebug:
    rm -rf obj/*
    rm -rf lib/*
    rm -rf bin/Debug/*

Answer 1

Instead of this:

$(LIBRARY): $(LIBOBJS)
    $(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) ar cr $(LIBRARY) $(LIBOBJS) $(EXTERNALLIBS)

try this:

$(LIBRARY): $(LIBOBJS)
    ar -cr $(LIBRARY) $(LIBOBJS) $(EXTERNALLIBS)

(Further improvements are possible, once the makefile works.)