| |PyPI Version| |Documentation| |Build Status| |Coverage| |Landscape| |Gitter| pyrate ====== **pyrate** is a small python based build file generator targeting `ninja(s)`_. It allows to describe the build process of small projects in a very simple way using a python based configuration file. This description is then turned into ninja build files, that enable a very quick turnaround of project builds. Quick HOWTO ----------- The following presents the necessary steps to quickly test the waters with this tool (assuming ninja is already installed). These commands will install **pyrate**, generate the ninja build file, build and execute a small executable: .. code:: sh pip install pyrate-build echo -e '#include \nint main() { printf("Ahoy World!"); return 0; }' > test.cpp echo -e "executable('test', 'test.cpp')" > build.py pyrate ninja ./test More examples can be found in the `github`_ repository. Installation ------------ **pyrate** is very easy to deploy - there are no particular installation steps to use it once the single script ``pyrate.py`` is available somewhere. It can even board the project directory of your project and simply get called from there. The only dependency to generate the ninja build files is having a working python installation. **pyrate** should work out of the box with all python versions between 2.4 and 3.4. To actually build the project, ninja has to be installed as well. The latest release version of **pyrate** can be installed from the Python Package Index with: .. code:: sh pip install pyrate-build The latest development version can be retrieved from the github repository: .. code:: sh git clone https://github.com/pyrate-build/pyrate-build Usage ----- The quickest way to execute **pyrate** is: .. code:: sh pyrate Without any parameters, **pyrate** will use the build configuration script (*pyrate script*) named ``build.py`` and create a ninja build file called ``build.ninja``. If another pyrate script should be used, this can be specified as a positional argument. The name of the created ninja build file can be customized using the option ``-o`` or ``--output``. The quick invocation shown above is therefore equivalent to the following invocation: .. code:: sh pyrate --output mybuild.ninja mybuild.py When the script is started, it first changes the current directory to the directory containing the build configuration script, so all path names are relative to it. .. code:: sh pyrate path/to/mybuild.py will therefore create the ninja build file path/to/build.ninja If **pyrate** is placed in a directory listed in the PATH environment variable (as automatically done by ``pip install pyrate-build``), the build configure script can be made executable to invoke **pyrate** automatically by starting the build config script with: .. code:: python #!/usr/bin/env pyrate *There is some experimental support for the generation of plain makefiles, which can be switched on with* ``-M`` *or* ``--makefile``. Build File Configuration Syntax ------------------------------- The build configuration for **pyrate** is written in python - so the full power of python can be used to construct and describe the build process. Several classes, functions and variables are available to ease and customize the configuration of the build process. Specifying build input ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In general, a build input list that can be used to construct a build target takes the form: - ``[, , ...]`` Each item can be one of the following: - a *string* is interpreted as a file name that is processed according to the rules specified by the packages in the ``tool`` dictionary - a *build target* as returned by the functions described in `Defining build targets`_ or explicitly defined - an *external dependency* as returned by the functions described in `External dependencies`_ or explicitly defined - or any other kind of ``BuildSource`` (explained later) Instead of a list, it is also possible to specify a space separated string of file names. Such a string is automatically split, so the following two build input lists behave identically: - ``" ..."`` - ``['', '', ...]`` Besides specifying file names by hand, there are many ways to get a list of files. Common methods include calling the python function ``os.listdir`` or using the helper function ``match`` provided by **pyrate**: - ``match(selector, dir_name = '.', recurse = False)`` This functions allows to select files from a directory using a string consisting of black / white listing path name patterns. The selector ``'*.cpp -test*.cpp test3.cpp *.h'`` for example selects all files ending with ‘.h’ and ‘.cpp’, with the exception of those ‘.cpp’ files that start with ‘test’ and are not called ‘test3.cpp’. Defining build targets ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are four global helper functions to define object files, executables and libraries based on a list of build inputs (which can be files, other targets or externals - as shown in `Specifying build input`_): - ``executable(name, input_list, compiler_opts = None, linker_opts = None)`` - ``shared_library(name, input_list = None, compiler_opts = None, linker_opts = None)`` - ``static_library(name, input_list = None, compiler_opts = None, linker_opts = None)`` - ``object_file(name, input_list, compiler_opts = None)`` Each function returns a build target object, that can be used as input / dependency of another function. If multiple executables / libraries or object files with the same name but different inputs / options are defined, **pyrate** will ensure that the output will have a unique name (by appending a hash based suffix as needed). More details about this is available in `Target Collision Avoidance`_. If no input_list is given to ``shared_library`` or ``static_library``, a BuildSource will be created, that represents the specified library. Existing libraries can quickly be defined as dependencies this way, but the name has to be a path to an existing file! These functions exist as global functions and as member functions of a so-called build context, that describes how these functions are processed. The global functions are just executing within the default build context. By default, all build targets that are defined by the above functions (or direct API calls) are built. In order to select only certain default targets, the global variable ``default_targets`` can be used: - ``default_targets = [,...]`` (list of targets), ```` (single target) or ``None`` (all targets are built) External dependencies ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The build environment / dependencies on external packages can be expressed using the following functions / variables: - ``find_external(name, ...)`` - ``use_external(name, ...)`` The function ``find_external`` searches for some external dependency (built-in, pkg-config package or self-defined) with the given name and returns either None or a representation of the dependency. ``use_external`` will first call ``find_external`` and add the external to the implicit input list of the context if it exists. The function takes additional positional and keyword arguments that depend on the external package. A common argument for this function is a version selector, that is supplied through a global variable: - ``version`` The comparison between this variable and a version specifier (eg. ``version >= 4.1``) will return a function that can be used to check the expression and is used by the external package finder. A version specifier can be a string (``'0.1.2'``) or tuple (``(0, 1, 2)``) with an arbitrary number of delimeters, or a floating point number (``1.2``). This allows for example to write ``find_external('clang', version >= 3.5)`` to discover a clang installation with version 3.5 or later. Since ``find_external`` also integrates with ``pkg-config``, a large number of external packages is available - in addition to a handful of builtin external packages with special implementation features. It is also possible to add new packages that are recognized. A list of the builtin packages is presented in `Externals`_. In order to simplify the creation of external packages that already provide a build configuration tool to query version, linker or compiler options, **pyrate** provides the function: - ``create_external(name, build_helper, ...)`` It requires the user to define a name for the external package and to supply the build configuration tool. The values of additional parameters are interpreted as command line options for the build configuration tool. The name of these additional parameters specify the name of the rule that gets supplied with the flags given by the output of the build configuration tool. However there are four parameters that have a special meaning: - ``version_query`` - similar to the other parameters, the value of this parameter is used as build configuration tool option to determine the current version of the external package. As a consequence of providing this option, the resulting external package will support the parameter ``version``. - ``version_parser`` - this parameter allows to supply a function that parses the version string provided by the build configuration tool and is only used if ``version_query`` is given. - ``version`` - specifies required version (eg. ``version = version >= 11.5``) and can only be used if ``version_query`` is given - ``link = opts`` is equivalent to specifying ``link_shared = opts``, ``link_static = opts`` and ``link_exe = opts`` The following example recreates the builtin external package for wxWidgets and returns a representation of the external package if a matching version is found: .. code:: python my_wxwidgets = create_external('wxwidgets', build_helper = 'wx-config', version_query = '--version', link = '--libs', compile_cpp = '--cxxflags', version = version >= 2.8) Configuration of the build environment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It is possible to query the current version of **pyrate** via the variable: - ``pyrate_version`` this allows to ensure a compatible version of **pyrate** with something along the lines of: .. code:: python assert(pyrate_version > '0.1.8') A build context allows for example to define implicit dependencies that are automatically included in all generated object files, executables or libraries (via ``implicit_*`` options). It is also possible to set base directories for the output generated by the build (via ``basepath_*`` options). The default context used by the global functions presented in `Defining build targets`_ can be set or accessed using the variable: - ``default_context = Context(...)`` An instance of such a build context is created with: - ``Context(...)`` - the most important parameters are: * ``implicit_input``, ``implicit_object_input``, ``implicit_static_library_input``, ``implicit_shared_library_input`` and ``implicit_executable_input`` * ``basepath``, ``basepath_object_file``, ``basepath_static_library``, ``basepath_shared_libray``, ``basepath_executable`` These parameters can also be changed on an existing context instance: .. code:: python default_context.basepath = 'build' A context also allows to access some additional settings - which are described in more detail below. These settings are available as member functions of a context or as global variables (that are provided by the default_context): - ``tools`` This is a dictionary that contains links to external packages that provide the basic rules and parameters that are used to process sources and generate targets. This dictionary can be modified, but should not be overwritten. - ``toolchain`` This is a list of ``Toolchain`` instances that is used to populate the tools dictionary in reverse order. There are currently two toolchains available: ``gcc`` and ``llvm`` They can be accessed with the follwing two methods: - ``find_toolchain(name, ...)`` - ``use_toolchain(name, ...)`` These methods work in the same way as the ``find_external`` and ``use_external`` methods. The available toolchains and their options are presented in `Toolchains`_. The following example would try to set the clang / clang++ compiler and llvm linker in the tool dictionary .. code:: python use_toolchain('llvm', version >= 3.7, cpp_std = 'c++11', cpp_opts = '-Wall') # is the same as llvm = find_toolchain('llvm', version >= 3.7, cpp_std = 'c++11', cpp_opts = '-Wall') if llvm: toolchain.append(llvm) Target Collision Avoidance ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As explained in `Defining build targets`_, **pyrate** will always ensure that targets with different inputs / options but same name will generate different output files (by appending a hash based suffix as needed). However it is possible to switch off the renaming of colliding targets for a **unique** target. Beware: Having two different targets that switch off the renaming with the option ``no_rename = True`` will abort the build file generation. The following build configuration file: .. code:: python ex1 = executable('example.bin', 'test.cpp', compiler_opts = '-O1') ex2 = executable('example.bin', 'test.cpp', compiler_opts = '-O2') ex3 = executable('example.bin', 'test.cpp', compiler_opts = '-O3') ex4 = executable('example.bin', 'test.cpp', compiler_opts = '-O2', no_rename = True) print('hash(ex1) = %s' % ex1.get_hash()) print('hash(ex2) = %s' % ex2.get_hash()) print('hash(ex3) = %s' % ex3.get_hash()) print('hash(ex4) = %s' % ex4.get_hash()) will result (for example in an linux environment) in the generation of **three** object files named ``test_.o``, ``test_.o``, ``test_.o``, since there are only three different settings used during the compilation of ``test.cpp``. During the linking step, these object files will generate **three** binaries named ``example.bin``, ``example_.bin``, ``example_.bin``. Where ``example.bin`` was compiled with the compiler option '-O2'. To identify which target belongs to which hash, the ``.get_hash()`` function can be used. However it is **strongly** recommended to always ensure collision free names for executables and shared / static libraries. BuildSource ~~~~~~~~~~~ The build source is the fundamental building block of pyrate. It is modeled by a class ``BuildSource``, which can be constructed with the following code: .. code:: python BuildSource(on_use_inputs = None, on_use_deps = None, on_use_variables = None) The three arguments ``on_use_inputs``, ``on_use_deps`` and ``on_use_variables`` specify how a rule belonging to a build target should react to having the BuildSource as input. Each argument can be a dictionary, where the key specifies the rule (a rule name string or ``None`` to match any rule) and the value specifies for - ``on_use_inputs`` a list of objects with ``name`` attribute that is given as input arguments for the target - ``on_use_deps`` a list of objects with ``name`` attribute that is specified as dependency of the target - ``on_use_variables`` a dictionary with variables for the target. Probably the most important variable is ``opts``, which is used to supply options to rules Examples for different build sources are: - any string that is given as build input is converted into an ``InputFile` - a ``BuildSource`` that forwards the specified file name to any rules (using ``on_use_inputs``) - ``Externals`` - are a type of ``BuildSource`` that specify ``on_use_variables`` among other things - all targets are BuildSources as well - so the result of a ``shared_library`` call can be used to link another target against this libray - ``macro(expr)`` - creates a BuildSource that allows to define C/C++ preprocessor macros. Installing Targets ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - ``install(target_list)`` This function will create install targets in the build file to install the given target / list of targets. In particular an *install* target will be created that will contain all generated install targets. Subdirectories ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - ``include(build_file_list, inherit = False, target_name = None)`` This function will read in the given build config file(s). If a directory is given instead of a build config file, **pyrate** will enter the given directory and use the file ``build.py`` if available. The parameter ``inherit`` allows to inherit ``basepath_*`` and ``implicit_*`` settings from the current context. The parameter ``target_name`` allows to specify the name of the alias that allows to build all included targets. By default, this target name is derived from the path given in ``build_file_list``. *Current implementation notice - the targets from the included file will be adapted for proper paths and included in the build output of the main file. The goal is to allow very loose coupling between the main project and the subsystem projects so each subsystem can be independently processed without any changes.* - ``find_internal(name)`` This function allows to retrieve build targets that were created by ``executable``, ``shared_library``, ``static_library`` and ``object_file``. It will match against the user specified name, the installation name (with platform specific extensions) and the build target name (derived from the specified ``basepath`` and ``basepath_...`` and the installation name). This is in particular useful when trying to specify dependencies one objects included from another file. Externals --------- Currently the following builtin externals are supported (listed with all possible ``find_external`` arguments): - ``gcc`` - GNU C compiler - ``clang`` - LLVM C compiler - ``g++``, ``gpp`` - GNU C++ compiler - ``clang++``, ``clangpp`` - LLVM C++ compiler - ``gfortran`` - GNU Fortran compiler * ``version`` - specifies required version (eg. ``version >= 5.2``) * ``std`` - language standard version (eg. ``'c++14'`` or ``'latest'``). A property with the same name allows to also set this value on an existing external (eg. ``tool['c'].std = 'c90'``). * ``compiler`` - name of the executable * ``compiler_opts`` - options that are used during the compilation stage - ``swig`` - The swig package also provides the member function ``wrapper`` to describe the generation of automated interface code * ``version`` - specifies required version (eg. ``version > '3.0.2'``) * ``wrapper(target_language, library_name, interface_filename, libs = [...], context = None, ...)`` - ``context`` allows to specify a different build context, additional keyword parameters are forwarded to the shared_library invokation that creates the wrapper library - ``link-base`` - basic linker tools (using ``ld`` and ``ar``) - ``link-gcc`` - calling linker via gcc (using ``gcc`` and ``gcc-ar``) - ``link-llvm`` - calling linker via llvm (using ``clang`` and ``llvm-ar``) * ``link_static`` - path to the static linker * ``link_static_opts`` - options for the static linker * ``link_shared`` - path to the shared linker * ``link_shared_opts`` - options for the shared linker * ``link_exe`` - path to the executable linker * ``link_exe_opts`` - options for the executable linker - ``pthread`` - posix thread library - ``stdlibcpp`` - GNU C++ library - ``libcpp`` - LLVM C++ library The following list contains all builtin externals with a single ``find_external`` parameter ``version``, that specifies the required version (eg. ``version >= 2.6``): - ``fltk`` - FLTK GUI Library - ``llvm`` - LLVM compiler infrastructure libraries - ``odbc`` - Open Database Connectivity middleware - ``root`` - Library for large scale data analysis - ``wx`` - wxWidgets GUI Toolkit Many more externals are available through the integration with ``pkg-config``. The full list of available packages on a system can be queried with: .. code:: sh pkg-config --list-all All packages listed in that overview can be accessed with the ``find_external`` function. Toolchains ---------- The following toolchains are currently available: - ``gcc`` - the GNU compiler collection This toolchain will activate the ``gcc`` C compiler, ``g++`` C++ compiler and the ``gfortran`` Fortran compiler. Linking will be done with ``link-gcc`` as driver. * ``version`` - requested version * ``c_std``, ``c_opts`` - control the std and flags of the ``gcc`` external * ``cpp_std``, ``cpp_opts`` - control the std and flags of the ``gpp`` external * ``fortran_std``, ``fortran_opts`` - control the std and flags of the ``gfortran`` external * ``link_shared_opt``, ``link_exe_opt`` - control the linker settings - ``llvm`` - the LLVM Compiler Infrastructure This toolchain will activate the ``clang`` C compiler and the ``clang++`` C++ compiler. Linking will be done with the ``link-llvm`` package. * ``version`` - requested version * ``c_std``, ``c_opts`` - control the std and flags of the ``clang`` external * ``cpp_std``, ``cpp_opts`` - control the std and flags of the ``clang++`` external * ``link_shared_opt``, ``link_exe_opt`` - control the linker settings Example ------- The basic **pyrate** build configuration file for a simple C++ project with a single source file producing a single executable looks like this: .. code:: python executable('test', ['test.cpp']) A more complicated example is presented in the following code fragment. It demonstrates how to - change the default compiler toolchain to llvm (clang / clang++), - define a native static and dynamic library from a set of files selected by wildcards, - generate several executables accessing to the shared library and - generate a wrapper library to access the C++ library from python (if swig is available). .. code:: python use_toolchain('llvm', version >= 3.7, cpp_std = 'c++11', cpp_opts = '-Wall') lib_files = match('*.cpp -test* -mylib.* -py_foo.cpp') static_library('libFoo', lib_files, compiler_opts = '-O3') lib_reference = shared_library('libFoo', lib_files) python = find_external('python', version > 2) swig = find_external('swig', version >= 2) if swig and python: swig.wrapper('python', 'mylib', 'foo.i', libs = [lib_reference]) for fn in match('test*.cpp'): executable(fn.replace('.cpp', '.bin'), [fn, lib_reference, find_external('pthread')]) Many more examples with an increasing level of complexity are available in the `github`_ repository. Changelog --------- - **0.2.0** changes * renamed external packages: ``clang`` to ``clang++``, ``gcc`` to ``g++`` * added external packages: ``clang``, ``gcc``, ``libstdc++``, ``libc++``, ``gfortran``, ``link-base``, ``link-gcc``, ``link-llvm`` * renamed ``compiler`` variable to ``tools``, changed to lower case slot names, using ``cpp`` instead of ``C++`` * added ``toolchain`` and ``find_toolchain`` to set multiple tools at once .. _ninja(s): https://github.com/ninja-build/ninja .. _github: https://github.com/pyrate-build/pyrate-build/tree/master/examples .. |PyPI Version| image:: https://badge.fury.io/py/pyrate-build.svg :target: https://badge.fury.io/py/pyrate-build :alt: Latest PyPI version .. |Documentation| image:: https://readthedocs.org/projects/pyrate-build/badge/?version=stable :target: http://pyrate-build.readthedocs.org/en/stable/?badge=stable :alt: Documentation Status .. |Build Status| image:: https://travis-ci.org/pyrate-build/pyrate-build.svg?branch=master :target: https://travis-ci.org/pyrate-build/pyrate-build :alt: Build Status .. |Coverage| image:: https://codecov.io/github/pyrate-build/pyrate-build/coverage.svg?branch=master :target: https://codecov.io/github/pyrate-build/pyrate-build?branch=master .. |Gitter| image:: https://badges.gitter.im/pyrate-build/pyrate-build.svg :alt: Join the chat at https://gitter.im/pyrate-build/pyrate-build :target: https://gitter.im/pyrate-build/pyrate-build?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge&utm_content=badge .. |Landscape| image:: https://landscape.io/github/pyrate-build/pyrate-build/master/landscape.svg?style=flat :target: https://landscape.io/github/pyrate-build/pyrate-build/master :alt: Code Health