diff options
author | Boris Kolpackov <boris@codesynthesis.com> | 2024-02-27 05:19:56 +0200 |
---|---|---|
committer | Boris Kolpackov <boris@codesynthesis.com> | 2024-02-27 05:19:56 +0200 |
commit | d9b887b57c4bc68b80f7d1fd8c8cf99dbbd15e16 (patch) | |
tree | 6c449bc3625492c50f60a557394aa4b5e9c80a21 /doc | |
parent | b41c610052fd146fa4d328f003bcd3af382237ed (diff) |
Further work on packaging guide
Diffstat (limited to 'doc')
-rwxr-xr-x | doc/cli.sh | 4 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | doc/packaging.cli | 324 |
2 files changed, 179 insertions, 149 deletions
@@ -67,9 +67,9 @@ function gen () # <name> ps2pdf14 -sPAPERSIZE=letter -dOptimize=true -dEmbedAllFonts=true build2-toolchain-$n-letter.ps build2-toolchain-$n-letter.pdf } -#gen intro1 -gen intro gen packaging +gen intro +#gen intro1 # Auto-heading doesn't work since it is broken into multiple doc strings. # diff --git a/doc/packaging.cli b/doc/packaging.cli index 2037146..850ab8a 100644 --- a/doc/packaging.cli +++ b/doc/packaging.cli @@ -13,7 +13,10 @@ // TODO: // -// @@ Update pinned repositories (libevent, libasio, xxd). +// @@ Update pinned repositories (libevent, libasio, xxd, libzstd). +// +// @@ Update build2-packaging front page with link to this guide (add +// organization README?) // // @@ Enforce continous versioning with pre-commit hook -- maybe add a note? // @@ -24,6 +27,17 @@ // // @@ Add link from metadata HOWTO to "Modifying upstream source code with // preprocessor". +// +// @@ Default configuration like SQLite -- look in Debian/Fedora (want to +// be substitutable with system-installed). +// +// @@ Optional dependencies like xxhash. +// +// @@ What not to do: bundle catch2.hpp. +// +// @@ Mapping to system package manager names/versions. +// +// @@ bdep-new: export stub for executables. " \h0#preface|Preface| @@ -35,16 +49,25 @@ repository. For additional information, including documentation for individual \c{build2} toolchain components, man pages, HOWTOs, etc., refer to the project \l{https://build2.org/doc.xhtml Documentation} page. -\N|This document is a work in progress and is incomplete.| - \h1#intro|Introduction| -The aim of this guide is to ease the convertion of third-party C/C++ projects +The aim of this guide is to ease the conversion of third-party C/C++ projects to the \c{build2} build system and publishing them to the \l{https://cppget.org cppget.org} package repository by codifying the best -practices and techniques. By following the presented guidelines you also make -it easier for others to review your work and help with ongoing maintenance. +practices and techniques. By following the presented guidelines you will also +make it easier for others to review your work and help with ongoing +maintenance. + +\N|A \c{build2}-based project can only consume packages that use the +\c{build2} build system (with the exception of +\l{https://build2.org/faq.xhtml#why-syspkg system-installed packages}). In +other words, there is no support for \"wrapping\" or otherwise adapting +third-party projects' existing build systems. While replacing the build system +unquestionably requires more work upfront, the \c{build2} project's experience +is that the long-term benefits of this effort are well justified (see +\l{https://build2.org/faq.xhtml#why-package-managers How does \c{build2} +compare to other package managers?} for details).| The primary focus of this guide are existing C/C++ projects that use a different build system and that are maintained by a third-party, which we will @@ -76,9 +99,9 @@ steps: \li|Tweak the generated \c{buildfiles} to match upstream build.| -\li|Test using the \l{https://ci.cppget.org \c{build2} CI service}.| +\li|Test locally and using the \l{https://ci.cppget.org \c{build2} CI service}.| -\li|Publish the package to \l{https://cppget.org cppget.org}.| +\li|Release and publish the package to \l{https://cppget.org cppget.org}.| | @@ -93,30 +116,29 @@ typical look like this: \li|Tweak \c{buildfiles} to match changes to upstream build, if any.| -\li|Test using the \l{https://ci.cppget.org \c{build2} CI service}.| +\li|Test locally and using the \l{https://ci.cppget.org \c{build2} CI service}.| -\li|Publish the package to \l{https://cppget.org cppget.org}.| +\li|Release and publish the package to \l{https://cppget.org cppget.org}.| | While packaging a simple library or executable is relatively straightforward, -the C and C++ languages and their ecosystem is famous for a large amount -varience in the platforms, compilers, and build systems used. This leads to -what appears to be an endless list of special considerations that are -applicable in certain, more complex cases. - -As result, the presented guidelines are divided into four chapters: The -\l{#core Core Guidelines} cover steps that are applicable to all or most -packaging efforts. As mentioned earlier, these steps will assume packaging a -library but they should be easy to adapt to executables. This chapter is -followed by \l{#dont-do What Not to Do} which covers the common packaging -mistakes and omissions. These are unfortunately relatively common because -experience with other build systems often does not translate directly to -\c{build2} and some techniques (such as header-only libraries) are -discouraged. The last two chapters are \l{#howto HOWTO} and \l{#faq FAQ} which -cover the above-mentioned long list of special considerations that are only -applicable in certain cases as well as answer frequent packaging-related -questions, respectively. +the C and C++ languages and their ecosystems are infamous for a large amount +variability in the platforms, compilers, source code layouts, and build +systems used. This leads to what looks like an endless list of special +considerations that are only applicable in certain, more complex cases. + +As result, the presented guidelines are divided into four chapters: \l{#core +Common Guidelines} cover steps that are applicable to most packaging +efforts. As mentioned earlier, these steps will assume packaging a library but +they should be easy to adapt to executables. This chapter is followed by +\l{#dont-do What Not to Do} which covers the common packaging mistakes and +omissions. These are unfortunately relatively common because experience with +other build systems often does not translate directly to \c{build2} and some +techniques (such as header-only libraries) are discouraged. The last two +chapters are \l{#howto HOWTO} and \l{#faq FAQ}. The former covers the +above-mentioned long list of special considerations that are only applicable +in certain cases while the latter answer frequent packaging-related questions. Besides the presented guidelines you may also find the existing packages found in \l{https://github.com/build2-packaging github.com/build2-packaging} a good @@ -167,11 +189,11 @@ then all the \c{CMakeLists.txt}, \c{*.cmake}, etc., files will constitute its build system.|| To avoid confusion, in this guide we will always use the term \i{project} to -refer to upstream and \i{package} to refer to its \c{build2} conversion, -even though we would normally call our own \c{build2}-based work a project, -not a package (see \l{b#intro-proj-struct Project Structure} for details on -the \c{build2} terminology). Some commonly used \c{build2}-side terms in this -guide include: +refer to upstream and \i{package} to refer to its \c{build2} conversion, even +though we would normally call our own \c{build2}-based work a project, not a +package (see \l{b#intro-proj-struct Project Structure} for details on the +\c{build2} terminology in this area). Some commonly used \c{build2}-side terms +in this guide include: \dl| @@ -188,7 +210,12 @@ Sometimes it makes sense to split the upstream project into multiple the package repository structure must become multi-package.|| -\h1#core|Core Guidelines| +\h1#core|Common Guidelines| + +This chapter describes the recommended sequence of steps for packaging a +third-party project for \c{build2} with the end-goal of publishing it to the +\l{https://cppget.org cppget.org} package repository. + \h#core-repo|Setup the package repository| @@ -1040,7 +1067,12 @@ sure public headers are installed into the same location as upstream. \N|The \c{bdep-new}-generated library is a simple \"Hello, World!\" example that can nevertheless be built, tested, and installed. The idea here is to verify it matches upstream using the generated source files before replacing -them with the upstream source file symlinks.| +them with the upstream source file symlinks. + +If you are using Windows, then you will need to temporarily replace the +\c{no-symexport} sub-option with \c{auto-symexport} in order to make the +generated library buildable. But do not forget to drop this sub-option on +the next step.| Note that at this stage its easiest to build, test, and install in source directly sidestepping the \c{bdep} initialization of the package (which you @@ -3877,29 +3909,6 @@ it corresponds to the \c{2.Y.Z} release series. If you already have the \h1#dont-do|What Not to Do| -@@ Reorder. - -\h#dont-fix-upstream|Try not to fix upstream issues in the \c{build2} package| - -Any deviations from upstream makes the \c{build2} package more difficult to -maintain. In particular, if you make a large number of changes to upstream -source code, releasing a new version will require a lot of work. As a result, -it is recommended to avoid fixing upstream issues in the \c{build2} package. -Instead, try to have the issues fixed upstream and wait for them to be -released as a new version. - -Sometimes, however, you may have no choice. For example, you may want to add -support for a platform/compiler that upstream is not willing or capable of -supporting. - -Even if you do fix some issues in the \c{build2} package directly, try to also -incorporate them upstream so that you don't need to maintain the patches -forever. - -See also \l{#dont-change-upstream Don't change upstream source code layout -unnecessarily} and \l{#howto-patch-upstream-source How do I patch upstream -source code}. - \h#dont-from-scratch|Don't write \c{buildfiles} from scratch, use \c{bdep-new}| @@ -3922,7 +3931,28 @@ See \l{#core-package-craft-cmd Craft \c{bdep\ new} command line to create package} for details. -\h#dont-change-upstream|Don't change upstream source code layout unnecessarily| +\h#dont-fix-upstream|Avoid fixing upstream issues in the \c{build2} package| + +Any deviations from upstream makes the \c{build2} package more difficult to +maintain. In particular, if you make a large number of changes to upstream +source code, releasing a new version will require a lot of work. As a result, +it is recommended to avoid fixing upstream issues in the \c{build2} package. +Instead, try to have the issues fixed upstream and wait for them to be +released as a new version. + +Sometimes, however, you may have no choice. For example, you may want to add +support for a platform/compiler that upstream is not willing or capable of +supporting. + +Even if you do fix some issues in the \c{build2} package directly, try to also +incorporate them upstream so that you don't need to maintain the patches +forever. + +See also \l{#dont-change-upstream Avoid changing upstream source code layout} +and \l{#howto-patch-upstream-source How do I patch upstream source code}. + + +\h#dont-change-upstream|Avoid changing upstream source code layout| It's a good idea to stay as close to the upstream's source code layout as possible. For background and rationale, see \l{#core-package-struct Decide on @@ -4087,92 +4117,7 @@ libfoo/ \h1#howto|Packaging HOWTO| -\h#howto-debug-macro|How do I expose extra debug macros of a library| - -Sometime libraries provide extra debugging facilities that are usually enabled -or disabled with a macro. For example, \c{libfoo} may provide the -\c{LIBFOO_DEBUG} macro that enables additional sanity checks, tracing, etc. -Normally such facilities are disable by default. - -While it may seem like a good idea to detect a debug build and enable this -automatically, it is not: such facilities usually impose substantial overhead -and the presence of debug information does not mean that performance is not -important (people routinely make optimized builds with debug information). - -As a result, the recommended approach is to expose this as a configuration -variable that the end-users of the library can use (see \l{b#proj-config -Project Configuration} for background). Continue with the \c{libfoo} example, -we can add \c{config.libfoo.debug} to its \c{build/root.build}: - -\ -# build/root.build - -config [bool] config.libfoo.debug ?= false -\ - -And then define the \c{LIBFOO_DEBUG} macro based on that in the \c{buildfile}: - -\ -# src/buildfile - -if $config.libfoo.debug - cxx.poptions += -DLIBFOO_DEBUG -\ - -If the macro is also used in the library's interface (for example, in inline -or template functions), then we will also need to export it: - -\ -# src/buildfile - -if $config.libfoo.debug -{ - cxx.poptions += -DLIBFOO_DEBUG - lib{foo}: cxx.export.poptions += -DLIBFOO_DEBUG -} -\ - -\N|If the debug facility in question should be enabled by default even in the -optimized builds (in which case the macro usually has the \c{NO_DEBUG} -semantics), the other option is to hook it up to the standard \c{NDEBUG} -macro, for example, in the library's configuration header file.| - -Such \c{.debug} configuration variables should primarily be meant for the -end-user to selectively enabled extra debugging support in certain libraries -of their build. However, if your project depends on a number of libraries with -such extra debuggin support and it generally makes sense to also enable this -support in dependencies if it is enabled in your project, then you may want to -propagate your \c{.debug} configuration value to the dependencies (see the -\l{bpkg#manifest-package-depends \c{depends} package \c{manifest} value} for -details on dependency configuration). You, however, should still allow the -user to override this decision on the per-dependency basis. - -Continuing with the above example, let's say we have \c{libbar} with -\c{config.libbar.debug} that depends on \c{libfoo} and that wishes to by -default enable debugging in \c{libfoo} if it is enabled in \c{libbar}. -This is how we can correctly arrange for this in \c{libbar}'s \c{manifest}: - -\ -depends: -\\ -libfoo ^1.2.3 -{ - # We prefer to enable debug in libfoo if enabled in libbar - # but accept if it's disabled (for example, by the user). - # - prefer - { - if $config.libbar.debug - config.libfoo.debug = true - } - - accept (true) -} -\\ -\ - - -\h#howto-patch-upstream-source|How do I patch upstream source code| +\h#howto-patch-upstream-source|How do I patch upstream source code?| If you need to change something in the upstream source code, there are several options: You can make a copy of the upstream source file and make the @@ -4370,7 +4315,7 @@ exe{foo}: c{main}: include = adhoc # Included in main-build2.c. \ -\h#howto-bad-inclusion-practice|How do I deal with bad header inclusion practice| +\h#howto-bad-inclusion-practice|How do I deal with bad header inclusion practice?| This sections explains how to deal with libraries that include their public, generically-named headers without the library name as a directory prefix. Such @@ -4518,7 +4463,7 @@ lib{foo}: cxx.pkgconfig.include = include/ include/libfoo/ \ -\h#howto-extra-header-install-subdir|How do I handle extra header installation subdirectory| +\h#howto-extra-header-install-subdir|How do I handle extra header installation subdirectory?| This sections explains how to handle an additional header installation subdirectory. As an illustration of the problem, consider the \c{libfoo} @@ -4569,7 +4514,7 @@ lib{foo}: cxx.pkgconfig.include = include/\"foo-v$version.major\"/ \N|The variable will be \c{c.pkgconfig.include} for a C library.| -\h#howto-no-extension-header|How do I handle headers without extensions| +\h#howto-no-extension-header|How do I handle headers without extensions?| If all the headers in a project have no extension, then you can simply specify the empty \c{extension} value for the \c{hxx{\}} target type @@ -4617,6 +4562,91 @@ extension\" specification. See \l{b#targets Targets and Target Types} for details. +\h#howto-debug-macro|How do I expose extra debug macros of a library?| + +Sometime libraries provide extra debugging facilities that are usually enabled +or disabled with a macro. For example, \c{libfoo} may provide the +\c{LIBFOO_DEBUG} macro that enables additional sanity checks, tracing, etc. +Normally such facilities are disable by default. + +While it may seem like a good idea to detect a debug build and enable this +automatically, it is not: such facilities usually impose substantial overhead +and the presence of debug information does not mean that performance is not +important (people routinely make optimized builds with debug information). + +As a result, the recommended approach is to expose this as a configuration +variable that the end-users of the library can use (see \l{b#proj-config +Project Configuration} for background). Continue with the \c{libfoo} example, +we can add \c{config.libfoo.debug} to its \c{build/root.build}: + +\ +# build/root.build + +config [bool] config.libfoo.debug ?= false +\ + +And then define the \c{LIBFOO_DEBUG} macro based on that in the \c{buildfile}: + +\ +# src/buildfile + +if $config.libfoo.debug + cxx.poptions += -DLIBFOO_DEBUG +\ + +If the macro is also used in the library's interface (for example, in inline +or template functions), then we will also need to export it: + +\ +# src/buildfile + +if $config.libfoo.debug +{ + cxx.poptions += -DLIBFOO_DEBUG + lib{foo}: cxx.export.poptions += -DLIBFOO_DEBUG +} +\ + +\N|If the debug facility in question should be enabled by default even in the +optimized builds (in which case the macro usually has the \c{NO_DEBUG} +semantics), the other option is to hook it up to the standard \c{NDEBUG} +macro, for example, in the library's configuration header file.| + +Such \c{.debug} configuration variables should primarily be meant for the +end-user to selectively enabled extra debugging support in certain libraries +of their build. However, if your project depends on a number of libraries with +such extra debuggin support and it generally makes sense to also enable this +support in dependencies if it is enabled in your project, then you may want to +propagate your \c{.debug} configuration value to the dependencies (see the +\l{bpkg#manifest-package-depends \c{depends} package \c{manifest} value} for +details on dependency configuration). You, however, should still allow the +user to override this decision on the per-dependency basis. + +Continuing with the above example, let's say we have \c{libbar} with +\c{config.libbar.debug} that depends on \c{libfoo} and that wishes to by +default enable debugging in \c{libfoo} if it is enabled in \c{libbar}. +This is how we can correctly arrange for this in \c{libbar}'s \c{manifest}: + +\ +depends: +\\ +libfoo ^1.2.3 +{ + # We prefer to enable debug in libfoo if enabled in libbar + # but accept if it's disabled (for example, by the user). + # + prefer + { + if $config.libbar.debug + config.libfoo.debug = true + } + + accept (true) +} +\\ +\ + + \h1#faq|Packaging FAQ| \h#faq-alpha-stable|Why is my package in \c{alpha} rather than \c{stable}?| |