I've found this question which is basically asking the same, but got no real answer.
Where is the make's config file / database file where it remembers the file timestamps, so it can tell what changed? I checked and there's no .make or similar in my project, nor in the home directory.
Or does it somehow store the information inside the files themselves, perhaps by modifying the timestamps? (That sounds fishy though)
There is no such "database". The program simply compare the filesystems modification and creation timestamps of source and target files.
Lets say you have the following rule:
some_target: some_source_1 some_source_2
Then if the modified timestamp of either some_source_1 or some_source_2 is later than the modification/creation time of some_target then the rule will activate and the target will be rebuilt.
Makefiles describe targets and dependencies. Make executes commands to create/recreate the target(s) if necessary.
If the target doesn't exist, then make will try to create it.
If the target does exist, make compares the modification times of the target and its dependencies. If any of the dependencies was modified after the target was modified, then make will execute the command(s) to regenerate the target.
For example, for C files the target is the corresponding .o file and the dependency is on the file containing the C source code (and possibly some include files). If the .c file is newer than the .o file, then make runs the C compiler. This will generate a .o file with a newer modification time than the .c file.
Related
CMake offers several ways to specify the source files for a target.
One is to use globbing (documentation), for example:
FILE(GLOB MY_SRCS dir/*)
Another method is to specify each file individually.
Which way is preferred? Globbing seems easy, but I heard it has some downsides.
Full disclosure: I originally preferred the globbing approach for its simplicity, but over the years I have come to recognise that explicitly listing the files is less error-prone for large, multi-developer projects.
Original answer:
The advantages to globbing are:
It's easy to add new files as they
are only listed in one place: on
disk. Not globbing creates
duplication.
Your CMakeLists.txt file will be
shorter. This is a big plus if you
have lots of files. Not globbing
causes you to lose the CMake logic
amongst huge lists of files.
The advantages of using hardcoded file lists are:
CMake will track the dependencies of a new file on disk correctly - if we use
glob then files not globbed first time round when you ran CMake will not get
picked up
You ensure that only files you want are added. Globbing may pick up stray
files that you do not want.
In order to work around the first issue, you can simply "touch" the CMakeLists.txt that does the glob, either by using the touch command or by writing the file with no changes. This will force CMake to re-run and pick up the new file.
To fix the second problem you can organize your code carefully into directories, which is what you probably do anyway. In the worst case, you can use the list(REMOVE_ITEM) command to clean up the globbed list of files:
file(GLOB to_remove file_to_remove.cpp)
list(REMOVE_ITEM list ${to_remove})
The only real situation where this can bite you is if you are using something like git-bisect to try older versions of your code in the same build directory. In that case, you may have to clean and compile more than necessary to ensure you get the right files in the list. This is such a corner case, and one where you already are on your toes, that it isn't really an issue.
The best way to specify sourcefiles in CMake is by listing them explicitly.
The creators of CMake themselves advise not to use globbing.
See: https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/command/file.html?highlight=glob#glob
(We do not recommend using GLOB to collect a list of source files from your source tree. If no CMakeLists.txt file changes when a source is added or removed then the generated build system cannot know when to ask CMake to regenerate.)
Of course, you might want to know what the downsides are - read on!
When Globbing Fails:
The big disadvantage to globbing is that creating/deleting files won't automatically update the build-system.
If you are the person adding the files, this may seem an acceptable trade-off, however this causes problems for other people building your code, they update the project from version-control, run build, then contact you, complaining that"the build's broken".
To make matters worse, the failure typically gives some linking error which doesn't give any hints to the cause of the problem and time is lost troubleshooting it.
In a project I worked on we started off globbing but got so many complaints when new files were added, that it was enough reason to explicitly list files instead of globbing.
This also breaks common git work-flows(git bisect and switching between feature branches).
So I couldn't recommend this, the problems it causes far outweigh the convenience, when someone can't build your software because of this, they may loose a lot of time to track down the issue or just give up.
And another note, Just remembering to touch CMakeLists.txt isn't always enough, with automated builds that use globbing, I had to run cmake before every build since files might have been added/removed since last building *.
Exceptions to the rule:
There are times where globbing is preferable:
For setting up a CMakeLists.txt files for existing projects that don't use CMake.Its a fast way to get all the source referenced (once the build system's running - replace globbing with explicit file-lists).
When CMake isn't used as the primary build-system, if for example you're using a project who aren't using CMake, and you would like to maintain your own build-system for it.
For any situation where the file list changes so often that it becomes impractical to maintain. In this case it could be useful, but then you have to accept running cmake to generate build-files every time to get a reliable/correct build (which goes against the intention of CMake - the ability to split configuration from building).
* Yes, I could have written a code to compare the tree of files on disk before and after an update, but this is not such a nice workaround and something better left up to the build-system.
In CMake 3.12, the file(GLOB ...) and file(GLOB_RECURSE ...) commands gained a CONFIGURE_DEPENDS option which reruns cmake if the glob's value changes.
As that was the primary disadvantage of globbing for source files, it is now okay to do so:
# Whenever this glob's value changes, cmake will rerun and update the build with the
# new/removed files.
file(GLOB_RECURSE sources CONFIGURE_DEPENDS "*.cpp")
add_executable(my_target ${sources})
However, some people still recommend avoiding globbing for sources. Indeed, the documentation states:
We do not recommend using GLOB to collect a list of source files from your source tree. ... The CONFIGURE_DEPENDS flag may not work reliably on all generators, or if a new generator is added in the future that cannot support it, projects using it will be stuck. Even if CONFIGURE_DEPENDS works reliably, there is still a cost to perform the check on every rebuild.
Personally, I consider the benefits of not having to manually manage the source file list to outweigh the possible drawbacks. If you do have to switch back to manually listed files, this can be easily achieved by just printing the globbed source list and pasting it back in.
You can safely glob (and probably should) at the cost of an additional file to hold the dependencies.
Add functions like these somewhere:
# Compare the new contents with the existing file, if it exists and is the
# same we don't want to trigger a make by changing its timestamp.
function(update_file path content)
set(old_content "")
if(EXISTS "${path}")
file(READ "${path}" old_content)
endif()
if(NOT old_content STREQUAL content)
file(WRITE "${path}" "${content}")
endif()
endfunction(update_file)
# Creates a file called CMakeDeps.cmake next to your CMakeLists.txt with
# the list of dependencies in it - this file should be treated as part of
# CMakeLists.txt (source controlled, etc.).
function(update_deps_file deps)
set(deps_file "CMakeDeps.cmake")
# Normalize the list so it's the same on every machine
list(REMOVE_DUPLICATES deps)
foreach(dep IN LISTS deps)
file(RELATIVE_PATH rel_dep ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} ${dep})
list(APPEND rel_deps ${rel_dep})
endforeach(dep)
list(SORT rel_deps)
# Update the deps file
set(content "# generated by make process\nset(sources ${rel_deps})\n")
update_file(${deps_file} "${content}")
# Include the file so it's tracked as a generation dependency we don't
# need the content.
include(${deps_file})
endfunction(update_deps_file)
And then go globbing:
file(GLOB_RECURSE sources LIST_DIRECTORIES false *.h *.cpp)
update_deps_file("${sources}")
add_executable(test ${sources})
You're still carting around the explicit dependencies (and triggering all the automated builds!) like before, only it's in two files instead of one.
The only change in procedure is after you've created a new file. If you don't glob the workflow is to modify CMakeLists.txt from inside Visual Studio and rebuild, if you do glob you run cmake explicitly - or just touch CMakeLists.txt.
Specify each file individually!
I use a conventional CMakeLists.txt and a python script to update it. I run the python script manually after adding files.
See my answer here:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/48318388/3929196
I'm not a fan of globbing and never used it for my libraries. But recently I've looked a presentation by Robert Schumacher (vcpkg developer) where he recommends to treat all your library sources as separate components (for example, private sources (.cpp), public headers (.h), tests, examples - are all separate components) and use separate folders for all of them (similarly to how we use C++ namespaces for classes). In that case I think globbing makes sense, because it allows you to clearly express this components approach and stimulate other developers to follow it. For example, your library directory structure can be the following:
/include - for public headers
/src - for private headers and sources
/tests - for tests
You obviously want other developers to follow your convention (i.e., place public headers under /include and tests under /tests). file(glob) gives a hint for developers that all files from a directory have the same conceptual meaning and any files placed to this directory matching the regexp will also be treated in the same way (for example, installed during 'make install' if we speak about public headers).
I have a specific file that should be rebuilt on each compilation regardless if it has been modified or not. The reason is that it is depending on system macros whose values change. How could I force rebuild with CMake? I'd like to not bind it to specific target: the file should be "touched" before any of the targets specified in CMakeLists.txt begins the actual build process.
CMake has a add_custom_target command:
Adds a target with the given name that executes the given commands. The target has no output file and is always considered out of date even if the commands try to create a file with the name of the target. [...] By default nothing depends on the custom target. Use the add_dependencies() command to add dependencies to or from other targets.
Preface: I am very new to c and CLion, so apologies in advance if my phrasing is very wrong.
Essentially, I have an assignment that involves two c files (a "main", and one performing a conversion between imperial and metric units). The main c file simply #include-s the conversion file, performs a function within the conversion file, and prints the resulting value to the user. Simple enough, but I keep getting a message every time I try to run it:
"undefined reference to 'conversion'"
I have tried to suss out the problem, and my only idea relates to the banner at the top of conversion.c which says "This file does not belong to any project target, code insight features may not work properly.". I do not understand why I receive this message, because conversion.c and main.c are both within the main project directory, and this setup worked perfectly fine in my previous assignment.
I have searched for solutions online, and the only one that seemed to make sense was to update my CMakeLists.txt file to include add_executable(project conversion.c). This is what my CMakeLists.txt file looks like before I add this line:
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.12)
project(project C)
set(CMAKE_C_STANDARD 11)
add_executable(project main.c)
However, when I add it, I get the error:
CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:7 (add_executable):
add_executable cannot create target "directory" because another
target with the same name already exists. The existing target is an
executable created in source directory
"/home/john_s/CLionProjects/project". See documentation for
policy CMP0002 for more details.
Presumably this is because the previous line I have (add_executable(project main.c)) is linking to the same directory, but I have no idea how to resolve this. Any suggestions?
From cmake manual:
add_executable(< name> [WIN32] [MACOSX_BUNDLE]
[EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL]
[source1] [source2 ...])
Adds an executable target called to be built from the source files listed in the command invocation. (The source files can be omitted here if they are added later using target_sources().)
So to combile a single executable using two source files, you just use:
add_executable(target_name source1.c source2.c)
How to specify a directory for scons to store all the .o(intermediate) files?
My question is: what's the way to set something like a global flag, so that each 'Object' command will generate .o files in a solid directory, and 'Program' command will generate in some other directory? I don't wish to have some variables so that each 'Object' and 'Program' command will explicitly use this variable: it's ugly and coupled. I just wish to have something like a compile hook.
For example, I've got a testSystem.cpp, and in SConstruct I have:
Program('testSystem.cpp')
Then scons will first compile a testSystem.o file, and link to a testSystem executible.
I know I can explicitly specify where where the binary file is stored:
Program('bin/testSystem','testSystem.cpp')
Well, the object file is still under current directory. I can do this:
testSystem_obj=Object('obj/testSystem.o','testSystem.cpp')
Program('bin/testSystem',testSystem_obj)
Now I have .o under ./obj and executible under ./bin. No problem.
But, this means for each file, I've to manually write 2 lines, 1 line to tell scons to generate the object file under ./obj, another line to generate the file under ./bin. If I wish to reorganize my whole project, I've to modify all my SConstruct/SConscript files. I've got a big project and don't want to do this.
Any hints? How to do this with scons?
Sort of.
SCons supports VariantDir's which allow separating the source from the build product.
Take a look at:
http://scons.org/doc/production/HTML/scons-user/ch15.html
I've got a tool that generates files that contain definitions and declarations. These files need to be included from other source files or headers - they aren't usable standalone.
The obvious thing to do is have a custom command to generate them. My CMakeLists.txt that does this is as follows. I'm currently using this with the GNU makefile generator.
project(test_didl)
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.0)
add_custom_command(
OUTPUT test_didl_structs.h test_didl_structs.c
COMMAND python ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/didl.py --decls=test_didl_structs.h --defs=test_didl_structs.c ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/test_didl_structs.py
DEPENDS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/didl.py ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/test_didl_structs.py
MAIN_DEPENDENCY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/test_didl_structs.py)
add_executable(test_didl test_didl.c)
target_include_directories(test_didl PRIVATE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})
target_link_libraries(test_didl shared_lib)
test_didl.c is very simple:
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include "test_didl_structs.h"
#include "test_didl_structs.c"
int main(void) {
}
But on the first build, make tries to build test_didl.c, which of course fails, because test_didl_structs.* haven't been generated yet. Naturally, before the first successful build of test_didl.c, the dependency information isn't known, so make doesn't know to run the python command first.
I tried a custom target, but that's no good, because custom targets are assumed to be always dirty. This means the C file is recompiled on every build and the EXE is linked. This approach won't scale.
My eventual solution was to make the output .h file an input to the executable:
add_executable(test_didl test_didl.c test_didl_structs.h)
.h file inputs are treated as dependencies, but don't otherwise do anything interesting for makefile generators. (I am not currently interested in other generators.)
So that works, but it feels a bit ugly. It doesn't actually state explicitly that the custom commands need to be run first, though in practice this seems to happen. I'm not quite sure how, though (but I'm not up to speed on reading the CMake-generated Makefiles just yet).
Is this how it's supposed to work? Or is there something neater I'm supposed to be doing instead?
(What I'm imagining, I suppose, is something like a Visual Studio pre-build step, in that it's considered for running on every build, before the normal dependency checking. But I want this pre-build step to have dependency checking, so that it's skipped if its inputs are older than its outputs.)
My eventual solution was to make the output .h file an input to the executable.
This way is correct.
It actually states, that building executable depends on given file, and, if that file is OUTPUT for some add_custom_command(), this command will be executed before building executable.
Another way is to generate needed headers at configuration stage using execute_process(). In that case there is no need to add header files as sources for add_executable(): CMake has notion of autodetecting dependencies for compiling, so test_didl will be rebuilt after regeneration of test_didl_structs.h.
execute_process(COMMAND python ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/didl.py --decls=test_didl_structs.h --defs=test_didl_structs.c ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/test_didl_structs.py)
# ...
add_executable(test_didl test_didl.c)
Drawback of this approach is that you need manually rerun configuration stage after changing your .py files. See also that question and answer to it.
Another problem is that header file will be updated every time configuration is run.
You can try tell cmake that you are using an external source, see docs about set_source_files_properties, see this past post