meson/docs/markdown/Gnome-module.md

GNOME module

This module provides helper tools for build operations needed when building Gnome/GLib programs.

Note: the compilation commands here might not work properly when you change the source files. This is a bug in the respective compilers which do not expose the required dependency information. This has been reported upstream in this bug. Until this is fixed you need to be careful when changing your source files.

Usage

To use this module, just do: gnome = import('gnome'). The following functions will then be available as methods on the object with the name gnome. You can, of course, replace the name gnome with anything else.

gnome.compile_resources()

This function compiles resources specified in an XML file into code that can be embedded inside the main binary. Similar a build target it takes two positional arguments. The first one is the name of the resource and the second is the XML file containing the resource definitions. If the name is foobar, Meson will generate a header file called foobar.h, which you can then include in your sources.

• source_dir: a list of subdirectories where the resource compiler should look up the files, relative to the location of the XML file
• c_name: passed to the resource compiler as an argument after --c-name
• dependencies: extra targets to depend upon for building
• export: (Added 0.37.0) if true, export the symbols of the generated sources
• gresource_bundle: (Added 0.37.0) if true, output a .gresource file instead of source
• install_header: (Added 0.37.0) if true, install the header file
• install: (Added 0.37.0) if true, install the gresource file
• install_dir: (Added 0.37.0) location to install the header or bundle depending on previous options
• extra_args: extra command line arguments to pass to the resource compiler

Returns an array containing: [c_source, header_file] or [gresource_bundle]

gnome.generate_gir()

Generates GObject introspection data. Takes one positional argument, the build target you want to build gir data for. There are several keyword arguments. Many of these map directly to the g-ir-scanner tool so see its documentation for more information.

• sources: the list of sources to be scanned for gir data
• nsversion: namespace version
• namespace: the namespace for this gir object which determines output files
• symbol_prefix: the symbol prefix for the gir object, e.g. gtk
• identifier_prefix: the identifier prefix for the gir object, e.g. Gtk
• export_packages: extra packages the gir file exports
• includes: list of gir names to be included, can also be a GirTarget
• dependencies: deps to use during introspection scanning
• link_with: list of libraries to link with
• include_directories: extra include paths to look for gir files
• install: if true, install the generated files
• install_dir_gir: (Added 0.35.0) which directory to install the gir file into
• install_dir_typelib: (Added 0.35.0) which directory to install the typelib file into
• extra_args: command line arguments to pass to gir compiler

Returns an array of two elements which are: [gir_target, typelib_target]

gnome.genmarshal()

Generates a marshal file using the glib-genmarshal tool. The first argument is the basename of the output files.

• sources: the list of sources to use as inputs
• prefix: the prefix to use for symbols
• install_header: if true, install the generated header
• install_dir: directory to install header to
• stdinc: if true, include the standard marshallers from glib
• nostdinc: if true, don't include the standard marshallers from glib
• internal: if true, mark generated sources as internal
• skip_source: if true, skip source location comments
• valist_marshallers: if true, generate va_list marshallers
• extra_args: (Added 0.42.0) additional command line arguments to pass to glib-genmarshal (Requires GLib 2.54)

Added 0.35.0

Returns an array of two elements which are: [c_source, header_file]

gnome.mkenums()

Generates enum files for GObject using the glib-mkenums tool. The first argument is the base name of the output files.

This method is essentially a wrapper around the glib-mkenums tool's command line API. It is the most featureful method for enum creation.

Typically you either provide template files or you specify the various template sections manually as strings.

Most libraries and applications will be using the same standard template with only minor tweaks, in which case the gnome.mkenums_simple() convenience method can be used instead.

Note that if you #include the generated header in any of the sources for a build target, you must add the generated header to the build target's list of sources to codify the dependency. This is true for all generated sources, not just mkenums.

• sources: the list of sources to make enums with
• c_template: template to use for generating the source
• h_template: template to use for generating the header
• install_header: if true, install the generated header
• install_dir: directory to install the header
• comments: comment passed to the command
• identifier_prefix: prefix to use for the identifiers
• symbol_prefix: prefix to use for the symbols
• eprod: enum text
• fhead: file header
• fprod: file text
• ftail: file tail
• vhead: value text
• vtail: value tail

Added 0.35.0

Returns an array of two elements which are: [c_source, header_file]

gnome.mkenums_simple()

Generates enum .c and .h files for GObject using the glib-mkenums tool with the standard template used by most GObject-based C libraries. The first argument is the base name of the output files.

Note that if you #include the generated header in any of the sources for a build target, you must add the generated header to the build target's list of sources to codify the dependency. This is true for all generated sources, not just mkenums_simple.

• sources: the list of sources to make enums with
• install_header: if true, install the generated header
• install_dir: directory to install the header
• identifier_prefix: prefix to use for the identifiers
• symbol_prefix: prefix to use for the symbols
• header_prefix: additional prefix at the top of the header file, e.g. for extra includes (which may be needed if you specify a decorator for the function declarations)
• decorator: optional decorator for the function declarations, e.g. GTK_AVAILABLE or GST_EXPORT
• function_prefix: additional prefix for function names, e.g. in case you want to add a leading underscore to functions used only internally
• body_prefix: additional prefix at the top of the body file, e.g. for extra includes

Example:

gnome = import('gnome')

my_headers = ['myheader1.h', 'myheader2.h']
my_sources = ['mysource1.c', 'mysource2.c']

# will generate myenums.c and myenums.h based on enums in myheader1.h and myheader2.h
enums = gnome.mkenums_simple('myenums', sources : my_headers)

mylib = library('my', my_sources, enums,
                include_directories: my_incs,
                dependencies: my_deps,
                c_args: my_cargs,
                install: true)

Added 0.42.0

Returns an array of two elements which are: [c_source, header_file]

gnome.compile_schemas()

When called, this method will compile the gschemas in the current directory. Note that this is not for installing schemas and is only useful when running the application locally for example during tests.

gnome.gdbus_codegen()

Compiles the given XML schema into gdbus source code. Takes two positional arguments, the first one specifies the name of the source files and the second specifies the XML file name. There are three keyword arguments. interface_prefix and namespace map to corresponding features of the compiler while object_manager (since 0.40.0), when set to true, generates object manager code.

Returns an opaque object containing the source files. Add it to a top level target's source list.

gnome.generate_vapi()

Creates a VAPI file from gir. The first argument is the name of the library.

• sources: the gir source to generate the VAPI from
• packages: VAPI packages that are depended upon
• metadata_dirs: extra directories to include for metadata files
• gir_dirs: extra directories to include for gir files
• vapi_dirs: extra directories to include for VAPI files
• install: if true, install the VAPI file
• install_dir: location to install the VAPI file (defaults to datadir/vala/vapi)

Returns a custom dependency that can be included when building other VAPI or Vala binaries.

Added 0.36.0

gnome.yelp()

Installs help documentation using Yelp. The first argument is the project id.

This also creates two targets for translations help-$project-update-po and help-$project-pot.

• sources: list of pages
• media: list of media such as images
• symlink_media: if media should be symlinked not copied (defaults to true since 0.42.0)
• languages: list of languages for translations

Note that very old versions of yelp may not support symlinked media; At least 3.10 should work.

Added 0.36.0

gnome.gtkdoc()

Compiles and installs gtkdoc documentation into prefix/share/gtk-doc/html. Takes one positional argument: The name of the module.

• main_xml: specifies the main XML file
• main_sgml: equal to main_xml
• src_dir: include_directories to include
• dependencies: a list of dependencies
• install: if true, installs the generated docs
• install_dir: the directory to install the generated docs relative to the gtk-doc html dir or an absolute path (default: module name)
• scan_args: a list of arguments to pass to gtkdoc-scan
• scanobjs_args: a list of arguments to pass to gtkdoc-scangobj
• gobject_typesfile: a list of type files
• fixxref_args: a list of arguments to pass to gtkdoc-fixxref
• html_args a list of arguments to pass to gtkdoc-mkhtml
• html_assets: a list of assets for the HTML pages
• content_files: a list of content files
• mkdb_args: a list of arguments to pass to gtkdoc-mkdb
• ignore_headers: a list of header files to ignore

This creates a $module-doc target that can be ran to build docs and normally these are only built on install.

gnome.gtkdoc_html_dir()

Takes as argument a module name and returns the path where that module's HTML files will be installed. Usually used with install_data to install extra files, such as images, to the output directory.