<?xml version='1.0'?> <!DOCTYPE sconsdoc [ <!ENTITY % scons SYSTEM "../scons.mod"> %scons; <!ENTITY % builders-mod SYSTEM "../generated/builders.mod"> %builders-mod; <!ENTITY % functions-mod SYSTEM "../generated/functions.mod"> %functions-mod; <!ENTITY % tools-mod SYSTEM "../generated/tools.mod"> %tools-mod; <!ENTITY % variables-mod SYSTEM "../generated/variables.mod"> %variables-mod; ]> <chapter id="chap-repositories" xmlns="http://www.scons.org/dbxsd/v1.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.scons.org/dbxsd/v1.0 http://www.scons.org/dbxsd/v1.0/scons.xsd"> <title>Building From Code Repositories</title> <!-- __COPYRIGHT__ 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> Often, a software project will have one or more central repositories, directory trees that contain source code, or derived files, or both. You can eliminate additional unnecessary rebuilds of files by having &SCons; use files from one or more code repositories to build files in your local build tree. </para> <section> <title>The &Repository; Method</title> <!-- The repository directories specified may contain source files, derived files (objects, libraries and executables), or both. If there is no local file (source or derived) under the directory in which Cons is executed, then the first copy of a same-named file found under a repository directory will be used to build any local derived files. --> <para> It's often useful to allow multiple programmers working on a project to build software from source files and/or derived files that are stored in a centrally-accessible repository, a directory copy of the source code tree. (Note that this is not the sort of repository maintained by a source code management system like BitKeeper, CVS, or Subversion.) <!-- For information about using &SCons; with these systems, see the section, "Fetching Files From Source Code Management Systems," below.) --> You use the &Repository; method to tell &SCons; to search one or more central code repositories (in order) for any source files and derived files that are not present in the local build tree: </para> <scons_example name="repositories_ex1"> <file name="SConstruct" printme="1"> env = Environment() env.Program('hello.c') Repository('__ROOT__/usr/repository1', '__ROOT__/usr/repository2') </file> <file name="hello.c"> int main() { printf("Hello, world!\n"); } </file> </scons_example> <para> Multiple calls to the &Repository; method will simply add repositories to the global list that &SCons; maintains, with the exception that &SCons; will automatically eliminate the current directory and any non-existent directories from the list. </para> </section> <section> <title>Finding source files in repositories</title> <para> The above example specifies that &SCons; will first search for files under the <filename>/usr/repository1</filename> tree and next under the <filename>/usr/repository2</filename> tree. &SCons; expects that any files it searches for will be found in the same position relative to the top-level directory. In the above example, if the &hello_c; file is not found in the local build tree, &SCons; will search first for a <filename>/usr/repository1/hello.c</filename> file and then for a <filename>/usr/repository2/hello.c</filename> file to use in its place. </para> <para> So given the &SConstruct; file above, if the &hello_c; file exists in the local build directory, &SCons; will rebuild the &hello; program as normal: </para> <scons_output example="repositories_ex1" suffix="1"> <scons_output_command>scons -Q</scons_output_command> </scons_output> <para> If, however, there is no local &hello_c; file, but one exists in <filename>/usr/repository1</filename>, &SCons; will recompile the &hello; program from the source file it finds in the repository: </para> <scons_example name="repositories_ex2"> <file name="SConstruct"> env = Environment() env.Program('hello.c') Repository('__ROOT__/usr/repository1', '__ROOT__/usr/repository2') </file> <file name="__ROOT__/usr/repository1/hello.c"> int main() { printf("Hello, world!\n"); } </file> </scons_example> <scons_output example="repositories_ex2" suffix="1"> <scons_output_command>scons -Q</scons_output_command> </scons_output> <para> And similarly, if there is no local &hello_c; file and no <filename>/usr/repository1/hello.c</filename>, but one exists in <filename>/usr/repository2</filename>: </para> <scons_example name="repositories_ex3"> <file name="SConstruct"> env = Environment() env.Program('hello.c') Repository('__ROOT__/usr/repository1', '__ROOT__/usr/repository2') </file> <file name="__ROOT__/usr/repository2/hello.c"> int main() { printf("Hello, world!\n"); } </file> </scons_example> <scons_output example="repositories_ex3" suffix="1"> <scons_output_command>scons -Q</scons_output_command> </scons_output> <para> </para> </section> <section> <title>Finding <literal>#include</literal> files in repositories</title> <para> We've already seen that SCons will scan the contents of a source file for <literal>#include</literal> file names and realize that targets built from that source file also depend on the <literal>#include</literal> file(s). For each directory in the &cv-link-CPPPATH; list, &SCons; will actually search the corresponding directories in any repository trees and establish the correct dependencies on any <literal>#include</literal> files that it finds in repository directory. </para> <para> Unless the C compiler also knows about these directories in the repository trees, though, it will be unable to find the <literal>#include</literal> files. If, for example, the &hello_c; file in our previous example includes the &hello_h; in its current directory, and the &hello_h; only exists in the repository: </para> <screen> % <userinput>scons -Q</userinput> cc -o hello.o -c hello.c hello.c:1: hello.h: No such file or directory </screen> <para> In order to inform the C compiler about the repositories, &SCons; will add appropriate <literal>-I</literal> flags to the compilation commands for each directory in the &cv-CPPPATH; list. So if we add the current directory to the construction environment &cv-CPPPATH; like so: </para> <scons_example name="repositories_CPPPATH"> <file name="SConstruct" printme="1"> env = Environment(CPPPATH = ['.']) env.Program('hello.c') Repository('__ROOT__/usr/repository1') </file> <file name="hello.c"> int main() { printf("Hello, world!\n"); } </file> </scons_example> <para> Then re-executing &SCons; yields: </para> <scons_output example="repositories_CPPPATH" suffix="1"> <scons_output_command>scons -Q</scons_output_command> </scons_output> <para> The order of the <literal>-I</literal> options replicates, for the C preprocessor, the same repository-directory search path that &SCons; uses for its own dependency analysis. If there are multiple repositories and multiple &cv-CPPPATH; directories, &SCons; will add the repository directories to the beginning of each &cv-CPPPATH; directory, rapidly multiplying the number of <literal>-I</literal> flags. If, for example, the &cv-CPPPATH; contains three directories (and shorter repository path names!): </para> <scons_example name="repositories_CPPPATH3"> <file name="SConstruct" printme="1"> env = Environment(CPPPATH = ['dir1', 'dir2', 'dir3']) env.Program('hello.c') Repository('__ROOT__/r1', '__ROOT__/r2') </file> <file name="hello.c"> int main() { printf("Hello, world!\n"); } </file> </scons_example> <para> Then we'll end up with nine <literal>-I</literal> options on the command line, three (for each of the &cv-CPPPATH; directories) times three (for the local directory plus the two repositories): </para> <scons_output example="repositories_CPPPATH3" suffix="1"> <scons_output_command>scons -Q</scons_output_command> </scons_output> <!-- Cons classic did the following, does SCons? In order to shorten the command lines as much as possible, Cons will remove C<-I> flags for any directories, locally or in the repositories, which do not actually exist. (Note that the C<-I> flags are not included in the MD5 signature calculation for the target file, so the target will not be recompiled if the compilation command changes due to a directory coming into existence.) --> <section> <title>Limitations on <literal>#include</literal> files in repositories</title> <para> &SCons; relies on the C compiler's <literal>-I</literal> options to control the order in which the preprocessor will search the repository directories for <literal>#include</literal> files. This causes a problem, however, with how the C preprocessor handles <literal>#include</literal> lines with the file name included in double-quotes. </para> <para> As we've seen, &SCons; will compile the &hello_c; file from the repository if it doesn't exist in the local directory. If, however, the &hello_c; file in the repository contains a <literal>#include</literal> line with the file name in double quotes: </para> <programlisting> #include "hello.h" int main(int argc, char *argv[]) { printf(HELLO_MESSAGE); return (0); } </programlisting> <para> Then the C preprocessor will <emphasis>always</emphasis> use a &hello_h; file from the repository directory first, even if there is a &hello_h; file in the local directory, despite the fact that the command line specifies <literal>-I</literal> as the first option: </para> <scons_example name="repositories_quote1"> <file name="SConstruct"> env = Environment(CPPPATH = ['.']) env.Program('hello.c') Repository('__ROOT__/usr/repository1') </file> <file name="__ROOT__/usr/repository1/hello.c"> int main() { printf("Hello, world!\n"); } </file> </scons_example> <scons_output example="repositories_quote1" suffix="1"> <scons_output_command>scons -Q</scons_output_command> </scons_output> <para> This behavior of the C preprocessor--always search for a <literal>#include</literal> file in double-quotes first in the same directory as the source file, and only then search the <literal>-I</literal>--can not, in general, be changed. In other words, it's a limitation that must be lived with if you want to use code repositories in this way. There are three ways you can possibly work around this C preprocessor behavior: </para> <orderedlist> <listitem> <para> Some modern versions of C compilers do have an option to disable or control this behavior. If so, add that option to &cv-link-CFLAGS; (or &cv-link-CXXFLAGS; or both) in your construction environment(s). Make sure the option is used for all construction environments that use C preprocessing! </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Change all occurrences of <literal>#include "file.h"</literal> to <literal>#include <file.h></literal>. Use of <literal>#include</literal> with angle brackets does not have the same behavior--the <literal>-I</literal> directories are searched first for <literal>#include</literal> files--which gives &SCons; direct control over the list of directories the C preprocessor will search. </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> Require that everyone working with compilation from repositories check out and work on entire directories of files, not individual files. (If you use local wrapper scripts around your source code control system's command, you could add logic to enforce this restriction there. </para> </listitem> </orderedlist> </section> </section> <section> <title>Finding the &SConstruct; file in repositories</title> <para> &SCons; will also search in repositories for the &SConstruct; file and any specified &SConscript; files. This poses a problem, though: how can &SCons; search a repository tree for an &SConstruct; file if the &SConstruct; file itself contains the information about the pathname of the repository? To solve this problem, &SCons; allows you to specify repository directories on the command line using the <literal>-Y</literal> option: </para> <screen> % <userinput>scons -Q -Y /usr/repository1 -Y /usr/repository2</userinput> </screen> <para> When looking for source or derived files, &SCons; will first search the repositories specified on the command line, and then search the repositories specified in the &SConstruct; or &SConscript; files. </para> </section> <section> <title>Finding derived files in repositories</title> <para> If a repository contains not only source files, but also derived files (such as object files, libraries, or executables), &SCons; will perform its normal MD5 signature calculation to decide if a derived file in a repository is up-to-date, or the derived file must be rebuilt in the local build directory. For the &SCons; signature calculation to work correctly, a repository tree must contain the &sconsign; files that &SCons; uses to keep track of signature information. </para> <para> Usually, this would be done by a build integrator who would run &SCons; in the repository to create all of its derived files and &sconsign; files, or who would run &SCons; in a separate build directory and copy the resulting tree to the desired repository: </para> <scons_example name="repositories_ex4"> <file name="SConstruct"> env = Environment() env.Program(['hello.c', 'file1.c', 'file2.c']) Repository('/usr/repository1', '/usr/repository2') </file> <file name="hello.c"> int main() { printf("Hello, world!\n"); } </file> <file name="file1.c"> int f1() { printf("file1\n"); } </file> <file name="file2.c"> int f2() { printf("file2.c\n"); } </file> </scons_example> <scons_output example="repositories_ex4" suffix="1"> <scons_output_command>cd /usr/repository1</scons_output_command> <scons_output_command>scons -Q</scons_output_command> </scons_output> <para> (Note that this is safe even if the &SConstruct; file lists <filename>/usr/repository1</filename> as a repository, because &SCons; will remove the current build directory from its repository list for that invocation.) </para> <para> Now, with the repository populated, we only need to create the one local source file we're interested in working with at the moment, and use the <literal>-Y</literal> option to tell &SCons; to fetch any other files it needs from the repository: </para> <!-- <scons_output example="repositories_ex4" suffix="2"> <scons_output_command>cd $HOME/build</scons_output_command> <scons_output_command>edit hello.c</scons_output_command> <scons_output_command>scons -Q -Y __ROOT__/usr/repository1</scons_output_command> </scons_output> --> <screen> % <userinput>cd $HOME/build</userinput> % <userinput>edit hello.c</userinput> % <userinput>scons -Q -Y /usr/repository1</userinput> cc -c -o hello.o hello.c cc -o hello hello.o /usr/repository1/file1.o /usr/repository1/file2.o </screen> <para> Notice that &SCons; realizes that it does not need to rebuild local copies <filename>file1.o</filename> and <filename>file2.o</filename> files, but instead uses the already-compiled files from the repository. </para> </section> <section> <title>Guaranteeing local copies of files</title> <para> If the repository tree contains the complete results of a build, and we try to build from the repository without any files in our local tree, something moderately surprising happens: </para> <screen> % <userinput>mkdir $HOME/build2</userinput> % <userinput>cd $HOME/build2</userinput> % <userinput>scons -Q -Y /usr/all/repository hello</userinput> scons: `hello' is up-to-date. </screen> <para> Why does &SCons; say that the &hello; program is up-to-date when there is no &hello; program in the local build directory? Because the repository (not the local directory) contains the up-to-date &hello; program, and &SCons; correctly determines that nothing needs to be done to rebuild that up-to-date copy of the file. </para> <para> There are, however, many times when you want to ensure that a local copy of a file always exists. A packaging or testing script, for example, may assume that certain generated files exist locally. To tell &SCons; to make a copy of any up-to-date repository file in the local build directory, use the &Local; function: </para> <scons_example name="repositories_ex5"> <file name="SConstruct" printme="1"> env = Environment() hello = env.Program('hello.c') Local(hello) </file> <file name="hello.c"> int main() { printf("Hello, world!\n"); } </file> </scons_example> <para> If we then run the same command, &SCons; will make a local copy of the program from the repository copy, and tell you that it is doing so: </para> <screen> % <userinput>scons -Y /usr/all/repository hello</userinput> Local copy of hello from /usr/all/repository/hello scons: `hello' is up-to-date. </screen> <para> (Notice that, because the act of making the local copy is not considered a "build" of the &hello; file, &SCons; still reports that it is up-to-date.) </para> </section> </chapter>