Builder
-Copyright © 2006-2009 Mikkosoft Productions
-Version 1.0 readme
+Copyright © 2006-2012 Mikkosoft Productions
+Version 2.0 readme
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Contents
+
+1. Description
+2. Building Builder
+3. Using Builder
+4. Command line options
+5. Architectures and cross-compilation
+6. Dependency analysis
+7. Writing Build files
+8. Contact information
+9. License
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Description
Builder is a program for building other programs, similar to make, scons and
others. Its main design goals are minimizing duplication of configuration
between packages and being as fast as possible. Features include integrated
-configuration and dependency resolution for C and C++ sources.
+configuration, dependency resolution for C and C++ sources, multi-package
+builds, cross-compilation and pkg-config integration.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Building Builder
directory. Before running it, make sure you have the following libraries
available:
-MSP libraries: core datafile fs strings io
+MSP libraries: core datafile
Others: sigc++-2.0
variable for the script. If everything goes well, the script will build a
builder-stage1 binary and then proceed to build a normal version with it.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3. Using Builder to build projects
+3. Using Builder
In the simplest and most common case, Builder is invoked in the package's root
-directory without any arguments. An arbitary working directory may be
-specified with -C, or an alternative Build file with -f.
+directory without any arguments. It will look for a file called Build and
+load it. An alternative file can be specified with the -f option. The first
+package loaded from this file is called the main package and will determine
+what to build by default.
+
+While loading the package, other packages may be pulled in through require
+statements. Builder tries to locate the source for each required package by
+consulting pkg-config and looking through its package path. If the source
+can't be found, a binary package is tried next, from pkg-config and Builder's
+internal package database. If the package still can't be found, the build
+will fail. Loading external source packages can be disabled with the -x
+option.
+
+When building, the primary targets of each package are placed in the package's
+root directory. To build a subset of targets from the package, the desired
+targets can be named on the command line. Paths are interpreted relative to
+Builder's working directory. The analyzer can be useful in finding out what
+targets are available; see section 6 for details.
+
+To configure optional package features, arguments of the form key=value may be
+given. To obtain a list of available features, use the --help option in the
+package directory.
+
+Temporary files produced during the build are stored in a dedicated temporary
+directory. By default a directory named temp is created for each package, but
+this can be changed with the --tempdir option. Subdirectories are used to
+separate files for different build types and architectures.
+
+When multiple packages are involved in a build, Builder will need to install
+files for other packages to use them. By default these go in $HOME/local, but
+this can be changed with the --prefix option.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+4. Command line options
+
+When both Builder and GNU make offer the same functionality, the command line
+option to invoke it is the same as well.
+
+-a, --analyze MODE
+ Perform dependency analysis. See section 6 for details.
+
+-b, --build
+ Perform a build. This is the default action. This option can be used to
+ build even of some other action is specified.
+
+-c, --clean
+ Clean buildable targets. Any dependencies are cleaned up as well. Giving
+ this option twice cleans all packages.
+
+-f, --file=FILE
+ Read build instructions from FILE. The default is Build.
+
+-h, --help
+ Display a summary of command line options as well as configuration for the
+ main package.
+
+-j, --jobs NUM
+ Run up to NUM tasks in parallel. It's not very useful to specify a number
+ far in excess of the amount of logical CPU cores in the system.
+
+-l, --log LIST
+ Enable output from a comma-separated list of log channels.
+
+-n, --dry-run
+ Show what would be done without actually doing it. This is useful in
+ combination with -W or -l to find out what Builder would do in different
+ situations.
+
+-s, --silent
+ Don't print any messages other than errors.
+
+-t, --build-type TYPE
+ Sets the build type. The supported types are defined in the builderrc file.
+ The shipped configuration contains build types debug, optimized_debug,
+ release and static_release.
+
+-v, --verbose
+ Print more information about what's going on. This option may be specified
+ multiple times to enable progressively more output. Internally it translates
+ to enabling predefined sets of log channels.
+
+-x, --no-externals
+ Do not load external source packages.
+
+-A, --conf-all
+ Apply configuration to all packages. Normally, only the main package is
+ configured, but with this option all packages can be configured at once.
+
+-B, --build-all
+ Build all targets, even if their dependencies haven't been modified.
+
+-C, --chdir DIR
+ Change to DIR before doing anything else. This is equivalent to doing cd DIR
+ before invoking builder. It's of little practical value in a shell, but may
+ be useful in scripts to avoid cd commands. All filenames on the command line
+ will be interpreted relative to this directory.
+
+-P, --progress
+ Display progress while building.
+
+-W, --what-if FILE
+ Pretend that FILE has changed.
+
+--arch ARCH
+ Build for architecture ARCH. If the architecture is not native, this will
+ result in cross-compilation. See section 5 for details.
+
+--conf-only
+ Stop after configuring packages. This can be useful if you want to
+ configure a package being used in a multi-package build.
+
+--full-paths
+ Output full paths in analysis. Normally only target names are displayed.
+
+--max-depth NUM
+ Show up to NUM levels in analysis. Depths less than 3 are generally not very
+ useful. The default is 4.
+
+--prefix DIR
+ Install things to DIR. The default is $HOME/local.
+
+--tempdir DIR
+ Store temporary files in DIR. If a relative path is specified, each package
+ will have its own temp directory. The default is ./temp.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5. Architectures and cross-compilation
-To build a subset of the targets known to the package, the desired targets can
-be named on the command line. Note that if -C is used, the targets will be
-interpreted relative to that directory, not the one where Builder is invoked
-from.
+If the necessary compilers and other tools are available, Builder can cross-
+compile binaries for other systems. To activate cross-compilation, use the
+--arch option.
-To change package configuration, arguments of the form key=value may be given.
-By default they will only affect the current package, but with the -A switch,
-all active packages may be configured at once.
+An architecture specification consists of cpu type and model, bitness and
+operating system. The fields are separated by dashes and can appear in any
+order. A partial architecture specification can also be given; any missing
+fields are filled in from the native architecture.
-By default, files will be installed in $HOME/local. If you are not happy with
-this, the --prefix switch may be used to use another directory. Note that
-files may be installed due to dependencies when building multiple packages at
-once even if you don't specify the install target.
+The --arch option can also be used to build native binaries optimized for a
+specific cpu model. Simply specify the desired model as an architecture. By
+default, no cpu model is used, which will generally result in code that can be
+executed by all cpus of the same type.
+In cross-compile mode, the build results are stored in a directory named after
+the architecture. Similarly, the default prefix is $HOME/local/$ARCH.
-4. Using Builder in your project
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+6. Dependency analysis
+
+Builder can perform a dependency analysis in various ways. This can provide
+useful insight to the relations between targets. It may also be helpful if
+you suspect Builder isn't picking up all of your files.
+
+The following analysis modes are available:
+
+deps
+ Display most targets, but skip over those that have a predictable 1-to-1
+ relationship with their sources. Currently this includes ObjectFiles and
+ InstalledFiles.
+
+alldeps
+ Display all targets.
+
+rebuild
+ Display all targets, but stop descending as soon as a target not in need of
+ rebuilding is encountered.
+
+rdeps
+ Instead of displaying the dependencies of the targets on the command line,
+ display which targets depend on them. This provides similar information as
+ builder -a rebuild -W target world, but displayed in a different way.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+7. Writing Build files
Before going into details about Builder instruction files, it's beneficial to
understand the basic concepts used in Builder. There are three kinds of major
Targets are the individual files taking part in the build process. They are
created automatically from components.
-The canonical name for the insturction file is Build. It is written in a
+The canonical name for the instruction file is Build. It is written in a
structured declarative language, with syntax somewhat resembling the C
language. The basic unit is a statement, which consists of a keyword,
optional arguments and an optional block of sub-statements. Each statement is
are applied to find Builder-enabled packages.
To be useful, a package must define one or more components. At present, there
-are five types:
+are four types:
- program: Build an executable program
- library: Build a library (both shared and static)
- module: Build a module for a program
-- tarball: Pack files up in a tarbal
-- includes: Install headers for a library
+- tarball: Pack files up in a .tar file
-Each of these statements takes the component name as an argument. The target
-name is composed of the component name and a possible platform-specific prefix
-and suffix. For example, the statement:
+Each of these statements takes the component name as an argument. The final
+target name is composed of the component name and a possible platform-specific
+prefix and suffix. For example, the statement:
- library "mylib";
+ library "mylib"
+ {
+ ...
+ };
Will create a file called libmylib.so on Linux and libmylib.dll on Windows.
-For headers component, the name defines a subdirectory of the prefix include
-directory to install headers in.
Components must contain one or more source statements telling where sources
are found:
source "mylib.cpp";
Directories may be specified; each file inside the directory will be added to
-the source list. The list is filtered according to the component type and only
-applicable files are used.
+the source list. Subdirectories are not included. The list is filtered
+according to the component type and only applicable files are used.
-If you want a component to be installed, you can specify so:
+If you want a component to be installed, you can state it:
install true;
The default is not to install any components. The installation directory is
-automatically determined from the component type.
+automatically determined from the component type. Library components will also
+install any headers which were used to build the library.
+
+Packages may want to offer optional features, for example to allow the user to
+choose whether to use a particular external library:
+
+ feature "foolib"
+ {
+ description "Use foolib to perform magic";
+ };
+
+Enabled features will automatically cause a macro to be defined when compiling
+C or C++ code. The macro consists of a WITH_ prefix followed by the feature
+name in uppercase. The above feature would define the macro WITH_FOOLIB.
+
+To specify additional effects of a feature, such as required packages, a
+conditional statement may be used:
+
+ if_feature "foolib"
+ {
+ ...
+ };
+
+Any statements inside the conditional block are evaluated if the feature is
+enabled. This can be negated with a !. Conditionals can appear at the package
+level and may contain anything that the package statement can.
+
+When making cross-platform software, it's often necessary to use different
+libraries on different platforms. Another kind of conditional can be used for
+this:
+
+ if_arch "windows"
+ {
+ ...
+ };
+
+See section 5 for more information on how to specify an architecture. The
+conditional block is evaluated if all parts in the condition match the target
+architecture.
+
+Sometimes a library doesn't support pkg-config and can't be pulled in through a
+require statement. This is commonly the case with system libraries. The
+build_info statement can be used for this:
+
+ build_info
+ {
+ library "gdi32";
+ };
+
+In many cases these libraries are specific to that system, so it's best to wrap
+them in an if_arch statement.
+
+Another case for using build_info is if you want to keep your headers separate
+from source files:
+
+ incpath "include";
+
+Paths are interpreted relative to the package's root directory. It is not
+recommended to use absolute paths, as this can make your package difficult to
+build for others.
-For a complete example, see Builder's own Build file.
+For real-life examples, see the Build files in Builder itself or any of the
+MSP libraries.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-5. Contact information
+8. Contact information
The latest releases can be found at http://www.tdb.fi/builder.shtml
Bug reports, feature requests etc. may be sent to tdb@tdb.fi
-Read-only SVN access is available at http://svn.tdb.fi/builder
+Read-only git access is available at http://git.tdb.fi/builder
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-6. License
+9. License
-Builder is copyright © 2006-2009 Mikko Rasa, Mikkosoft Productions
+Builder is copyright © 2006-2012 Mikko Rasa, Mikkosoft Productions
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
projects / builder.git / commitdiff