GCC and makefile on Raspberry Pi running NOOBS deletes my c file

Question

I am having an issue with my pi where I run gcc or make from the terminal and my main c file included in the compilation is deleted. I am using the wiringPi library to communicate with some sensors via i2c. The code does work, as I have been able to properly compile things without deletion before. But now whenever I run make or gcc the main c file is deleted.

Things look like this: imu_header.h imu_main.c makefile

My header holds definitions of registers and my main file connects to the device and performs reads and writes. I have also compiled code that did none of that and just printed hello world with the same main file deletion.

Here is my gcc code:

gcc -Wall -o imu_main.c imu_header.h -lwiringPi

Running this deletes the imu_main.c file.

Here is my makefile:

imuRun: imu_main.c imu_header.h
        gcc -Wall -o imu_main.c imu_header.h -lwiringPi

When I run make I also lose the imu_main.c file.

I am using the suggested gcc command from the wiringPi blink example:http://wiringpi.com/examples/blink/

Is there a syntax error here and I am doing something wrong? And what does the -Wall parameter do to the gcc command? I have started using a private github repo to store my code and prevent file loss, but this is preventing me from checking if my code even runs. Yesterday I upgraded and updated the Pi with the proper commands but that didn't change anything.

Thank you for your help.

-Mike :)

Answer 1

The -o option to gcc specifies the name to be given to the executable. You are saying name the executable as the input source code. That is almost certainly an error.