“error: cannot find symbol” when compiling with javac using makefile

Question

My directory currently looks like this

├── Makefile
├── run_tests (Unix executable)
└── src
    └── vehicles
        ├── Wheels.java
        └── Cars.java
    └── RunProgram.java
    tests
    └── test1.txt
    └── test2.txt

RunProgram.java is my main.

Looking online, I currently have a Makefile that looks like this:

JFLAGS = -g
JC = javac
.SUFFIXES: .java .class
.java.class:
    $(JC) $(JFLAGS) $*.java

 CLASSES = \
    src/vehicles/Wheels.java \
    src/vehicles/Cars.java \
    src/RunProgram.java 

default: classes

classes: $(CLASSES:.java=.class)

clean:
    $(RM) *.class

I have two main issues right now.

1. Cars.java throws an "error: cannot find symbol" for Wheels even though it compiles Wheels first (previously I had the order wrong, now it's correct).

2. I'm going to need to add a "test" to the Makefile eventually, which comes with its own problems. Essentially run_tests will put everything in the tests folder through System.in. However it has trouble running things in another directory, so I have to output the RunProgram.class to the root directory.

THIS IS HOW I RAN THE TESTS FROM THE COMMAND LINE WHEN THE ONLY PROGRAM IN THE PACKAGE STRUCTURE WAS RunProgram.java

javac -d ./ ./src/RunProgram.java 
./run_tests "java RunProgram"

However, when I try running javac now I get errors that package imports don't exist. This is why I'm going with Makefile, as that's the ideal solution.

TL;DR I need a way to compile my program with Makefile and write a "make test" command that can properly call run_tests

I'm also willing to accept a solution that allows me to run javac from the command line and run the the tests from there, but Makefile is preferred

Answer 1

Best I could do to solve this was make a jar file and then do ./run_tests "java -jar RunProgram.jar" Obviously not ideal but it worked.