Build System Analysis:build.pl versus makefile

Build Environment Effort
Quick Navigation Customers Build Performance Elimination of Non-Pro Dependencies Module Problems Split Build Scalability HID List New Build System Requirements External Source Tarballs ToDo Build System Analysis Zen of gbuild Gbuild Bootstrapping Module Migration Module Migration Tips Build System Analysis:capstone2013 windows build Capstone 2013 Client Requirements Document Capstone 2013 Technology Review & Implementation Document
About this template

build.pl versus central makefile

In order to refactor our build system, the functionality of build.pl and how it can be translated into a central makefile have been analyzed.

The following table contains all build.pl options, with description (build --help), and the make (in main) equivalent

Option	Description	Makefile
--all	build all projects from very beginning till current one	"make" builds all modules "make <module>" builds to and with <module> (same as --from)
--from	build all projects dependent from the specified (including it) till current one	"make <module>" builds to and with <module>. Remark the Makefile represent real dependencies. <module>/Makefile touches a file "solver/.../<module>.done" in every run and the central makefile have rules like "<module>.done : <module_depend>.done ...", this means that modules needed to be generated are called.
--genPO	extract en-US PO file(s), no build/deliver (usable for '-all' and '-from' keys)	"make genPO" to extract from all modules "<module>/make genPO" to extract from a single module
--exclude_branch_fromd	exclude module(s) and its branch from the build	not suported
--mode OOo	build only projects needed for OpenOffice.org	not suported
--prepare	clear all projects for incompatible build from prj_name till current one [for platform] (cws version)	"make clear" to clear all modules "<module>/make clear" to clear a single module "<module>/make clear --depend" to clear all depending modules
--with_branches-	the same as "--from" but with build all projects in neighbour branches	not suported
--skip	do not build certain module(s)	not suported
--since	build all projects beginning from the specified till current one (the same as "--all:prj_name", but skipping prj_name)	"make <module>"
--checkmodules	check if all required parent projects are availlable	"make -q" dry-run for dependencies all modules "make <module> -q" dry-run for dependencies of <module>
--show	show what is going to be built	"make -q" dry-run for dependencies all modules "make <module> -q" dry-run for dependencies of <module> "<module>/make -q" dry-run for all files in <module>
--file	generate command file file_name	not suported
--deliver	only deliver, no build (usable for '-all' and '-from' keys)	"make deliver" delivers all modules "<module>/make deliver" delivers a single module
-P	start multiprocessing build, with number of processes passed	"make -j<x>" where <x> is number of parallel processes
--server	start build in server mode (clients required)	not suported
--setenvstring (--server)	string for configuration of the client environment	not suported
--port (--server)	set server port, default is 7890. You may pass several ports, the server will be started on the first available otherwise the server will be started on first available port from the default range 7890-7894	not suported
--client_timeout (--server)	time frame after which the client/job is considered to be lost. Default is 120 min	not suported
--dlv_switch	use deliver with the switch specified	not suported
--help	print help info	not suported
--ignore	force tool to ignore errors	"make -i"
--html	generate html page with build status file named unxlngx6.pro.build.html will be generated in /share/opensource/aoo/branches/l10n40/main	not suported, make does not provide such a feature, but 2 scripts will be provided make_log, that calls make and redirect output to a log file, and make_html, that calls make and pipes output through a html formatter.
--html_path	set html page path	not suported
--dontgraboutput	do not grab console output when generating html page	not suported
--genconf	generate/modify workspace configuration file	not suported
--add	add active module(s) to configuration file	edit Makefile
--remove	removeactive modules(s) from configuration file	edit Makefile
--removeall --clear	remove all active modules(s) from configuration file	edit Makefile
--stoponerror	stop build when error occurs (for mp builds)	default unless -i is used
--interactive	start interactive build process (process can be managed via html page)	not suported
--job=job_string	execute custom job in (each) module. job_string is a shell script/command to be executed instead of regular dmake jobs	"make --job=job_string"
--pre_job=pre_job_string	execute preliminary job in (each) module. pre_job_string is a shell script/command to be executed before regular job in the module	"make --pre_job=job_string"
--post_job=job_string	execute a postprocess job in (each) module. post_job_string is a shell script/command to be executed after regular job in the module	"make --post_job=job_string"

There will be 1 Makefile in main with all intermodule dependencies (first line in prj/build.lst) and 1 Makefile in each module with the dependencies in prj/build.lst, this makefile will also have target=deliver which contains all lines from prj/deliver.lst