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authorSteven Knight <knight@baldmt.com>2003-08-16 04:19:30 (GMT)
committerSteven Knight <knight@baldmt.com>2003-08-16 04:19:30 (GMT)
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+<!--
+
+ Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2003 Steven Knight
+
+ Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
+ a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
+ "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
+ without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
+ distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
+ permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
+ the following conditions:
+
+ The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
+ in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+ THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
+ KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE
+ WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
+ NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
+ LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
+ OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
+ WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+
+-->
+
+ <para>
+
+ Here's the famous "Hello, World!" program in C:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <programlisting>
+ int
+ main()
+ {
+ printf("Hello, world!\n");
+ }
+ </programlisting>
+
+ <para>
+
+ And here's how to build it using &SCons;.
+ Enter the following into a file named &SConstruct;:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <scons_example name="ex1">
+ <file name="SConstruct" printme="1">
+ env = Environment()
+ env.Program('hello.c')
+ </file>
+ <file name="hello.c">
+ int main() { printf("Hello, world!\n"); }
+ </file>
+ </scons_example>
+
+ <para>
+
+ That's it. Now run the &scons; command to build the program.
+ On a POSIX-compliant system like Linux or UNIX,
+ you'll see something like:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <scons_output example="ex1" os="posix">
+ <command>scons</command>
+ </scons_output>
+
+ <para>
+
+ On a Windows system with the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler,
+ you'll see something like:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <scons_output example="ex1" os="win32">
+ <command>scons</command>
+ </scons_output>
+
+ <para>
+
+ First, notice that you only need
+ to specify the name of the source file,
+ and that &SCons; deduces the names of
+ the object and executable files
+ correctly from the base of the source file name.
+
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+
+ Second, notice that the same input &SConstruct; file,
+ without any changes,
+ generates the correct output file names on both systems:
+ <filename>hello.o</filename> and <filename>hello</filename>
+ on POSIX systems,
+ <filename>hello.obj</filename> and <filename>hello.exe</filename>
+ on Windows systems.
+ This is a simple example of how &SCons;
+ makes it extremely easy to
+ write portable software builds.
+
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+
+ (Note that we won't provide duplicate side-by-side
+ POSIX and Windows output for all of the examples in this guide;
+ just keep in mind that, unless otherwise specified,
+ any of the examples should work equally well on both types of systems.)
+
+ </para>
+
+ <section>
+ <title>The &SConstruct; File</title>
+
+ <para>
+
+ If you're used to build systems like &Make;
+ you've already figured out that the &SConstruct; file
+ is the &SCons; equivalent of a &Makefile;.
+ That is, the &SConstruct; file is the input file
+ that &SCons; reads to control the build.
+
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+
+ There is, however, an important difference between
+ an &SConstruct; file and a &Makefile;:
+ the &SConstruct; file is actually a Python script.
+ If you're not already familiar with Python, don't worry.
+ This User's Guide will introduce you step-by-step
+ to the relatively small amount of Python you'll
+ need to know to be able to use &SCons; effectively.
+ And Python is very easy to learn.
+
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+
+ One aspect of using Python as the
+ scripting language is that you can put comments
+ in your &SConstruct; file using Python's commenting convention;
+ that is, everything between a '#' and the end of the line
+ will be ignored:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <programlisting>
+ env = Environment() # Create an environment.
+ # Arrange to build the "hello" program.
+ env.Program('hello.c')
+ </programlisting>
+
+ <para>
+
+ You'll see throughout the remainder of this Guide
+ that being able to use the power of a
+ real scripting language
+ can greatly simplify the solutions
+ to complex requirements of real-world builds.
+
+ </para>
+
+ </section>
+
+ <section>
+ <title>Compiling Multiple Source Files</title>
+
+ <para>
+
+ You've just seen how to configure &SCons;
+ to compile a program from a single source file.
+ It's more common, of course,
+ that you'll need to build a program from
+ many input source files, not just one.
+ To do this, you need to put the
+ source files in a Python list
+ (enclosed in square brackets),
+ like so:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <scons_example name="ex2">
+ <file name="SConstruct" printme="1">
+ env = Environment()
+ env.Program(['prog.c', 'file1.c', 'file2.c'])
+ </file>
+ <file name="prog.c">
+ int main() { printf("prog.c\n"); }
+ </file>
+ <file name="file1.c">
+ void file1() { printf("file1.c\n"); }
+ </file>
+ <file name="file2.c">
+ void file2() { printf("file2.c\n"); }
+ </file>
+ </scons_example>
+
+ <para>
+
+ A build of the above example would look like:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <scons_output example="ex2">
+ <command>scons</command>
+ </scons_output>
+
+ <para>
+
+ Notice that &SCons;
+ deduces the output program name
+ from the first source file specified
+ in the list--that is,
+ because the first source file was &prog_c;,
+ &SCons; will name the resulting program &prog;
+ (or &prog_exe; on a Windows system).
+ If you want to specify a different program name,
+ then you slide the list of source files
+ over to the right
+ to make room for the output program file name.
+ (&SCons; puts the output file name to the left
+ of the source file names
+ so that the order mimics that of an
+ assignment statement: "program = source files".)
+ This makes our example:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <scons_example name="ex3">
+ <file name="SConstruct" printme="1">
+ env = Environment()
+ env.Program('program', ['main.c', 'file1.c', 'file2.c'])
+ </file>
+ <file name="main.c">
+ int main() { printf("prog.c\n"); }
+ </file>
+ <file name="file1.c">
+ void file1() { printf("file1.c\n"); }
+ </file>
+ <file name="file2.c">
+ void file2() { printf("file2.c\n"); }
+ </file>
+ </scons_example>
+
+ <para>
+
+ On Linux, a build of this example would look like:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <scons_output example="ex3" os="posix">
+ <command>scons</command>
+ </scons_output>
+
+ <para>
+
+ Or on Windows:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <scons_output example="ex3" os="win32">
+ <command>scons</command>
+ </scons_output>
+
+ </section>
+
+ <section>
+ <title>Keeping &SConstruct; Files Easy to Read</title>
+
+ <para>
+
+ One drawback to the use of a Python list
+ for source files is that
+ each file name must be enclosed in quotes
+ (either single quotes or double quotes).
+ This can get cumbersome and difficult to read
+ when the list of file names is long.
+ Fortunately, &SCons; and Python provide a number of ways
+ to make sure that
+ the &SConstruct; file stays easy to read.
+
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+
+ To make long lists of file names
+ easier to deal with, &SCons; provides a
+ &Split; function
+ that takes a quoted list of file names,
+ with the names separated by spaces or other white-space characters,
+ and turns it into a list of separate file names.
+ Using the &Split; function turns the
+ previous example into:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <programlisting>
+ env = Environment()
+ env.Program('program', Split('main.c file1.c file2.'))
+ </programlisting>
+
+ <para>
+
+ Putting the call to the &Split; function
+ inside the <function>env.Program</function> call
+ can also be a little unwieldy.
+ A more readable alternative is to
+ assign the output from the &Split; call
+ to a variable name,
+ and then use the variable when calling the
+ <function>env.Program</function> function:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <programlisting>
+ env = Environment()
+ list = Split('main.c file1.c file2.')
+ env.Program('program', list)
+ </programlisting>
+
+ <para>
+
+ Lastly, the &Split; function
+ doesn't care how much white space separates
+ the file names in the quoted string.
+ This allows you to create lists of file
+ names that span multiple lines,
+ which often makes for easier editing:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <programlisting>
+ env = Environment()
+ list = Split('main.c
+ file1.c
+ file2.c')
+ env.Program('program', list)
+ </programlisting>
+
+ </section>
+
+ <section>
+ <title>Keyword Arguments</title>
+
+ <para>
+
+ &SCons; also allows you to identify
+ the output file and input source files
+ using Python keyword arguments.
+ The output file is known as the
+ <emphasis>target</emphasis>,
+ and the source file(s) are known (logically enough) as the
+ <emphasis>source</emphasis>.
+ The Python syntax for this is:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <programlisting>
+ env = Environment()
+ list = Split('main.c file1.c file2.')
+ env.Program(target = 'program', source = list)
+ </programlisting>
+
+ <para>
+
+ Whether or not you choose to use keyword arguments
+ to identify the target and source files
+ is purely a personal choice;
+ &SCons; functions the same either way.
+
+ </para>
+
+ </section>
+
+ <section>
+ <title>Compiling Multiple Programs</title>
+
+ <para>
+
+ In order to compile multiple programs
+ within the same &SConstruct; file,
+ simply call the <function>env.Program</function> method
+ multiple times,
+ once for each program you need to build:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <scons_example name="ex4">
+ <file name="SConstruct" printme="1">
+ env = Environment()
+ env.Program('foo.c')
+ env.Program('bar', ['bar1.c', 'bar2.c'])
+ </file>
+ <file name="foo.c">
+ int main() { printf("foo.c\n"); }
+ </file>
+ <file name="bar1.c">
+ int main() { printf("bar1.c\n"); }
+ </file>
+ <file name="bar2.c">
+ void bar2() { printf("bar2.c\n"); }
+ </file>
+ </scons_example>
+
+ <para>
+
+ &SCons; would then build the programs as follows:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <scons_output example="ex4">
+ <command>scons</command>
+ </scons_output>
+
+ <para>
+
+ Notice that &SCons; does not necessarily build the
+ programs in the same order in which you specify
+ them in the &SConstruct; file.
+ &SCons; does, however, recognize that
+ the individual object files must be built
+ before the resulting program can be built.
+ We'll discuss this in greater detail in
+ the "Dependencies" section, below.
+
+ </para>
+
+ </section>
+
+ <section>
+ <title>Sharing Source Files Between Multiple Programs</title>
+
+ <para>
+
+ It's common to re-use code by sharing source files
+ between multiple programs.
+ One way to do this is to create a library
+ from the common source files,
+ which can then be linked into resulting programs.
+ (Creating libraries is discussed in
+ section XXX, below.)
+
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+
+ A more straightforward, but perhaps less convenient,
+ way to share source files between multiple programs
+ is simply to include the common files
+ in the lists of source files for each program:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <scons_example name="ex5">
+ <file name="SConstruct" printme="1">
+ env = Environment()
+ env.Program(Split('foo.c common1.c common2.c'))
+ env.Program('bar', Split('bar1.c bar2.c common1.c common2.c'))
+ </file>
+ <file name="foo.c">
+ int main() { printf("foo.c\n"); }
+ </file>
+ <file name="bar1.c">
+ int main() { printf("bar1.c\n"); }
+ </file>
+ <file name="bar2.c">
+ int bar2() { printf("bar2.c\n"); }
+ </file>
+ <file name="common1.c">
+ void common1() { printf("common1.c\n"); }
+ </file>
+ <file name="common2.c">
+ void common22() { printf("common2.c\n"); }
+ </file>
+ </scons_example>
+
+ <para>
+
+ &SCons; recognizes that the object files for
+ the &common1_c; and &common2_c; source files
+ each only need to be built once,
+ even though the files are listed multiple times:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <scons_output example="ex5">
+ <command>scons</command>
+ </scons_output>
+
+ <para>
+
+ If two or more programs
+ share a lot of common source files,
+ repeating the common files in the list for each program
+ can be a maintenance problem when you need to change the
+ list of common files.
+ You can simplify this by creating a separate Python list
+ to hold the common file names,
+ and concatenating it with other lists
+ using the Python &plus; operator:
+
+ </para>
+
+ <programlisting>
+ common = ['common1.c', 'common2.c']
+ foo_files = ['foo.c'] + common
+ bar_files = ['bar1.c', 'bar2.c'] + common
+ env = Environment()
+ env.Program('foo', foo_files)
+ env.Program('bar', bar_files)
+ </programlisting>
+
+ <para>
+
+ This is functionally equivalent to the previous example.
+
+ </para>
+
+ </section>