Building nested Autotools Package without Installing - c

What I want is to build my autotools package together with a nested autotools package. It's a static library and usually this package install the lib in your $prefix/lib folder, if you type make && make install
Sub-Package-Files:
configure.ac
AC_INIT([testlib],[1.0],[bugs#anonym.net])
AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign -Wall -Werror])
AC_PROG_CC()
AC_PROG_RANLIB()
AC_CHECK_HEADERS()
AC_LANG([C])
AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile src/Makefile])
AC_OUTPUT
Makefile.am
SUBDIRS = src
src/Makefile.am
lib_LIBRARIES = libtestlib.a
libtestlib_a_SOURCES = testlib.c
include_HEADERS = testlib.h
But I want to use it as a nested package in my autotools package and need it only for linking while build time.
So how do I achieve that my package is build & installed but the sub- / nested package is only build without modifying the configure.ac or the Makefile.am from the sub-package?

So how do I achieve that my package is build & installed but the sub-
/ nested package is only build without modifying the configure.ac or
the Makefile.am from the sub-package?
Your best bet is probably to use AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS in the top-level configure.ac to link configuration of the subpackage with the top-level package, but to avoid using SUBDIRS in the top-level Makefile.am to trigger make recursing into the subpackage. Instead of the latter, add a manual rule to the top-level Makefile.am for building the wanted library via a recursive make.
In the top-level package, that would look something like this:
configure.ac
# ...
AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS([testlib-1.0])
# ...
Makefile.am
# ... testlib-1.0 *not* present in SUBDIRS ...
testlib-1.0/src/libtestlib.a:
$(MAKE) -C testlib-1.0
Be sure, then, to express a proper dependency on testlib-1.0/src/libtestlib.a where needed, and to use appropriate link options at the top level.

Use AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS([testlib]). For code samples, read more about it in the documentation.
EDIT
If you wanted to build convenience libraries without touching the subpackage (for instance, if you stored it as a Git submodule in your main Git repository) then you could:
copy the relevant checks from the subpackage's configure.ac into your package's configure.ac
have your package's configure.ac include AC_OUTPUT([subpackage/Makefile])
leave subpackage out of SUBDIRS in Makefile.am
have your package's Makefile.am build the relevant parts of subpackage the way you want them, e.g.
noinst_LIBRARIES = subpackage/libsubpackage.a
subpackage_libsubpackage_a_SOURCES = subpackage/source.c etc.
This may not be what you want, as it involves duplicating a lot of subpackage's build system, but it does allow you to drop the subpackage into your package unchanged.

I'm not sure if this is too hackish, but giving the SUBDIRS variable a target-specific value seems to work and looks relatively elegant:
SUBDIRS = src
install installdirs: SUBDIRS =
or, more generally
SUBDIRS := foo bar libgazonk
install installdirs: SUBDIRS := $(filter-out libgazonk, $(SUBDIRS))
(Simple expansion necessary to avoid infinite recursion.)

Related

Create directory structure in /var/lib using autotools and automake

I'm using autotools on a C project that, after installation, needs a particular directory structure in /var/lib as follows:
/var/lib/my-project/
data/
configurations/
local/
extra/
inputs/
I'm currently using the directive AS_MKDIR_P in configure.ac like so:
AS_MKDIR_P(/var/lib/my-project/data)
AS_MKDIR_P(/var/lib/my-project/configurations/local)
AS_MKDIR_P(/var/lib/my-project/configurations/extra)
AS_MKDIR_P(/var/lib/my-project/inputs)
But it needs the configure script to be run with root permissions which I don't think is the way to go. I think the instructions to create this directory structure needs to be in Makefile.am, so that make install creates them rather than configure, but I have no idea how to do that.
You really, really, really do not want to specify /var/lib/my-project. As the project maintainer, you have the right to specify relative paths, but the user may change DESTDIR or prefix. If you ignore DESTDIR and prefix and just install your files in /var/lib without regard for the user's requests, then your package is broken. It is not just slightly damaged, it is completely unusable. The autotool packaging must not specify absolute paths; that is for downsteam packagers (ie, those that build *.rpm or *.deb or *.dmg or ...). All you need to do is add something like this to Makefile.am:
configdir = $(pkgdatadir)/configurations
localdir = $(configdir)/local
extradir = $(configdir)/extra
inputdir = $(pkgdatadir)/inputs
mydatadir = $(pkgdatadir)/data
config_DATA = cfg.txt
local_DATA = local.txt
extra_DATA = extra.txt
input_DATA = input.txt
mydata_DATA = data.txt
This will put input.txt in $(DESTDIR)$(pkgdatadir)/inputs, etc. If you want that final path to be /var/lib/my-project, then you can specify datadir appropriately at configure time. For example:
$ CONFIG_SITE= ./configure --datadir=/var/lib > /dev/null
This will assign /var/lib to datadir, so that pkgdatadir will be /var/lib/my-project and a subsequent make install DESTDIR=/path/to/foo will put the files in /path/to/foo/var/lib/my-package/. It is essential that your auto-tooled package honor things like prefix (which for these files was essentially overridden here by the explicit assignment of datadir) and DESTDIR. The appropriate time to specify paths like /var/lib is when you run the configure script. For example, you can add the options to the configure script in your rpm spec file or in debian/rules, or in whatever file your package system uses. The auto-tools provide a very flexible packaging system which can be easily used by many different packaging systems (unfortunately, the word "package" is highly overloaded!). Embrace that flexibility.
According to autotools documentation (here and here), there are hooks that you can specify in Makefile.am that will run at specific times during the installation. For my needs I will use install-exec-hook (or install-data-hook) which will be run after all executables (or data) have been installed:
install-exec-hook:
$(MKDIR_P) /var/lib/my-project/data
$(MKDIR_P) /var/lib/my-project/configurations/local
$(MKDIR_P) /var/lib/my-project/configurations/extra
$(MKDIR_P) /var/lib/my-project/inputs
MKDIR_P is a variable containing the command mkdir -p, or an equivalent to it if the system doesn't have mkdir. To make it available in Makefile.am you have to use the macro AC_PROG_MKDIR_P in configure.ac.

Autotools specifying install path of static library

How can I install a library to $(top_srcdir)/lib/foo.a?
If I try to use:
noinst_LIBRARIES=$(top_srcdir)/lib/foo.a
foo_a_SOURCES= foo.c foo.h bar.c, bar.h
I get library has foo_a as canonical name (possible typo)
I have foo.* and bar.* in $(top_srcdir)/foobar/.
Any Ideas ?
As the action you are trying to achieve is not standard, GNU/Autotools does not support that feature. Nevertheless, GNU/Autotools let the programmers to tweak their system by using local rules which extend the functionability of its Makefile rules.
For instance, to copy your library to an specific location you can write:
# Standard way
noinst_LDLIBRARIES = foo.a
# Here is where you tweak, all-local will be performed
# after compilation.
all-local:
-cp $(builddir)/foo.* $(buildir)/libs
Note that $(srcdir) and $(builddir) are identical when you call configure in the same directory the configure script is place. When
you call configure from a different directory buildir and srcdir will
differ.
Links
Extending Autotools

Linking a Shared Library Autotools

I'm an autotools beginner, and I can't seem to figure out how to use an external library correctly with autotools.
Here is my directory hierarchy.
.
├── configure.ac
├── Makefile.am
├── README
└── src
(source files)
└── Makefile.am
The library's name is acml_mp and is, by default, installed in /opt/acml5.3.1/gfortran64/lib. There is also a directory called /opt/acml5.3.1/gfortran64/include to include. When I compile without autotools, including the usual compiler flags works fine:
g++ ... -L/opt/acml5.3.1/gfortran64_mp/lib -I/opt/acml5.3.1/gfortran64_mp/include -lacml_mp ...
In configure.ac, I put the command AC_LIB_LINKFLAGS([acml_mp]) which I think only deals with the -lacml_mp flag.
Basically, the end goal is to have autoconf search for this library, and have the makefile generated by automake include the correct link/include paths when compiling. Finally, when compiling by hand, I always need to modify the environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH using the command
Export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/acml5.3.1/gfortran64_mp/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
which, ideally, I would like to avoid having the user do. Apologies if this information exists already, I looked through SO and Google for a few hours to no avail.
The problem with searching is that /opt/acml5.3.1/gfortran is never going to be a standard (search) location for libraries (and headers) like /usr/lib, /usr/local/lib etc. Probably the best bet is to supply this location explicitly via --with-acml to configure.
The AC_ARG_WITH macro is described here. Assuming test "x$with_acml" != xno, you can try linking a program with AC_LINK_IFELSE.
AC_LANG_PUSH([C]) # or [Fortran]
ac_save_acml_CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS" # or FCFLAGS instead of CPPFLAGS.
ac_save_acml_LIBS="$LIBS"
ac_acml_CPPFLAGS="-I${with_acml}/include"
ac_acml_LIBS="-L${with_acml}/libs -lacml_mp"
CPPFLAGS+="$ac_acml_CPPFLAGS"
LIBS+="$ac_acml_LIBS"
AC_LINK_IFELSE([AC_LANG_PROGRAM( ... some C or Fortran program ... )],,
AC_MSG_FAILURE([couldn't link with acml]))
AC_LANG_POP
# we *could* stop here... but we might need the original values later.
CPPFLAGS="$ac_save_acml_CPPFLAGS"
LIBS="$ac_save_acml_LIBS"
AC_SUBST(ACML_CPPFLAGS, $ac_acml_CPPFLAGS)
AC_SUBST(ACML_LIBFLAGS, $ac_acml_LIBS)
Assuming you've initialized libtool support with LT_INIT, you can add the acml library with $(ACML_LIBFLAGS) to your own libraries in src/Makefile.am via the LIBADD variable, or to executables with the LDADD variable. or <lib>_la_LIBADD, <prog>_LDADD respectively.
To compile sources with the $(ACML_CPPFLAGS) include path, add it to the AM_CPPFLAGS variable. Or the <prog>_CPPFLAGS variable.
It's difficult to be specific without knowing how your Makefile.am is already set up. I know it looks complicated - but it's better to get the infrastructure right the first time. I'll add to the answer if you have further questions.

How to use autotools for deep projects?

I have a C project that has the following structure
Main/
Makefile.am
bin/
src/
Makefile.am
main.c
SomeLibrarySource/
SomeFuncs.c
SomeFuncs.h
The main.c contains the main function that uses functions defined in the SomeFuncs.{h/c} files.
I want to use autotools for this project. I read a couple of resources on autotools. But, I was only able to manage using autotools for a single level project where all source, object and other files reside in the same directory.
Then I got some links that talked about using autotools for deep projects like this one and then I got confused.
Right now I have two Makefile.am as follows
Makefile.am
SUBDIRS=src
src/Makefile.am
mainprgdir=../
mainprg_PROGRAMS=main
main_SOURCES=main.c
I am pretty sure that these files should not be as I have them now :P
How do I use autotools for the above project structure? (At least what should be there in those Makefile.am(s) and where should I place them.
EDIT:
One more thing! At the end I would like to have the object files created in the bin directory.
Thanks
mainprogdir=../ does not make a whole lot of sense (you don't know what it is relative to on installation). Probably intended:
# Main/Makefile.am
# .━━ target for `make install`
# |
# ↓ ↓━━ target for compilation
bin_PROGRAMS = bin/main
# ↓━━ based upon compilation target name
bin_main_SOURCES = src/main.c
There are two main approaches. If the functions in SomeLibrarySource are used only by main, then there's no need to build a separate library and you can simply specify the source files in src/Makefile.am
main_SOURCES = main.c SomeLibrarySource/SomeFuncs.c
However, if you actually want to use the functions in other code in your tree, you do not want to compile SomeFuncs.c multiple times but should use a convenience library.
# Assigning main_SOURCES is redundant
main_SOURCES = main.c
main_LDADD = SomeLibrarySource/libSomeFuncs.a
noinst_LIBRARIES = SomeLibrarySource/libSomeFuncs.a
AM_CPPFLAGS = -I$(srcdir)/SomeLibrarySource
(You'll need AC_PROG_RANLIB in configure.ac to use convenience libraries.)
If the source file is named SomeFuncs.c, automake will not need Makefile.am to specify SomeLibrarySource_libSomeFuncs_a_SOURCES, but if the name of the source code file does not match the name specified in noinst_LIBRARIES, SomeLibrarySource_libSomeFuncs_a_SOURCES should be set to the list of files used to build the library. Note that you do not need to specify main_SOURCES, since main.c is the default value if left unspecified (but it's not a bad idea to be explicit.) (In all of this, I am not comfortable use CamlCase names, but the system I'm using uses a case insensitive file system (biggest mistake apple ever made) and the examples I give here are working for me. YMMV)
You could of course do a recursive make, or build the library as a separate project and install it. (I like the final option. Libraries with useful features should exist on their own.)

How do you export a system library using cmake?

How can I export the libraries that a cmake library depends on, such that an executable depending on that library does not have to manually depend on the dependencies of that library?
That's a bit of a mouthful, so here's an example:
dummy (application) ----> depends on liba
liba ----> depends on libpng
Compiling dummy generates errors:
-- Found LIBPNG
-- Found LIBA
-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: /home/doug/projects/dummy/build
Linking C executable dummy
../deps/liba/build/liba.a(a.c.o): In function `a_dummy':
/home/doug/projects/dummy/deps/liba/src/a.c:6: undefined reference to `png_sig_cmp'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make[2]: *** [dummy] Error 1
make[1]: *** [CMakeFiles/dummy.dir/all] Error 2
make: *** [all] Error 2
I can fix that by adding this into CMakeLists.txt for dummy:
TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(dummy png)
However, dummy has no knowledge of how liba implements its api. At some point that may change to being libjpg, or something else, which will break the dummy application.
After getting some help from the cmake mailing list I've been directed to this example for exporting things:
http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/CMake/Tutorials/How_to_create_a_ProjectConfig.cmake_file
However, following that approach leaves me stuck at this line:
export(TARGETS ${LIBPNG_LIBRARY} FILE "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/ALibraryDepends.cmake")
Clearly I'm missing something here; this 'export' command looks like its designed to export sub-projects to a high level; ie. nested projects inside liba.
However, that is not the problem here.
When configuring liba (or any cmake library) I will always generate a list of dependencies which are not part of that project.
How can I export those so they appear as part of LIBA_LIBRARY when I use find_package() to resolve liba?
Using static libraries is not an option (static library for something that links to opengl? no.)
Given your comment to arrowdodger's answer about the fear of
installing something would mess up your system I chose to give
a conceptional comment in form of an answer because of its
length.
Chaining cmake project works via find_package, which looks for
*Config.cmake and *-config.cmake files.
Project A's CMakeLists.txt:
#CMakeLists.txt
project(A)
install(FILES
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/AConfig.cmake share/A/cmake
)
#AConfig.cmake
message("Yepp, you've found me.")
$ mkdir build
$ cd build
$ cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/tmp/test-install ..
$ make install
Project B's CMakeLists.txt:
project(B)
find_package(A)
Then
$ mkdir build
$ cd build
$ cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/tmp/test-install ..
$ make install
results in
...
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
Yepp, you've found me.
B found A because it installed AConfig.cmake into a location
where cmake will find it 'share/A/cmake' AND was given the same
value for CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX.
Now this is that. Lets think about what you can do in
AConfig.cmake: AFAIK everything you want to. But the most common
task is to pull information about the targets of A via include(),
do some additional find_package invoctions for 3rd party
packages (HINT HINT) and create the variables
A_LIBRARIES
A_INCLUDE_DIRS
What you want to include is a file that was created by
install(EXPORT A-targets
DESTINATION share/A/cmake
)
in A's CMakeLists.txt , where A-targets refers to a global cmake
variable that accumulated all target informations when used in
install(TARGETS ...
EXPORT A-targets
...
)
statments. What is created at make install is
/tmp/test-install/share/A/cmake/A-targets.cmake
which then resides alongside AConfig.cmake in the same directory.
Please take another look at the wiki page on how to use this file
within AConfig.cmake.
Regarding the export() command: This comes handy if your
projects have gotten HUGE and it takes a considerable amount of
time to install them. To speed things up, you want to use what's
in A's build/ directory directly. It's an optimization and also
explained in the wiki. It still works via find_package(), see
http://cmake.org/cmake/help/cmake-2-8-docs.html#command:export
But I strongly suggest that you go for the usual make install
route for now.
I found my own solution to this problem using the accepted solution above, which I leave here for others:
In liba/CMakeLists.txt:
# Self
set(A_INCLUDE_DIRS ${A_INCLUDE_DIRS} "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/include")
set(A_LIBRARIES ${A_LIBRARIES} "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/liba.a")
# Libpng
FIND_PACKAGE(libpng REQUIRED)
set(A_INCLUDE_DIRS ${A_INCLUDE_DIRS} ${LIBPNG_INCLUDE_DIRS})
set(A_LIBRARIES ${A_LIBRARIES} ${LIBPNG_LIBRARIES})
ADD_LIBRARY(a ${SOURCES})
# Includes
INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${A_INCLUDE_DIRS})
# Allow other projects to use this
configure_file(AConfig.cmake.in "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/AConfig.cmake")
In liba/AConfig.cmake:
set(A_LIBRARIES #A_LIBRARIES#)
set(A_INCLUDE_DIRS #A_INCLUDE_DIRS#)
In dummy/CMakeLists.txt:
FIND_PACKAGE(A REQUIRED)
INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${A_INCLUDE_DIRS})
TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(dummy ${A_LIBRARIES})
This yields an AConfig.cmake that reads:
set(A_LIBRARIES /home/doug/projects/dummy/deps/liba/build/liba.a;/usr/lib/libpng.so)
set(A_INCLUDE_DIRS /home/doug/projects/dummy/deps/liba/include;/usr/include)
And a verbose compile that reads:
/usr/bin/gcc -std=c99 -g CMakeFiles/dummy.dir/src/main.c.o -o dummy -rdynamic ../deps/liba/build/liba.a -lpng
Which is exactly what I was looking for.
If liba doesn't provide any means to determine it's dependencies, you can't do anything.
If liba is library developed by you and you are using CMake to build it, then you should install libaConfig.cmake file with liba itself, which would contain necessary definitions. Then you include libaConfig in dummy's CMakeLists.txt to obtain information about how liba have been built.
You can look how it's done in LLVM project, relevant files have cmake.in extension
http://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project/llvm/trunk/cmake/modules/
In the end, in dummy project you should use
target_link_libraries( ${LIBA_LIBRARIES} )
include_directories( ${LIBA_INCLUDE_DIR} )
link_directories( ${LIBA_LIBRARY_DIR} )
If that liba is used only by dummy, you can build it from single CMake project. This is more convenient, since you don't need to install liba each time you recompile it and it will be rebuilt and relinked with dummy automatically every time you run make.
If you liked this approach, the only thing you should do - define in liba' CMakeLists.txt variables you need with PARENT_SCOPE option (see set() command manual).
Finally, you can use shared libs, .so's don't have such problem.

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