make question (dependency)

[James]

How NOT to generate an empty dependency file if fails? For example,

TOP = $(HOME)

%.d: %.c
    $(CC) -M $< | sed "s/$(TOP)/$$(TOP)/" > $@

if $(CC) -M fails, it generates an empty .d file.

.DELETE_ON_ERROR:
does not seem to help.

I could try

%.d: %.c
    if [ "`$(CC) -M $<`" ]; then \
       $(CC) -M $< | sed "s/$(TOP)/$$(TOP)/" > $@; \
    else \
       echo "Error"; \
    fi

but it excutes $(CC) -M twice and not efficient.

Thanks for help.
James