In a makefile, how to get the relative path from one absolute path to another?

Robust drop-in solution with pure Make:

override define \s :=
$() $()
endef

ifndef $(\s)
override $(\s) :=
else
$(error Defined special variable '$(\s)': reserved for internal use)
endif

override define dirname
$(patsubst %/,%,$(dir $(patsubst %/,%,$1)))
endef

override define prefix_1
$(if $(or $\
$(patsubst $(abspath $3)%,,$(abspath $1)),$\
$(patsubst $(abspath $3)%,,$(abspath $2))),$\
$(strip $(call prefix_1,$1,$2,$(call dirname,$3))),$\
$(strip $(abspath $3)))
endef

override define prefix
$(call prefix_1,$1,$2,$1)
endef

override define relpath_1
$(patsubst /%,%,$(subst $(\s),/,$(patsubst %,..,$(subst /,$(\s),$\
$(patsubst $3%,%,$(abspath $2)))))$\
$(patsubst $3%,%,$(abspath $1)))
endef

override define relpath
$(call relpath_1,$1,$2,$(call prefix,$1,$2))
endef

Test cases:

$(info $(call prefix,/home/user,/home/user))
$(info $(call prefix,/home/user,/home/user/))
$(info $(call prefix,/home/user/,/home/user))
$(info $(call prefix,/home/user/,/home/user/))

$(info $(call relpath,/home/user,/home/user))
$(info $(call relpath,/home/user,/home/user/))
$(info $(call relpath,/home/user/,/home/user))
$(info $(call relpath,/home/user/,/home/user/))

$(info ----------------------------------------------------------------------)

$(info $(call prefix,/home/user,/home/user/.local/share))
$(info $(call prefix,/home/user,/home/user/.local/share/))
$(info $(call prefix,/home/user/,/home/user/.local/share))
$(info $(call prefix,/home/user/,/home/user/.local/share/))

$(info $(call relpath,/home/user,/home/user/.local/share))
$(info $(call relpath,/home/user,/home/user/.local/share/))
$(info $(call relpath,/home/user/,/home/user/.local/share))
$(info $(call relpath,/home/user/,/home/user/.local/share/))

$(info ----------------------------------------------------------------------)

$(info $(call prefix,/home/user/.config,/home/user/.local/share))
$(info $(call prefix,/home/user/.config,/home/user/.local/share/))
$(info $(call prefix,/home/user/.config/,/home/user/.local/share))
$(info $(call prefix,/home/user/.config/,/home/user/.local/share/))

$(info $(call relpath,/home/user/.config,/home/user/.local/share))
$(info $(call relpath,/home/user/.config,/home/user/.local/share/))
$(info $(call relpath,/home/user/.config/,/home/user/.local/share))
$(info $(call relpath,/home/user/.config/,/home/user/.local/share/))

$(info ----------------------------------------------------------------------)

$(info $(call prefix,/home/user/.local/share,/home/user))
$(info $(call prefix,/home/user/.local/share,/home/user/))
$(info $(call prefix,/home/user/.local/share/,/home/user))
$(info $(call prefix,/home/user/.local/share/,/home/user/))

$(info $(call relpath,/home/user/.local/share,/home/user))
$(info $(call relpath,/home/user/.local/share,/home/user/))
$(info $(call relpath,/home/user/.local/share/,/home/user))
$(info $(call relpath,/home/user/.local/share/,/home/user/))

$(info ----------------------------------------------------------------------)

$(info $(call prefix,/home/user/.local/share,/home/user/.config))
$(info $(call prefix,/home/user/.local/share,/home/user/.config/))
$(info $(call prefix,/home/user/.local/share/,/home/user/.config))
$(info $(call prefix,/home/user/.local/share/,/home/user/.config/))

$(info $(call relpath,/home/user/.local/share,/home/user/.config))
$(info $(call relpath,/home/user/.local/share,/home/user/.config/))
$(info $(call relpath,/home/user/.local/share/,/home/user/.config))
$(info $(call relpath,/home/user/.local/share/,/home/user/.config/))

$(info ----------------------------------------------------------------------)

$(info $(call prefix,/root,/home/user))
$(info $(call prefix,/root,/home/user/))
$(info $(call prefix,/root/,/home/user))
$(info $(call prefix,/root/,/home/user/))

$(info $(call relpath,/root,/home/user))
$(info $(call relpath,/root,/home/user/))
$(info $(call relpath,/root/,/home/user))
$(info $(call relpath,/root/,/home/user/))

Expected results:

/home/user
/home/user
/home/user
/home/user




----------------------------------------------------------------------
/home/user
/home/user
/home/user
/home/user
../..
../..
../..
../..
----------------------------------------------------------------------
/home/user
/home/user
/home/user
/home/user
../../.config
../../.config
../../.config
../../.config
----------------------------------------------------------------------
/home/user
/home/user
/home/user
/home/user
.local/share
.local/share
.local/share
.local/share
----------------------------------------------------------------------
/home/user
/home/user
/home/user
/home/user
../.local/share
../.local/share
../.local/share
../.local/share
----------------------------------------------------------------------




../../root
../../root
../../root
../../root

Perl is portable! Here's a solution using the abs2rel function from the core Perl module File::Spec (resp. File::Spec::Functions):

current_dir= /home/username/projects/app/trunk/src/libs/libfoo/ 
destination= /home/username/projects/app/build/libfoo/ 
relative=    $(shell perl -MFile::Spec::Functions=abs2rel -E 'say abs2rel(shift, shift)' $(destination) $(current_dir))

makefile_target:
    @echo "Use now $(relative)"

This is my solution based on the Norman Gray's idea:

define relative
CURDIR=$(1); UP=; while ! expr $(2) : $${CURDIR} > /dev/null; do UP=../$${UP}; CURDIR=$$(dirname $${CURDIR}); done; echo $${UP}$$(expr $(2) : $${CURDIR}'/*\(.*\)')
endef

includedir1=/a/b/c/d
includedir2=/a/b/e/f/g/h/j
currentdir=/a/b/e/f/g

relative1:=$(shell $(call relative,$(currentdir),$(includedir1)))

makefile_target:
    @echo "Relative1: $(relative1)"
    @echo "Relative2: $(shell $(call relative,$(currentdir),$(includedir2)))"