102 KiB
Reference manual
Functions
The following functions are available in build files. Click on each to see the description and usage. The objects returned by them are list afterwards.
add_global_arguments()
void add_global_arguments(arg1, arg2, ...)
Adds the positional arguments to the compiler command line. This function has two keyword arguments:
-
language
specifies the language(s) that the arguments should be applied to. If a list of languages is given, the arguments are added to each of the corresponding compiler command lines. Note that there is no way to remove an argument set in this way. If you have an argument that is only used in a subset of targets, you have to specify it in per-target flags. -
native
is a boolean specifying whether the arguments should be applied to the native or cross compilation. Iftrue
the arguments will only be used for native compilations. Iffalse
the arguments will only be used in cross compilations. If omitted, the flags are added to native compilations if compiling natively and cross compilations (only) when cross compiling. Available since 0.48.0
The arguments are used in all compiler invocations with the exception of compile tests, because you might need to run a compile test with and without the argument in question. For this reason only the arguments explicitly specified are used during compile tests.
Note: Usually you should use add_project_arguments
instead,
because that works even when you project is used as a subproject.
Note: You must pass always arguments individually arg1, arg2, ...
rather than as a string 'arg1 arg2', ...
add_global_link_arguments()
void add_global_link_arguments(*arg1*, *arg2*, ...)
Like add_global_arguments
but the arguments are passed to the linker.
add_languages()
bool add_languages(*langs*)
Add support for new programming languages. Equivalent to having them
in the project
declaration. This function is usually used to add
languages that are only used on some platforms like this:
project('foobar', 'c')
if compiling_for_osx
add_languages('objc')
endif
if add_languages('cpp', required : false)
executable('cpp-app', 'main.cpp')
endif
Takes one keyword argument, required
. It defaults to true
, which
means that if any of the languages specified is not found, Meson will
halt. Returns true if all languages specified were found and false
otherwise. Since 0.47.0 the value of a
feature
option can also be passed to
the required
keyword argument.
add_project_arguments()
void add_project_arguments(arg1, arg2, ...)
This function behaves in the same way as add_global_arguments
except
that the arguments are only used for the current project, they won't
be used in any other subproject.
add_project_link_arguments()
void add_project_link_arguments(*arg1*, *arg2*, ...)
Like add_project_arguments
but the arguments are passed to the linker.
add_test_setup()
void add_test_setup(*name*, ...)
Add a custom test setup that can be used to run the tests with a custom setup, for example under Valgrind. The keyword arguments are the following:
env
environment variables to set, such as['NAME1=value1', 'NAME2=value2']
, or anenvironment()
object which allows more sophisticated environment juggling. Since 0.52.0 a dictionary is also accepted.exe_wrapper
a list containing the wrapper command or script followed by the arguments to itgdb
iftrue
, the tests are also run undergdb
timeout_multiplier
a number to multiply the test timeout withis_default
a bool to set whether this is the default test setup. Iftrue
, the setup will be used whenevermeson test
is run without the--setup
option. Since 0.49.0
To use the test setup, run meson test --setup=*name*
inside the
build dir.
Note that all these options are also available while running the
meson test
script for running tests instead of ninja test
or
msbuild RUN_TESTS.vcxproj
, etc depending on the backend.
alias_target
runtarget alias_target(target_name, dep1, ...)
Since 0.52.0
This function creates a new top-level target. Like all top-level targets, this
integrates with the selected backend. For instance, with Ninja you can
run it as ninja target_name
. This is a dummy target that does not execute any
command, but ensures that all dependencies are built. Dependencies can be any
build target (e.g. return value of executable(), custom_target(), etc)
assert()
void assert(*condition*, *message*)
Abort with an error message if condition
evaluates to false
.
Since 0.53.0 message
argument is optional and defaults to print the condition
statement instead.
benchmark()
void benchmark(name, executable, ...)
Creates a benchmark item that will be run when the benchmark target is
run. The behavior of this function is identical to test()
except for:
- benchmark() has no
is_parallel
keyword because benchmarks are not run in parallel - benchmark() does not automatically add the
MALLOC_PERTURB_
environment variable
Note: Prior to 0.52.0 benchmark would warn that depends
and priority
were unsupported, this is incorrect
both_libraries()
buildtarget = both_libraries(library_name, list_of_sources, ...)
Builds both a static and shared library with the given
sources. Positional and keyword arguments are otherwise the same as
for library
. Source files will be compiled only once and
object files will be reused to build both shared and static libraries,
unless b_staticpic
user option or pic
argument are set to false in
which case sources will be compiled twice.
The returned buildtarget always represents the shared library. In addition it supports the following extra methods:
get_shared_lib()
returns the shared library build targetget_static_lib()
returns the static library build target
Added 0.46.0
build_target()
Creates a build target whose type can be set dynamically with the
target_type
keyword argument.
target_type
may be set to one of:
executable
shared_library
shared_module
static_library
both_libraries
library
jar
This declaration:
executable(<arguments and keyword arguments>)
is equivalent to this:
build_target(<arguments and keyword arguments>, target_type : 'executable')
The object returned by build_target
and all convenience wrappers for
build_target
such as executable
and
library
has methods that are documented in the object
methods section below.
configuration_data()
configuration_data_object = configuration_data(...)
Creates an empty configuration object. You should add your
configuration with its method calls and
finally use it in a call to configure_file
.
Since 0.49.0 takes an optional dictionary as first argument. If
provided, each key/value pair is added into the configuration_data
as if set()
method was called for each of them.
configure_file()
generated_file = configure_file(...)
This function can run in three modes depending on the keyword arguments passed to it.
When a configuration_data()
object is passed
to the configuration:
keyword argument, it takes a template file as
the input:
(optional) and produces the output:
(required) by
substituting values from the configuration data as detailed in the
configuration file documentation. Since 0.49.0 a
dictionary can be passed instead of a
configuration_data()
object.
When a list of strings is passed to the command:
keyword argument,
it takes any source or configured file as the input:
and assumes
that the output:
is produced when the specified command is run.
Since 0.47.0, when the copy:
keyword argument is set to true
,
this function will copy the file provided in input:
to a file in the
build directory with the name output:
in the current directory.
These are all the supported keyword arguments:
capture
when this argument is set to true, Meson capturesstdout
of thecommand
and writes it to the target file specified asoutput
. Available since v0.41.0.command
as explained above, if specified, Meson does not create the file itself but rather runs the specified command, which allows you to do fully custom file generation. Since 0.52.0 the command can contain file objects and more than one file can be passed to theinput
keyword argument, seecustom_target()
for details about string substitutions.copy
(added 0.47.0) as explained above, if specified Meson only copies the file from input to output.depfile
(added 0.52.0) is a dependency file that the command can write listing all the additional files this target depends on. A change in any one of these files triggers a reconfiguration.format
(added 0.46.0) the format of defines. It defaults tomeson
, and so substitutes#mesondefine
statements and variables surrounded by@
characters, you can also usecmake
to replace#cmakedefine
statements and variables with the${variable}
syntax. Finally you can usecmake@
in which case substitutions will apply on#cmakedefine
statements and variables with the@variable@
syntax.input
the input file name. If it's not specified in configuration mode, all the variables in theconfiguration:
object (see above) are written to theoutput:
file.install
(added 0.50.0) When true, this generated file is installed during the install step, andinstall_dir
must be set and not empty. When false, this generated file is not installed regardless of the value ofinstall_dir
. When omitted it defaults to true wheninstall_dir
is set and not empty, false otherwise.install_dir
the subdirectory to install the generated file to (e.g.share/myproject
), if omitted or given the value of empty string, the file is not installed.install_mode
(added 0.47.0) specify the file mode in symbolic format and optionally the owner/uid and group/gid for the installed files.output
the output file name (since v0.41.0, may contain@PLAINNAME@
or@BASENAME@
substitutions). In configuration mode, the permissions of the input file (if it is specified) are copied to the output file.output_format
(added 0.47.0) the format of the output to generate when no input was specified. It defaults toc
, in which case preprocessor directives will be prefixed with#
, you can also usenasm
, in which case the prefix will be%
.encoding
(added v0.47.0) set the file encoding for the input and output file, defaults to utf-8. The supported encodings are those of python3, see standard-encodings.
custom_target()
customtarget custom_target(*name*, ...)
Create a custom top level build target. The only positional argument is the name of this target and the keyword arguments are the following.
build_by_default
(added 0.38) causes, when set to true, to have this target be built by default, that is, when invoking plainninja
; the default value is false (changed in 0.50) ifbuild_by_default
is explicitly set to false,install
will no longer override it. Ifbuild_by_default
is not set,install
will still determine its default.build_always
(deprecated) iftrue
this target is always considered out of date and is rebuilt every time. Equivalent to setting bothbuild_always_stale
andbuild_by_default
to true.build_always_stale
(added 0.47) iftrue
the target is always considered out of date. Useful for things such as build timestamps or revision control tags. The associated command is run even if the outputs are up to date.capture
, there are some compilers that can't be told to write their output to a file but instead write it to standard output. When this argument is set to true, Meson capturesstdout
and writes it to the target file. Note that your command argument list may not contain@OUTPUT@
when capture mode is active.console
(added 0.48) keyword argument conflicts withcapture
, and is meant for commands that are resource-intensive and take a long time to finish. With the Ninja backend, setting this will add this target to Ninja'sconsole
pool, which has special properties such as not buffering stdout and serializing all targets in this pool.command
command to run to create outputs from inputs. The command may be strings or the return value of functions that return file-like objects such asfind_program()
,executable()
,configure_file()
,files()
,custom_target()
, etc. Meson will automatically insert the appropriate dependencies on targets and files listed in this keyword argument. Note: always specify commands in array form['commandname', '-arg1', '-arg2']
rather than as a string'commandname -arg1 -arg2'
as the latter will not work.depend_files
files (string
,files()
, orconfigure_file()
) that this target depends on but are not listed in thecommand
keyword argument. Useful for adding regen dependencies.depends
specifies that this target depends on the specified target(s), even though it does not take any of them as a command line argument. This is meant for cases where you have a tool that e.g. does globbing internally. Usually you should just put the generated sources as inputs and Meson will set up all dependencies automatically.depfile
is a dependency file that the command can write listing all the additional files this target depends on, for example a C compiler would list all the header files it included, and a change in any one of these files triggers a recompilationinput
list of source files. As of 0.41.0 the list will be flattened.install
when true, this target is installed during the install stepinstall_dir
directory to install toinstall_mode
(added 0.47.0) the file mode and optionally the owner/uid and group/gidoutput
list of output files
The list of strings passed to the command
keyword argument accept
the following special string substitutions:
@INPUT@
the full path to the input passed toinput
. If more than one input is specified, all of them will be substituted as separate arguments only if the command uses'@INPUT@'
as a standalone-argument. For instance, this would not work:command : ['cp', './@INPUT@']
, but this would:command : ['cp', '@INPUT@']
.@OUTPUT@
the full path to the output passed tooutput
. If more than one outputs are specified, the behavior is the same as@INPUT@
.@INPUT0@
@INPUT1@
...
the full path to the input with the specified array index ininput
@OUTPUT0@
@OUTPUT1@
...
the full path to the output with the specified array index inoutput
@OUTDIR@
the full path to the directory where the output(s) must be written@DEPFILE@
the full path to the dependency file passed todepfile
@PLAINNAME@
: the input filename, without a path@BASENAME@
: the input filename, with extension removed@PRIVATE_DIR@
: path to a directory where the custom target must store all its intermediate files, available since 0.50.1
The depfile
keyword argument also accepts the @BASENAME@
and @PLAINNAME@
substitutions. (since 0.47)
The returned object also has methods that are documented in the object methods section below.
declare_dependency()
dependency_object declare_dependency(...)
This function returns a dependency object that
behaves like the return value of dependency
but is
internal to the current build. The main use case for this is in
subprojects. This allows a subproject to easily specify how it should
be used. This makes it interchangeable with the same dependency that
is provided externally by the system. This function has the following
keyword arguments.
compile_args
, compile arguments to usedependencies
, other dependencies needed to use this dependencyinclude_directories
, the directories to add to header search path, must be include_directories objects or, since 0.50.0, plain stringslink_args
, link arguments to uselink_with
, libraries to link againstlink_whole
, libraries to link fully, same asexecutable
Since 0.46.0sources
, sources to add to targets (or generated header files that should be built before sources including them are built)version
, the version of this dependency, such as1.2.3
dependency()
dependency_object dependency(*dependency_name*, ...)
Finds an external dependency (usually a library installed on your
system) with the given name with pkg-config
and with
CMake if pkg-config
fails. Additionally,
frameworks (OSX only) and library-specific fallback detection
logic
are also supported. This function supports the following keyword
arguments:
default_options
(added 0.37.0) an array of default option values that override those set in the subproject'smeson_options.txt
(likedefault_options
inproject()
, they only have effect when Meson is run for the first time, and command line arguments override any default options in build files)fallback
specifies a subproject fallback to use in case the dependency is not found in the system. The value is an array['subproj_name', 'subproj_dep']
where the first value is the name of the subproject and the second is the variable name in that subproject that contains a dependency object such as the return value ofdeclare_dependency
ordependency()
, etc. Note that this means the fallback dependency may be a not-found dependency, in which case the value of therequired:
kwarg will be obeyed.language
(added 0.42.0) defines what language-specific dependency to find if it's available for multiple languages.method
defines the way the dependency is detected, the default isauto
but can be overridden to be e.g.qmake
for Qt development, and different dependencies support different values for this (thoughauto
will work on all of them)native
if set totrue
, causes Meson to find the dependency on the build machine system rather than the host system (i.e. where the cross compiled binary will run on), usually only needed if you build a tool to be used during compilation.not_found_message
(added 0.50.0) is an optional string that will be printed as amessage()
if the dependency was not found.required
, when set to false, Meson will proceed with the build even if the dependency is not found. Since 0.47.0 the value of afeature
option can also be passed.static
tells the dependency provider to try to get static libraries instead of dynamic ones (note that this is not supported by all dependency backends)version
specifies the required version, a string containing a comparison operator followed by the version string, examples include>1.0.0
,<=2.3.5
or3.1.4
for exact matching. (Added 0.37.0) You can also specify multiple restrictions by passing a list to this keyword argument, such as:['>=3.14.0', '<=4.1.0']
. These requirements are never met if the version is unknown.include_type
(added 0.52.0) is an enum flag, marking how the dependency flags should be converted. Supported values are'preserve'
,'system'
and'non-system'
. System dependencies may be handled differently on some platforms, for instance, using-isystem
instead of-I
, where possible. Ifinclude_type
is set to'preserve'
, no additional conversion will be performed. The default value is'preserve'
.- other
library-specific
keywords may also be accepted (e.g.
modules
specifies submodules to use for dependencies such as Qt5 or Boost. ) disabler
iftrue
and the dependency couldn't be found, return a disabler object instead of a not-found dependency. Since 0.49.0
If dependency_name is ''
, the dependency is always not found. So
with required: false
, this always returns a dependency object for
which the found()
method returns false
, and which can be passed
like any other dependency to the dependencies:
keyword argument of a
build_target
. This can be used to implement a dependency which is
sometimes not required e.g. in some branches of a conditional, or with
a fallback:
kwarg, can be used to declare an optional dependency
that only looks in the specified subproject, and only if that's
allowed by --wrap-mode
.
The returned object also has methods that are documented in the object methods section below.
disabler()
Returns a disabler object. Added in 0.44.0.
error()
void error(message)
Print the argument string and halts the build process.
environment()
environment_object environment(...)
Returns an empty environment variable object. Added in 0.35.0.
Since 0.52.0 takes an optional dictionary as first argument. If
provided, each key/value pair is added into the environment_object
as if set()
method was called for each of them.
executable()
buildtarget executable(*exe_name*, *sources*, ...)
Creates a new executable. The first argument specifies its name and the remaining positional arguments define the input files to use. They can be of the following types:
- Strings relative to the current source directory
files()
objects defined in any preceding build file- The return value of configure-time generators such as
configure_file()
- The return value of build-time generators such as
custom_target()
orgenerator.process()
These input files can be sources, objects, libraries, or any other
file. Meson will automatically categorize them based on the extension
and use them accordingly. For instance, sources (.c
, .cpp
,
.vala
, .rs
, etc) will be compiled and objects (.o
, .obj
) and
libraries (.so
, .dll
, etc) will be linked.
With the Ninja backend, Meson will create a build-time order-only dependency on all generated input files, including unknown files. For all input files (generated and non-generated), Meson uses the dependency file generated by your compiler to determine when to rebuild sources. The behavior is similar for other backends.
Executable supports the following keyword arguments. Note that just like the positional arguments above, these keyword arguments can also be passed to shared and static libraries.
<languagename>_pch
precompiled header file to use for the given language<languagename>_args
compiler flags to use for the given language; eg:cpp_args
for C++build_by_default
causes, when set to true, to have this target be built by default, that is, when invoking plainninja
, the default value is true for all built target types, since 0.38.0build_rpath
a string to add to target's rpath definition in the build dir, but which will be removed on installdependencies
one or more objects created withdependency
orfind_library
(for external deps) ordeclare_dependency
(for deps built by the project)extra_files
are not used for the build itself but are shown as source files in IDEs that group files by targets (such as Visual Studio)gui_app
when set to true flags this target as a GUI application on platforms where this makes a difference (e.g. Windows)link_args
flags to use during linking. You can use UNIX-style flags here for all platforms.link_depends
strings, files, or custom targets the link step depends on such as a symbol visibility map. The purpose is to automatically trigger a re-link (but not a re-compile) of the target when this file changes.link_language
since 0.51.0 makes the linker for this target be for the specified language. This is helpful for multi-language targets.link_whole
links all contents of the given static libraries whether they are used by not, equivalent to the-Wl,--whole-archive
argument flag of GCC, available since 0.40.0. As of 0.41.0 if passed a list that list will be flattened. Starting from version 0.51.0 this argument also accepts outputs produced by custom targets. The user must ensure that the output is a library in the correct format.link_with
, one or more shared or static libraries (built by this project) that this target should be linked with, If passed a list this list will be flattened as of 0.41.0. Starting with version 0.51.0, the arguments can also be custom targets. In this case Meson will assume that merely adding the output file in the linker command line is sufficient to make linking work. If this is not sufficient, then the build system writer must write all other steps manually.export_dynamic
when set to true causes the target's symbols to be dynamically exported, allowing modules built using theshared_module
function to refer to functions, variables and other symbols defined in the executable itself. Implies theimplib
argument. Since 0.45.0implib
when set to true, an import library is generated for the executable (the name of the import library is based on exe_name). Alternatively, when set to a string, that gives the base name for the import library. The import library is used when the returned build target object appears inlink_with:
elsewhere. Only has any effect on platforms where that is meaningful (e.g. Windows). Implies theexport_dynamic
argument. Since 0.42.0implicit_include_directories
is a boolean telling whether Meson adds the current source and build directories to the include path, defaults totrue
, since 0.42.0include_directories
one or more objects created with theinclude_directories
function, or, since 0.50.0, strings, which will be transparently expanded to include directory objectsinstall
, when set to true, this executable should be installed, defaults tofalse
install_dir
override install directory for this file. The value is relative to theprefix
specified. F.ex, if you want to install plugins into a subdir, you'd use something like this:install_dir : get_option('libdir') / 'projectname-1.0'
.install_mode
(added 0.47.0) specify the file mode in symbolic format and optionally the owner/uid and group/gid for the installed files.install_rpath
a string to set the target's rpath to after install (but not before that). On Windows, this argument has no effect.objects
list of prebuilt object files (usually for third party products you don't have source to) that should be linked in this target, never use this for object files that you build yourself.name_suffix
the string that will be used as the extension for the target by overriding the default. By default on Windows this isexe
and on other platforms it is omitted. Set this to[]
, or omit the keyword argument for the default behaviour.override_options
takes an array of strings in the same format asproject
'sdefault_options
overriding the values of these options for this target only, since 0.40.0.gnu_symbol_visibility
specifies how symbols should be exported, see e.g the GCC Wiki for more information. This value can either be an empty string or one ofdefault
,internal
,hidden
,protected
orinlineshidden
, which is the same ashidden
but also includes things like C++ implicit constructors as specified in the GCC manual. Ignored on compilers that do not support GNU visibility arguments. Available since 0.48.0.d_import_dirs
list of directories to look in for string imports used in the D programming languaged_unittest
, when set to true, the D modules are compiled in debug moded_module_versions
list of module version identifiers set when compiling D sourcesd_debug
list of module debug identifiers set when compiling D sourcespie
(added 0.49.0) build a position-independent executablenative
, is a boolean controlling whether the target is compiled for the build or host machines. Defaults to false, building for the host machine.
The list of sources
, objects
, and dependencies
is always
flattened, which means you can freely nest and add lists while
creating the final list.
The returned object also has methods that are documented in the object methods section below.
find_library()
This function is deprecated and in the 0.31.0 release it was moved to
the compiler object as obtained from
meson.get_compiler(lang)
.
find_program()
program find_program(program_name1, program_name2, ...)
program_name1
here is a string that can be an executable or script
to be searched for in PATH
, or a script in the current source
directory.
program_name2
and later positional arguments are used as fallback
strings to search for. This is meant to be used for cases where the
program may have many alternative names, such as foo
and
foo.py
. The function will check for the arguments one by one and the
first one that is found is returned. Meson versions earlier than
0.37.0 only accept one argument.
Keyword arguments are the following:
-
required
By default,required
is set totrue
and Meson will abort if no program can be found. Ifrequired
is set tofalse
, Meson continue even if none of the programs can be found. You can then use the.found()
method on the returned object to check whether it was found or not. Since 0.47.0 the value of afeature
option can also be passed to therequired
keyword argument. -
native
(since 0.43) defines how this executable should be searched. By default it is set tofalse
, which causes Meson to first look for the executable in the cross file (when cross building) and if it is not defined there, then from the system. If set totrue
, the cross file is ignored and the program is only searched from the system. -
disabler
iftrue
and the program couldn't be found, return a disabler object instead of a not-found object. Since 0.49.0 -
version
(since 0.52.0) Specifies the required version, seedependency()
for argument format. The version of the program is determined by runningprogram_name --version
command. If stdout is empty it fallbacks to stderr. If the output contains more text than simply a version number, only the first occurrence of numbers separated by dots is kept. If the output is more complicated than that, the version checking will have to be done manually usingrun_command()
. -
dirs
(since 0.53.0) Extra list of absolute paths where to look for program names.
Meson will also autodetect scripts with a shebang line and run them with the executable/interpreter specified in it both on Windows (because the command invocator will reject the command otherwise) and Unixes (if the script file does not have the executable bit set). Hence, you must not manually add the interpreter while using this script as part of a list of commands.
If you need to check for a program in a non-standard location, you can
just pass an absolute path to find_program
, e.g.
setcap = find_program('setcap', '/usr/sbin/setcap', '/sbin/setcap', required : false)
It is also possible to pass an array to find_program
in case you
need to construct the set of paths to search on the fly:
setcap = find_program(['setcap', '/usr/sbin/setcap', '/sbin/setcap'], required : false)
The returned object also has methods that are documented in the object methods section below.
files()
file_array files(list_of_filenames)
This command takes the strings given to it in arguments and returns
corresponding File objects that you can use as sources for build
targets. The difference is that file objects remember the subdirectory
they were defined in and can be used anywhere in the source tree. As
an example suppose you have source file foo.cpp
in subdirectory
bar1
and you would like to use it in a build target that is defined
in bar2
. To make this happen you first create the object in bar1
like this:
foofile = files('foo.cpp')
Then you can use it in bar2
like this:
executable('myprog', 'myprog.cpp', foofile, ...)
Meson will then do the right thing.
generator()
generator_object generator(*executable*, ...)
See also: custom_target
This function creates a generator object that can be used to run custom compilation commands. The only positional argument is the executable to use. It can either be a self-built executable or one returned by find_program. Keyword arguments are the following:
arguments
a list of template strings that will be the command line arguments passed to the executabledepends
is an array of build targets that must be built before this generator can be run. This is used if you have a generator that calls a second executable that is built in this project. Available since 0.51.0depfile
is a template string pointing to a dependency file that a generator can write listing all the additional files this target depends on, for example a C compiler would list all the header files it included, and a change in any one of these files triggers a recompilationoutput
a template string (or list of template strings) defining how an output file name is (or multiple output names are) generated from a single source file namecapture
when this argument is set to true, Meson capturesstdout
of theexecutable
and writes it to the target file specified asoutput
. Available since v0.43.0.
The returned object also has methods that are documented in the object methods section below.
The template strings passed to all the above keyword arguments accept the following special substitutions:
@PLAINNAME@
: the complete input file name, e.g:foo.c
becomesfoo.c
(unchanged)@BASENAME@
: the base of the input filename, e.g.:foo.c.y
becomesfoo.c
(extension is removed)
Each string passed to the output
keyword argument must be
constructed using one or both of these two substitutions.
In addition to the above substitutions, the arguments
keyword
argument also accepts the following:
@OUTPUT@
: the full path to the output file@INPUT@
: the full path to the input file@DEPFILE@
: the full path to the depfile@SOURCE_DIR@
: the full path to the root of the source tree@CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR@
: this is the directory where the currently processed meson.build is located in@BUILD_DIR@
: the full path to the root of the build dir where the output will be placed
NOTE: Generators should only be used for outputs that will only
be used as inputs for a build target or a custom
target. When you use the processed output of a
generator in multiple targets, the generator will be run multiple
times to create outputs for each target. Each output will be created
in a target-private directory @BUILD_DIR@
.
If you want to generate files for general purposes such as for
generating headers to be used by several sources, or data that will be
installed, and so on, use a custom_target
instead.
get_option()
value get_option(option_name)
Obtains the value of the project build option specified in the positional argument.
Note that the value returned for built-in options that end in dir
such as bindir
and libdir
is always a path relative to (and
inside) the prefix
.
The only exceptions are: sysconfdir
, localstatedir
, and
sharedstatedir
which will return the value passed during
configuration as-is, which may be absolute, or relative to prefix
.
install_dir
arguments handles that as expected, but
if you need the absolute path to one of these e.g. to use in a define
etc., you should use get_option('prefix') / get_option('localstatedir')
For options of type feature
a special object is returned instead of
a string. See feature
options
documentation for more details.
get_variable()
value get_variable(variable_name, fallback)
This function can be used to dynamically obtain a variable. res = get_variable(varname, fallback)
takes the value of varname
(which
must be a string) and stores the variable of that name into res
. If
the variable does not exist, the variable fallback
is stored to
res
instead. If a fallback is not specified, then attempting to read
a non-existing variable will cause a fatal error.
import()
module_object import(module_name)
Imports the given extension module. Returns an opaque object that can
be used to call the methods of the module. Here's an example for a
hypothetical testmod
module.
tmod = import('testmod')
tmod.do_something()
include_directories()
include_object include_directories(directory_names, ...)
Returns an opaque object which contains the directories (relative to
the current directory) given in the positional arguments. The result
can then be passed to the include_directories:
keyword argument when
building executables or libraries. You can use the returned object in
any subdirectory you want, Meson will make the paths work
automatically.
Note that this function call itself does not add the directories into
the search path, since there is no global search path. For something
like that, see add_project_arguments()
.
See also implicit_include_directories
parameter of
executable(), which adds current source and build
directories to include path.
Each directory given is converted to two include paths: one that is relative to the source root and one relative to the build root.
For example, with the following source tree layout in
/home/user/project.git
:
meson.build
:
project(...)
subdir('include')
subdir('src')
...
include/meson.build
:
inc = include_directories('.')
...
src/meson.build
:
sources = [...]
executable('some-tool', sources,
include_directories : inc,
...)
...
If the build tree is /tmp/build-tree
, the following include paths
will be added to the executable()
call: -I/tmp/build-tree/include -I/home/user/project.git/include
.
This function has one keyword argument is_system
which, if set,
flags the specified directories as system directories. This means that
they will be used with the -isystem
compiler argument rather than
-I
on compilers that support this flag (in practice everything
except Visual Studio).
install_data()
void install_data(list_of_files, ...)
Installs files from the source tree that are listed as positional arguments. The following keyword arguments are supported:
-
install_dir
the absolute or relative path to the installation directory. If this is a relative path, it is assumed to be relative to the prefix.If omitted, the directory defaults to
{datadir}/{projectname}
(added 0.45.0). -
install_mode
specify the file mode in symbolic format and optionally the owner/uid and group/gid for the installed files. For example:install_mode: 'rw-r--r--'
for just the file modeinstall_mode: ['rw-r--r--', 'nobody', 'nobody']
for the file mode and the user/groupinstall_mode: ['rw-r-----', 0, 0]
for the file mode and uid/gid
To leave any of these three as the default, specify false
.
rename
if specified renames each source file into corresponding file fromrename
list. Nested paths are allowed and they are joined withinstall_dir
. Length ofrename
list must be equal to the number of sources. (added 0.46.0)
See Installing for more examples.
install_headers()
void install_headers(list_of_headers, ...)
Installs the specified header files from the source tree into the
system header directory (usually /{prefix}/include
) during the
install step. This directory can be overridden by specifying it with
the install_dir
keyword argument. If you just want to install into a
subdirectory of the system header directory, then use the subdir
argument. As an example if this has the value myproj
then the
headers would be installed to /{prefix}/include/myproj
.
For example, this will install common.h
and kola.h
into
/{prefix}/include
:
install_headers('common.h', 'proj/kola.h')
This will install common.h
and kola.h
into /{prefix}/include/myproj
:
install_headers('common.h', 'proj/kola.h', subdir : 'myproj')
This will install common.h
and kola.h
into /{prefix}/cust/myproj
:
install_headers('common.h', 'proj/kola.h', install_dir : 'cust', subdir : 'myproj')
The install_mode
argument can be used to specify the file mode in symbolic
format and optionally the owner/uid and group/gid for the installed files.
An example value could be ['rwxr-sr-x', 'root', 'root']
.
(Added 0.47.0).
install_man()
void install_man(list_of_manpages, ...)
Installs the specified man files from the source tree into system's
man directory during the install step. This directory can be
overridden by specifying it with the install_dir
keyword
argument.
The install_mode
argument can be used to specify the file mode in symbolic
format and optionally the owner/uid and group/gid for the installed files.
An example value could be ['rwxr-sr-x', 'root', 'root']
.
(Added 0.47.0).
Since 0.49.0, manpages are no longer compressed implicitly.
install_subdir()
void install_subdir(subdir_name, install_dir : ..., exclude_files : ..., exclude_directories : ..., strip_directory : ...)
Installs the entire given subdirectory and its contents from the
source tree to the location specified by the keyword argument
install_dir
.
The following keyword arguments are supported:
exclude_files
: a list of file names that should not be installed. Names are interpreted as paths relative to thesubdir_name
location.exclude_directories
: a list of directory names that should not be installed. Names are interpreted as paths relative to thesubdir_name
location.install_dir
: the location to place the installed subdirectory.install_mode
: the file mode in symbolic format and optionally the owner/uid and group/gid for the installed files. (Added 0.47.0)strip_directory
: install directory contents.strip_directory=false
by default. Ifstrip_directory=false
only last component of source path is used. Since 0.45.0
For a given directory foo
:
foo/
bar/
file1
file2
install_subdir('foo', install_dir : 'share', strip_directory : false)
creates
share/
foo/
bar/
file1
file2
install_subdir('foo', install_dir : 'share', strip_directory : true)
creates
share/
bar/
file1
file2
install_subdir('foo/bar', install_dir : 'share', strip_directory : false)
creates
share/
bar/
file1
install_subdir('foo/bar', install_dir : 'share', strip_directory : true)
creates
share/
file1
is_disabler()
bool is_disabler(var)
Returns true if a variable is a disabler and false otherwise. Added in 0.52.0.
is_variable()
bool is_variable(varname)
Returns true if a variable of the given name exists and false otherwise.
jar()
jar_object jar(name, list_of_sources, ...)
Build a jar from the specified Java source files. Keyword arguments
are the same as executable
's, with the addition of
main_class
which specifies the main class to execute when running
the jar with java -jar file.jar
.
join_paths()
string join_paths(string1, string2, ...)
Joins the given strings into a file system path segment. For example
join_paths('foo', 'bar')
results in foo/bar
. If any one of the
individual segments is an absolute path, all segments before it are
dropped. That means that join_paths('foo', '/bar')
returns /bar
.
Warning Don't use join_paths()
for sources in library
and
executable
, you should use files
instead.
Added 0.36.0
Since 0.49.0 using the/
operator on strings is equivalent to calling
join_paths
.
# res1 and res2 will have identical values
res1 = join_paths(foo, bar)
res2 = foo / bar
library()
buildtarget library(library_name, list_of_sources, ...)
Builds a library that is either static, shared or both depending on
the value of default_library
user option.
You should use this instead of shared_library
,
static_library
or
both_libraries
most of the time. This allows you
to toggle your entire project (including subprojects) from shared to
static with only one option. This option applies to libraries being
built internal to the entire project. For external dependencies, the
default library type preferred is shared. This can be adapted on a per
library basis using the dependency()) static
keyword.
The keyword arguments for this are the same as for
executable
with the following additions:
name_prefix
the string that will be used as the prefix for the target output filename by overriding the default (only used for libraries). By default this islib
on all platforms and compilers except with MSVC shared libraries where it is omitted to follow convention.name_suffix
the string that will be used as the suffix for the target output filename by overriding the default (see also: executable()). By default, for shared libraries this isdylib
on macOS,dll
on Windows, andso
everywhere else. For static libraries, it isa
everywhere. By convention MSVC static libraries use thelib
suffix, but we usea
to avoid a potential name clash with shared libraries which also generatexxx.lib
import files.rust_crate_type
specifies the crate type for Rust libraries. Defaults todylib
for shared libraries andrlib
for static libraries.
static_library
, shared_library
and both_libraries
also accept
these keyword arguments.
Note: You can set name_prefix
and name_suffix
to []
, or omit
them for the default behaviour for each platform.
message()
void message(text)
This function prints its argument to stdout.
Since 0.54.0 Can take more more than one argument that will be separated by space.
warning()
void warning(text)
This function prints its argument to stdout prefixed with WARNING:.
Added 0.44.0
Since 0.54.0 Can take more more than one argument that will be separated by space.
summary()
void summary(key, value)
void summary(dictionary)
This function is used to summarize build configuration at the end of the build process. This function provides a way for projects (and subprojects) to report this information in a clear way.
The content is a serie of key/value pairs grouped into sections. If the section
keyword argument is omitted, those key/value pairs are implicitly grouped into a section
with no title. key/value pairs can optionally be grouped into a dictionary,
but keep in mind that dictionaries does not guarantee ordering. key
must be string,
value
can only be integer, boolean, string, or a list of those.
summary()
can be called multiple times as long as the same section/key
pair doesn't appear twice. All sections will be collected and printed at
the end of the configuration in the same order as they have been called.
Keyword arguments:
bool_yn
if set to true, all boolean values will be replaced by green YES or red NO.section
title to group a set of key/value pairs.
Example:
project('My Project', version : '1.0')
summary({'bindir': get_option('bindir'),
'libdir': get_option('libdir'),
'datadir': get_option('datadir'),
}, section: 'Directories')
summary({'Some boolean': false,
'Another boolean': true,
'Some string': 'Hello World',
'A list': ['string', 1, true],
}, section: 'Configuration')
Output:
My Project 1.0
Directories
prefix: /opt/gnome
bindir: bin
libdir: lib/x86_64-linux-gnu
datadir: share
Configuration
Some boolean: False
Another boolean: True
Some string: Hello World
A list: string
1
True
Added 0.53.0
project()
void project(project_name, list_of_languages, ...)
The first argument to this function must be a string defining the name
of this project. It is followed by programming languages that the
project uses. Supported values for languages are c
, cpp
(for
C++
), d
, objc
, objcpp
, fortran
, java
, cs
(for C#
),
vala
and rust
. Since version 0.40.0
the list of languages
is optional.
The project name can be any string you want, it's not used for anything except descriptive purposes. However since it is written to e.g. the dependency manifest is usually makes sense to have it be the same as the project tarball or pkg-config name. So for example you would probably want to use the name libfoobar instead of The Foobar Library.
Project supports the following keyword arguments.
-
default_options
takes an array of strings. The strings are in the formkey=value
and have the same format as options tomeson configure
. For example to set the default project type you would set this:default_options : ['buildtype=debugoptimized']
. Note that these settings are only used when running Meson for the first time. Global options such asbuildtype
can only be specified in the master project, settings in subprojects are ignored. Project specific options are used normally even in subprojects. -
license
takes a string or array of strings describing the license(s) the code is under. Usually this would be something likelicense : 'GPL2+'
, but if the code has multiple licenses you can specify them as an array like this:license : ['proprietary', 'GPL3']
. Note that the text is informal and is only written to the dependency manifest. Meson does not do any license validation, you are responsible for verifying that you abide by all licensing terms. You can access the value in your Meson build files withmeson.project_license()
. -
meson_version
takes a string describing which Meson version the project requires. Usually something like>=0.28.0
. -
subproject_dir
specifies the top level directory name that holds Meson subprojects. This is only meant as a compatibility option for existing code bases that house their embedded source code in a custom directory. All new projects should not set this but instead use the default value. It should be noted that this keyword argument is ignored inside subprojects. There can be only one subproject dir and it is set in the top level Meson file. -
version
, which is a free form string describing the version of this project. You can access the value in your Meson build files withmeson.project_version()
.
run_command()
runresult run_command(command, list_of_args, ...)
Runs the command specified in positional arguments. command
can be
a string, or the output of find_program()
,
files()
or configure_file()
, or a
compiler object.
Returns an opaque object containing the result
of the invocation. The command is run from an unspecified directory,
and Meson will set three environment variables MESON_SOURCE_ROOT
,
MESON_BUILD_ROOT
and MESON_SUBDIR
that specify the source
directory, build directory and subdirectory the target was defined in,
respectively.
This function supports the following keyword arguments:
check
takes a boolean. Iftrue
, the exit status code of the command will be checked, and the configuration will fail if it is non-zero. The default isfalse
. Since 0.47.0env
environment variables to set, such as['NAME1=value1', 'NAME2=value2']
, or anenvironment()
object which allows more sophisticated environment juggling. Since 0.52.0 a dictionary is also accepted. Since 0.50.0
See also External commands.
run_target
runtarget run_target(target_name, ...)
This function creates a new top-level target that runs a specified
command with the specified arguments. Like all top-level targets, this
integrates with the selected backend. For instance, with Ninja you can
run it as ninja target_name
. Note that a run target produces no
output as far as Meson is concerned. It is only meant for tasks such
as running a code formatter or flashing an external device's firmware
with a built file.
The command is run from an unspecified directory, and Meson will set
three environment variables MESON_SOURCE_ROOT
, MESON_BUILD_ROOT
and MESON_SUBDIR
that specify the source directory, build directory
and subdirectory the target was defined in, respectively.
command
is a list containing the command to run and the arguments to pass to it. Each list item may be a string or a target. For instance, passing the return value ofexecutable()
as the first item will run that executable, or passing a string as the first item will find that command inPATH
and run it.depends
is a list of targets that this target depends on but which are not listed in the command array (because, for example, the script does file globbing internally)
set_variable()
void set_variable(variable_name, value)
Assigns a value to the given variable name. Calling
set_variable('foo', bar)
is equivalent to foo = bar
.
Note: Prior to v0.46.1, the value
parameter could not be an
array type, due to flattening of the function parameters.
shared_library()
buildtarget shared_library(library_name, list_of_sources, ...)
Builds a shared library with the given sources. Positional and keyword
arguments are the same as for library
with the following
extra keyword arguments.
soversion
a string specifying the soversion of this shared library, such as0
. On Linux and Windows this is used to set the soversion (or equivalent) in the filename. For example, ifsoversion
is4
, a Windows DLL will be calledfoo-4.dll
and one of the aliases of the Linux shared library would belibfoo.so.4
. If this is not specified, the first part ofversion
is used instead (see below). For example, ifversion
is3.6.0
andsoversion
is not defined, it is set to3
.version
a string specifying the version of this shared library, such as1.1.0
. On Linux and OS X, this is used to set the shared library version in the filename, such aslibfoo.so.1.1.0
andlibfoo.1.1.0.dylib
. If this is not specified,soversion
is used instead (see above).darwin_versions
(added 0.48) an integer, string, or a list of versions to use for setting dylibcompatibility version
andcurrent version
on macOS. If a list is specified, it must be either zero, one, or two elements. If only one element is specified or if it's not a list, the specified value will be used for setting both compatibility version and current version. If unspecified, thesoversion
will be used as per the aforementioned rules.vs_module_defs
a string, a File object, or Custom Target for a Microsoft module definition file for controlling symbol exports, etc., on platforms where that is possible (e.g. Windows).
shared_module()
buildtarget shared_module(module_name, list_of_sources, ...)
Builds a shared module with the given sources. Positional and keyword
arguments are the same as for library
.
This is useful for building modules that will be dlopen()
ed and
hence may contain undefined symbols that will be provided by the
library that is loading it.
If you want the shared module to be able to refer to functions and
variables defined in the executable
it is loaded by,
you will need to set the export_dynamic
argument of the executable to
true
.
Supports the following extra keyword arguments:
vs_module_defs
, (Added 0.52.0), a string, a File object, or Custom Target for a Microsoft module definition file for controlling symbol exports, etc., on platforms where that is possible (e.g. Windows).
Note: Linking to a shared module is not supported on some
platforms, notably OSX. Consider using a
shared_library
instead, if you need to both
dlopen()
and link with a library.
Added 0.37.0
static_library()
buildtarget static_library(library_name, list_of_sources, ...)
Builds a static library with the given sources. Positional and keyword
arguments are otherwise the same as for library
, but it
has one argument the others don't have:
pic
, (Added 0.36.0) builds the library as positional independent code (so it can be linked into a shared library). This option has no effect on Windows and OS X since it doesn't make sense on Windows and PIC cannot be disabled on OS X.
subdir()
void subdir(dir_name, ...)
Enters the specified subdirectory and executes the meson.build
file
in it. Once that is done, it returns and execution continues on the
line following this subdir()
command. Variables defined in that
meson.build
file are then available for use in later parts of the
current build file and in all subsequent build files executed with
subdir()
.
Note that this means that each meson.build
file in a source tree can
and must only be executed once.
This function has one keyword argument.
if_found
takes one or several dependency objects and will only recurse in the subdir if they all returntrue
when queried with.found()
subdir_done()
subdir_done()
Stops further interpretation of the meson script file from the point of
the invocation. All steps executed up to this point are valid and will
be executed by meson. This means that all targets defined before the call
of subdir_done
will be build.
If the current script was called by subdir
the execution returns to the
calling directory and continues as if the script had reached the end.
If the current script is the top level script meson configures the project
as defined up to this point.
Example:
project('example exit', 'cpp')
executable('exe1', 'exe1.cpp')
subdir_done()
executable('exe2', 'exe2.cpp')
The executable exe1
will be build, while the executable exe2
is not
build.
subproject()
subproject_object subproject(subproject_name, ...)
Takes the project specified in the positional argument and brings that
in the current build specification by returning a subproject
object. Subprojects must always be placed inside
the subprojects
directory at the top source directory. So for
example a subproject called foo
must be located in
${MESON_SOURCE_ROOT}/subprojects/foo
. Supports the following keyword
arguments:
default_options
(added 0.37.0) an array of default option values that override those set in the subproject'smeson_options.txt
(likedefault_options
inproject
, they only have effect when Meson is run for the first time, and command line arguments override any default options in build files)version
keyword argument that works just like the one independency
. It specifies what version the subproject should be, as an example>=1.0.1
required
(added 0.48.0) By default,required
istrue
and Meson will abort if the subproject could not be setup. You can set this tofalse
and then use the.found()
method on the returned object. You may also pass the value of afeature
option, same asdependency()
.
Note that you can use the returned subproject
object to access any variable in the
subproject. However, if you want to use a dependency object from
inside a subproject, an easier way is to use the fallback:
keyword
argument to dependency()
.
test()
void test(name, executable, ...)
Defines a test to run with the test harness. Takes two positional
arguments, the first is the name of the test and the second is the
executable to run. The executable can be an executable build target
object returned by
executable()
or an external program
object returned by
find_program()
.
By default, environment variable
MALLOC_PERTURB_
is automatically set by meson test
to a random value between 1..255.
This can help find memory leaks on configurations using glibc,
including with non-GCC compilers. However, this can have a performance impact,
and may fail a test due to external libraries whose internals are out of the
user's control. To check if this feature is causing an expected runtime crash,
disable the feature by temporarily setting environment variable
MALLOC_PERTURB_=0
. While it's preferable to only temporarily disable this
check, if a project requires permanent disabling of this check
in meson.build do like:
nomalloc = environment({'MALLOC_PERTURB_': '0'})
test(..., env: nomalloc, ...)
test() Keyword arguments
-
args
arguments to pass to the executable -
env
environment variables to set, such as['NAME1=value1', 'NAME2=value2']
, or anenvironment()
object which allows more sophisticated environment juggling. Since 0.52.0 a dictionary is also accepted. -
is_parallel
when false, specifies that no other test must be running at the same time as this test -
should_fail
when true the test is considered passed if the executable returns a non-zero return value (i.e. reports an error) -
suite
'label'
(or list of labels['label1', 'label2']
) attached to this test. The suite name is qualified by a (sub)project name resulting in(sub)project_name:label
. In the case of a list of strings, the suite names will be(sub)project_name:label1
,(sub)project_name:label2
, etc. -
timeout
the amount of seconds the test is allowed to run, a test that exceeds its time limit is always considered failed, defaults to 30 seconds -
workdir
absolute path that will be used as the working directory for the test -
depends
specifies that this test depends on the specified target(s), even though it does not take any of them as a command line argument. This is meant for cases where test finds those targets internally, e.g. plugins or globbing. Those targets are built before test is executed even if they havebuild_by_default : false
. Since 0.46.0 -
protocol
specifies how the test results are parsed and can be one ofexitcode
(the executable's exit code is used by the test harness to record the outcome of the test) ortap
(Test Anything Protocol). For more on the Meson test harness protocol read Unit Tests. Since 0.50.0 -
priority
specifies the priority of a test. Tests with a higher priority are started before tests with a lower priority. The starting order of tests with identical priorities is implementation-defined. The default priority is 0, negative numbers are permitted. Since 0.52.0
Defined tests can be run in a backend-agnostic way by calling
meson test
inside the build dir, or by using backend-specific
commands, such as ninja test
or msbuild RUN_TESTS.vcxproj
.
vcs_tag()
customtarget vcs_tag(...)
This command detects revision control commit information at build time
and places it in the specified output file. This file is guaranteed to
be up to date on every build. Keywords are similar to custom_target
.
command
string list with the command to execute, seecustom_target
for details on how this command must be specifiedfallback
version number to use when no revision control information is present, such as when building from a release tarball (defaults tomeson.project_version()
)input
file to modify (e.g.version.c.in
) (required)output
file to write the results to (e.g.version.c
) (required)replace_string
string in the input file to substitute with the commit information (defaults to@VCS_TAG@
)
Meson will read the contents of input
, substitute the
replace_string
with the detected revision number, and write the
result to output
. This method returns a
custom_target
object that (as usual) should be
used to signal dependencies if other targets use the file outputted
by this.
For example, if you generate a header with this and want to use that in a build target, you must add the return value to the sources of that build target. Without that, Meson will not know the order in which to build the targets.
If you desire more specific behavior than what this command provides,
you should use custom_target
.
Built-in objects
These are built-in objects that are always available.
meson
object
The meson
object allows you to introspect various properties of the
system. This object is always mapped in the meson
variable. It has
the following methods.
-
add_dist_script(script_name, arg1, arg, ...)
causes the script given as argument to run duringdist
operation after the distribution source has been generated but before it is archived. Note that this runs the script file that is in the staging directory, not the one in the source directory. If the script file can not be found in the staging directory, it is a hard error. This command can only invoked from the main project, calling it from a subproject is a hard error. Available since 0.48.0. Before 0.49.0, the function only accepted a single argument. Since 0.54.0 theMESON_SOURCE_ROOT
andMESON_BUILD_ROOT
environment variables are set when dist scripts are run. -
add_install_script(script_name, arg1, arg2, ...)
causes the script given as an argument to be run during the install step, this script will have the environment variablesMESON_SOURCE_ROOT
,MESON_BUILD_ROOT
,MESON_INSTALL_PREFIX
,MESON_INSTALL_DESTDIR_PREFIX
, andMESONINTROSPECT
set. All additional arguments are passed as parameters.Meson uses the
DESTDIR
environment variable as set by the inherited environment to determine the (temporary) installation location for files. Your install script must be aware of this while manipulating and installing files. The correct way to handle this is with theMESON_INSTALL_DESTDIR_PREFIX
variable which is always set and containsDESTDIR
(if set) andprefix
joined together. This is useful because both are usually absolute paths and there are platform-specific edge-cases in joining two absolute paths.In case it is needed,
MESON_INSTALL_PREFIX
is also always set and has the value of theprefix
option passed to Meson.MESONINTROSPECT
contains the path to the introspect command that corresponds to themeson
executable that was used to configure the build. (This might be a different path then the first executable found inPATH
.) It can be used to query build configuration. Note that the value will contain many parts, f.ex., it may bepython3 /path/to/meson.py introspect
. The user is responsible for splitting the string to an array if needed by splitting lexically like a UNIX shell would. If your script uses Python,shlex.split()
is the easiest correct way to do this. -
add_postconf_script(script_name, arg1, arg2, ...)
will run the executable given as an argument after all project files have been generated. This script will have the environment variablesMESON_SOURCE_ROOT
andMESON_BUILD_ROOT
set. -
backend()
(added 0.37.0) returns a string representing the current backend:ninja
,vs2010
,vs2015
,vs2017
,vs2019
, orxcode
. -
build_root()
returns a string with the absolute path to the build root directory. Note: this function will return the build root of the parent project if called from a subproject, which is usually not what you want. Try usingcurrent_build_dir()
. -
source_root()
returns a string with the absolute path to the source root directory. Note: you should use thefiles()
function to refer to files in the root source directory instead of constructing paths manually withmeson.source_root()
. This function will return the source root of the parent project if called from a subproject, which is usually not what you want. Try usingcurrent_source_dir()
. -
current_build_dir()
returns a string with the absolute path to the current build directory. -
current_source_dir()
returns a string to the current source directory. Note: you do not need to use this function when passing files from the current source directory to a function since that is the default. Also, you can use thefiles()
function to refer to files in the current or any other source directory instead of constructing paths manually withmeson.current_source_dir()
. -
get_cross_property(propname, fallback_value)
returns the given property from a cross file, the optional second argument is returned if not cross compiling or the given property is not found. -
get_compiler(language)
returns an object describing a compiler, takes one positional argument which is the language to use. It also accepts one keyword argument,native
which when set to true makes Meson return the compiler for the build machine (the "native" compiler) and when false it returns the host compiler (the "cross" compiler). Ifnative
is omitted, Meson returns the "cross" compiler if we're currently cross-compiling and the "native" compiler if we're not. -
has_exe_wrapper()
returns true when doing a cross build if there is a wrapper command that can be used to execute cross built binaries (for example when cross compiling from Linux to Windows, one can usewine
as the wrapper). -
install_dependency_manifest(output_name)
installs a manifest file containing a list of all subprojects, their versions and license files to the file name given as the argument. -
is_cross_build()
returnstrue
if the current build is a cross build andfalse
otherwise. -
is_subproject()
returnstrue
if the current project is being built as a subproject of some other project andfalse
otherwise. -
is_unity()
returnstrue
when doing a unity build (multiple sources are combined before compilation to reduce build time) andfalse
otherwise. -
override_find_program(progname, program)
(Added 0.46.0) specifies that wheneverfind_program
is used to find a program namedprogname
, Meson should not not look it up on the system but instead returnprogram
, which may either be the result offind_program
,configure_file
orexecutable
.If
program
is anexecutable
, it cannot be used during configure. -
project_version()
returns the version string specified inproject
function call. -
project_license()
returns the array of licenses specified inproject
function call. -
project_name()
returns the project name specified in theproject
function call. -
version()
return a string with the version of Meson.
build_machine
object
Provides information about the build machine — the machine that is doing the actual compilation. See Cross-compilation. It has the following methods:
-
cpu_family()
returns the CPU family name. This table contains all known CPU families. These are guaranteed to continue working. -
cpu()
returns a more specific CPU name, such asi686
,amd64
, etc. -
system()
returns the operating system name. This table Lists all of the currently known Operating System names, these are guaranteed to continue working. -
endian()
returnsbig
on big-endian systems andlittle
on little-endian systems.
Currently, these values are populated using
platform.system()
and
platform.machine()
. If
you think the returned values for any of these are incorrect for your
system or CPU, or if your OS is not in the linked table, please file
a bug report with
details and we'll look into it.
host_machine
object
Provides information about the host machine — the machine on which the compiled binary will run. See Cross-compilation.
It has the same methods as build_machine
.
When not cross-compiling, all the methods return the same values as
build_machine
(because the build machine is the host machine)
Note that while cross-compiling, it simply returns the values defined in the cross-info file.
target_machine
object
Provides information about the target machine — the machine on which the compiled binary's output will run. Hence, this object should only be used while cross-compiling a compiler. See Cross-compilation.
It has the same methods as build_machine
.
When all compilation is 'native', all the methods return the same
values as build_machine
(because the build machine is the host
machine and the target machine).
Note that while cross-compiling, it simply returns the values defined
in the cross-info file. If target_machine
values are not defined in
the cross-info file, host_machine
values are returned instead.
string
object
All strings have the following methods. Strings are immutable, all operations return their results as a new string.
-
contains(string)
returns true if string contains the string specified as the argument -
endswith(string)
returns true if string ends with the string specified as the argument -
format()
formats text, see the Syntax manual for usage info -
join(list_of_strings)
is the opposite of split, for example'.'.join(['a', 'b', 'c']
yields'a.b.c'
-
split(split_character)
splits the string at the specified character (or whitespace if not set) and returns the parts in an array -
startswith(string)
returns true if string starts with the string specified as the argument -
strip()
removes whitespace at the beginning and end of the string (added 0.43.0) optionally can take one positional string argument, and all characters in that string will be stripped -
to_int
returns the string converted to an integer (error if string is not a number) -
to_lower()
creates a lower case version of the string -
to_upper()
creates an upper case version of the string -
underscorify()
creates a string where every non-alphabetical non-number character is replaced with_
-
version_compare(comparison_string)
does semantic version comparison, ifx = '1.2.3'
thenx.version_compare('>1.0.0')
returnstrue
Number
object
Numbers support these methods:
is_even()
returns true if the number is evenis_odd()
returns true if the number is oddto_string()
returns the value of the number as a string.
boolean
object
A boolean object has two simple methods:
-
to_int()
as above, but returns either1
or0
-
to_string()
returns the string'true'
if the boolean is true or'false'
otherwise. You can also pass it two strings as positional arguments to specify what to return for true/false. For instance,bool.to_string('yes', 'no')
will returnyes
if the boolean is true andno
if it is false.
array
object
The following methods are defined for all arrays:
-
contains(item)
, returnstrue
if the array contains the object given as argument,false
otherwise -
get(index, fallback)
, returns the object at the given index, negative indices count from the back of the array, indexing out of bounds returns thefallback
value (added 0.38.0) or, if it is not specified, causes a fatal error -
length()
, the size of the array
You can also iterate over arrays with the foreach
statement.
dictionary
object
The following methods are defined for all dictionaries:
-
has_key(key)
returnstrue
if the dictionary contains the key given as argument,false
otherwise -
get(key, fallback)
, returns the value for the key given as first argument if it is present in the dictionary, or the optional fallback value given as the second argument. If a single argument was given and the key was not found, causes a fatal error
You can also iterate over dictionaries with the foreach
statement.
Dictionaries are available since 0.47.0.
Since 0.48.0 dictionaries can be added (e.g. d1 = d2 + d3
and d1 += d2
).
Values from the second dictionary overrides values from the first.
Returned objects
These are objects returned by the functions listed above.
compiler
object
This object is returned by
meson.get_compiler(lang)
. It represents a compiler
for a given language and allows you to query its properties. It has
the following methods:
-
alignment(typename)
returns the alignment of the type specified in the positional argument, you can specify external dependencies to use withdependencies
keyword argument. -
cmd_array()
returns an array containing the command arguments for the current compiler. -
compiles(code)
returns true if the code fragment given in the positional argument compiles, you can specify external dependencies to use withdependencies
keyword argument,code
can be either a string containing source code or afile
object pointing to the source code. -
compute_int(expr, ...')
computes the value of the given expression (as an example1 + 2
). When cross compiling this is evaluated with an iterative algorithm, you can specify keyword argumentslow
(defaults to -1024),high
(defaults to 1024) andguess
to specify max and min values for the search and the value to try first. -
find_library(lib_name, ...)
tries to find the library specified in the positional argument. The result object can be used just like the return value ofdependency
. If the keyword argumentrequired
is false, Meson will proceed even if the library is not found. By default the library is searched for in the system library directory (e.g. /usr/lib). This can be overridden with thedirs
keyword argument, which can be either a string or a list of strings. Since 0.47.0 the value of afeature
option can also be passed to therequired
keyword argument. Since 0.49.0 if the keyword argumentdisabler
istrue
and the dependency couldn't be found, return a disabler object instead of a not-found dependency. Since 0.50.0 thehas_headers
keyword argument can be a list of header files that must be found as well, usinghas_header()
method. All keyword arguments prefixed withheader_
will be passed down tohas_header()
method with the prefix removed. Since 0.51.0 thestatic
keyword (boolean) can be set totrue
to limit the search to static libraries andfalse
for dynamic/shared. -
first_supported_argument(list_of_strings)
, given a list of strings, returns the first argument that passes thehas_argument
test or an empty array if none pass. -
first_supported_link_argument(list_of_strings)
(added 0.46.0), given a list of strings, returns the first argument that passes thehas_link_argument
test or an empty array if none pass. -
get_define(definename)
returns the given preprocessor symbol's value as a string or empty string if it is not defined. Starting with 0.47.0, this method will concatenate string literals as the compiler would. E.g."a" "b"
will become"ab"
. -
get_id()
returns a string identifying the compiler. For example,gcc
,msvc
, and more. -
get_argument_syntax()
(new in 0.49.0) returns a string identifying the type of arguments the compiler takes. Can be one ofgcc
,msvc
, or an undefined string value. This method is useful for identifying compilers that are not gcc or msvc, but use the same argument syntax as one of those two compilers such as clang or icc, especially when they use different syntax on different operating systems. -
get_linker_id()
(added 0.53.0) returns a string identifying the linker. For example,ld.bfd
,link
, and more. -
get_supported_arguments(list_of_string)
(added 0.43.0) returns an array containing only the arguments supported by the compiler, as ifhas_argument
were called on them individually. -
get_supported_link_arguments(list_of_string)
(added 0.46.0) returns an array containing only the arguments supported by the linker, as ifhas_link_argument
were called on them individually. -
has_argument(argument_name)
returns true if the compiler accepts the specified command line argument, that is, can compile code without erroring out or printing a warning about an unknown flag. -
has_link_argument(argument_name)
(added 0.46.0) returns true if the linker accepts the specified command line argument, that is, can compile and link code without erroring out or printing a warning about an unknown flag. Link arguments will be passed to the compiler, so should usually have the-Wl,
prefix. On VisualStudio a/link
argument will be prepended. -
has_function(funcname)
returns true if the given function is provided by the standard library or a library passed in with theargs
keyword, you can specify external dependencies to use withdependencies
keyword argument. -
check_header
(added 0.47.0) returns true if the specified header is usable with the specified prefix, dependencies, and arguments. You can specify external dependencies to use withdependencies
keyword argument and extra code to put above the header test with theprefix
keyword. In order to look for headers in a specific directory you can useargs : '-I/extra/include/dir
, but this should only be used in exceptional cases for includes that can't be detected via pkg-config and passed viadependencies
. Since 0.50.0 therequired
keyword argument can be used to abort if the header cannot be found. -
has_header
returns true if the specified header exists, and is faster thancheck_header()
since it only does a pre-processor check. You can specify external dependencies to use withdependencies
keyword argument and extra code to put above the header test with theprefix
keyword. In order to look for headers in a specific directory you can useargs : '-I/extra/include/dir
, but this should only be used in exceptional cases for includes that can't be detected via pkg-config and passed viadependencies
. Since 0.50.0 therequired
keyword argument can be used to abort if the header cannot be found. -
has_header_symbol(headername, symbolname)
allows one to detect whether a particular symbol (function, variable, #define, type definition, etc) is declared in the specified header, you can specify external dependencies to use withdependencies
keyword argument. Since 0.50.0 therequired
keyword argument can be used to abort if the symbol cannot be found. -
has_member(typename, membername)
takes two arguments, type name and member name and returns true if the type has the specified member, you can specify external dependencies to use withdependencies
keyword argument. -
has_members(typename, membername1, membername2, ...)
takes at least two arguments, type name and one or more member names, returns true if the type has all the specified members, you can specify external dependencies to use withdependencies
keyword argument. -
has_multi_arguments(arg1, arg2, arg3, ...)
is the same ashas_argument
but takes multiple arguments and uses them all in a single compiler invocation, available since 0.37.0. -
has_multi_link_arguments(arg1, arg2, arg3, ...)
(added 0.46.0) is the same ashas_link_argument
but takes multiple arguments and uses them all in a single compiler invocation. -
has_type(typename)
returns true if the specified token is a type, you can specify external dependencies to use withdependencies
keyword argument. -
links(code)
returns true if the code fragment given in the positional argument compiles and links, you can specify external dependencies to use withdependencies
keyword argument,code
can be either a string containing source code or afile
object pointing to the source code. -
run(code)
attempts to compile and execute the given code fragment, returns a run result object, you can specify external dependencies to use withdependencies
keyword argument,code
can be either a string containing source code or afile
object pointing to the source code. -
symbols_have_underscore_prefix()
returnstrue
if the C symbol mangling is one underscore (_
) prefixed to the symbol, available since 0.37.0. -
sizeof(typename, ...)
returns the size of the given type (e.g.'int'
) or -1 if the type is unknown, to add includes set them in theprefix
keyword argument, you can specify external dependencies to use withdependencies
keyword argument. -
version()
returns the compiler's version number as a string. -
has_function_attribute(name)
(added in 0.48.0) returnstrue
if the compiler supports the GNU style (__attribute__(...)
)name
. This is preferable to manual compile checks as it may be optimized for compilers that do not support such attributes. This table lists all of the supported attributes. -
get_supported_function_attributes(list_of_names)
(added in 0.48.0) returns an array containing any names that are supported GCC style attributes. Equivalent tohas_function_attribute
was called on each of them individually.
The following keyword arguments can be used:
-
args
can be used to pass a list of compiler arguments that are required to find the header or symbol. For example, you might need to pass the include path-Isome/path/to/header
if a header is not in the default include path. In versions newer than 0.38.0 you should use theinclude_directories
keyword described below. You may also want to pass a library name-lfoo
forhas_function
to check for a function. Supported by all methods exceptget_id
,version
, andfind_library
. -
include_directories
specifies extra directories for header searches. (added 0.38.0) -
name
the name to use for printing a message about the compiler check. Supported by the methodscompiles()
,links()
, andrun()
. If this keyword argument is not passed to those methods, no message will be printed about the check. -
no_builtin_args
when set to true, the compiler arguments controlled by built-in configuration options are not added. -
prefix
can be used to add #includes and other things that are required for the symbol to be declared. System definitions should be passed via compiler args (eg:_GNU_SOURCE
is often required for some symbols to be exposed on Linux, and it should be passed viaargs
keyword argument, see below). Supported by the methodssizeof
,has_type
,has_function
,has_member
,has_members
,check_header
,has_header
,has_header_symbol
.
Note: These compiler checks do not use compiler arguments added with
add_*_arguments()
, via -Dlang_args
on the command-line, or through
CFLAGS
/LDFLAGS
, etc in the environment. Hence, you can trust that
the tests will be fully self-contained, and won't fail because of custom
flags added by other parts of the build file or by users.
Note that if you have a single prefix with all your dependencies, you
might find it easier to append to the environment variables
C_INCLUDE_PATH
with GCC/Clang and INCLUDE
with MSVC to expand the
default include path, and LIBRARY_PATH
with GCC/Clang and LIB
with
MSVC to expand the default library search path.
However, with GCC, these variables will be ignored when cross-compiling. In that case you need to use a specs file. See: http://www.mingw.org/wiki/SpecsFileHOWTO
build target
object
A build target is either an executable, shared library, static library, both shared and static library or shared module.
-
extract_all_objects()
is same asextract_objects
but returns all object files generated by this target. Since 0.46.0 keyword argumentrecursive
must be set totrue
to also return objects passed to theobject
argument of this target. By default only objects built for this target are returned to maintain backward compatibility with previous versions. The default will eventually be changed totrue
in a future version. -
extract_objects(source1, source2, ...)
takes as its arguments a number of source files asstring
orfiles()
and returns an opaque value representing the object files generated for those source files. This is typically used to take single object files and link them to unit tests or to compile some source files with custom flags. To use the object file(s) in another build target, use theobjects:
keyword argument. -
full_path()
returns a full path pointing to the result target file. NOTE: In most cases using the object itself will do the same job as this and will also allow Meson to setup inter-target dependencies correctly. Please file a bug if that doesn't work for you. -
private_dir_include()
returns a opaque value that works likeinclude_directories
but points to the private directory of this target, usually only needed if an another target needs to access some generated internal headers of this target
configuration
data object
This object is returned by
configuration_data()
and encapsulates
configuration values to be used for generating configuration files. A
more in-depth description can be found in the the configuration wiki
page It has three methods:
-
get(varname, default_value)
returns the value ofvarname
, if the value has not been set returnsdefault_value
if it is defined (added 0.38.0) and errors out if not -
get_unquoted(varname, default_value)
returns the value ofvarname
but without surrounding double quotes ("
). If the value has not been set returnsdefault_value
if it is defined and errors out if not. Available since 0.44.0 -
has(varname)
, returnstrue
if the specified variable is set -
merge_from(other)
takes as argument a different configuration data object and copies all entries from that object to the current object, available since 0.42.0 -
set(varname, value)
, sets a variable to a given value -
set10(varname, boolean_value)
is the same as above but the value is eithertrue
orfalse
and will be written as 1 or 0, respectively -
set_quoted(varname, value)
is same asset
but quotes the value in double quotes ("
)
They all take the description
keyword that will be written in the
result file. The replacement assumes a file with C syntax. If your
generated file is source code in some other language, you probably
don't want to add a description field because it most likely will
cause a syntax error.
custom target
object
This object is returned by custom_target
and
contains a target with the following methods:
-
full_path()
returns a full path pointing to the result target file NOTE: In most cases using the object itself will do the same job as this and will also allow Meson to setup inter-target dependencies correctly. Please file a bug if that doesn't work for you. -
[index]
returns an opaque object that references this target, and can be used as a source in other targets. When it is used as such it will make that target depend on this custom target, but the only source added will be the one that corresponds to the index of the custom target's output argument.
dependency
object
This object is returned by dependency()
and contains
an external dependency with the following methods:
-
found()
which returns whether the dependency was found -
name()
(Added 0.48.0) returns the name of the dependency that was searched. Returnsinternal
for dependencies created withdeclare_dependency()
. -
get_pkgconfig_variable(varname)
(Added 0.36.0) will get the pkg-config variable specified, or, if invoked on a non pkg-config dependency, error out. (Added 0.44.0) You can also redefine a variable by passing a list to thedefine_variable
parameter that can affect the retrieved variable:['prefix', '/'])
. (Added 0.45.0) A warning is issued if the variable is not defined, unless adefault
parameter is specified. -
get_configtool_variable(varname)
(Added 0.44.0) will get the command line argument from the config tool (with--
prepended), or, if invoked on a non config-tool dependency, error out. -
type_name()
which returns a string describing the type of the dependency, the most common values areinternal
for deps created withdeclare_dependency()
andpkgconfig
for system dependencies obtained with Pkg-config. -
version()
is the version number as a string, for example1.2.8
.unknown
if the dependency provider doesn't support determining the version. -
include_type()
returns whether the value set by theinclude_type
kwarg -
as_system(value)
returns a copy of the dependency object, which has changed the value ofinclude_type
tovalue
. Thevalue
argument is optional and defaults to'preserve'
. -
- `partial_dependency(compile_args : false, link_args : false, links
- false, includes : false, source : false)` (Added 0.46.0) returns a new dependency object with the same name, version, found status, type name, and methods as the object that called it. This new object will only inherit other attributes from its parent as controlled by keyword arguments.
If the parent has any dependencies, those will be applied to the new partial dependency with the same rules. So , given:
dep1 = declare_dependency(compile_args : '-Werror=foo', link_with : 'libfoo') dep2 = declare_dependency(compile_args : '-Werror=bar', dependencies : dep1) dep3 = dep2.partial_dependency(compile_args : true)
dep3 will add
['-Werror=foo', '-Werror=bar']
to the compiler args of any target it is added to, but libfoo will not be added to the link_args.Note: A bug present until 0.50.1 results in the above behavior not working correctly.
The following arguments will add the following attributes:
- compile_args: any arguments passed to the compiler
- link_args: any arguments passed to the linker
- links: anything passed via link_with or link_whole
- includes: any include_directories
- sources: any compiled or static sources the dependency has
-
get_variable(cmake : str, pkgconfig : str, configtool : str, default_value : str, pkgconfig_define : [str, str])
(Added in 0.51.0) A generic variable getter method, which replaces the get_type_variable methods. This allows one to get the variable from a dependency without knowing specifically how that dependency was found. If default_value is set and the value cannot be gotten from the object then default_value is returned, if it is not set then an error is raised.
disabler
object
A disabler object is an object that behaves in much the same way as NaN numbers do in floating point math. That is when used in any statement (function call, logical op, etc) they will cause the statement evaluation to immediately short circuit to return a disabler object. A disabler object has one method:
found()
, always returnsfalse
external program
object
This object is returned by find_program()
and
contains an external (i.e. not built as part of this project) program
and has the following methods:
-
found()
which returns whether the executable was found -
path()
which returns a string pointing to the script or executable NOTE: You should not need to use this method. Passing the object itself should work in all cases. For example:run_command(obj, arg1, arg2)
environment
object
This object is returned by environment()
and stores
detailed information about how environment variables should be set
during tests. It should be passed as the env
keyword argument to
tests and other functions. It has the following methods.
-
append(varname, value1, value2, ...)
appends the given values to the old value of the environment variable, e.g.env.append('FOO', 'BAR', 'BAZ', separator : ';')
producesBOB;BAR;BAZ
ifFOO
had the valueBOB
and plainBAR;BAZ
if the value was not defined. If the separator is not specified explicitly, the default path separator for the host operating system will be used, i.e. ';' for Windows and ':' for UNIX/POSIX systems. -
prepend(varname, value1, value2, ...)
is the same asappend
except that it writes to the beginning of the variable -
set(varname, value1, value2)
sets the environment variable specified in the first argument to the values in the second argument joined by the separator, e.g.env.set('FOO', 'BAR'),
sets envvarFOO
to valueBAR
. Seeappend()
above for how separators work.
Note: All these methods overwrite the previously-defined value(s)
if called twice with the same varname
.
external library
object
This object is returned by find_library()
and
contains an external (i.e. not built as part of this project)
library. This object has the following methods:
-
found()
which returns whether the library was found. -
type_name()
(added 0.48.0) which returns a string describing the type of the dependency, which will belibrary
in this case. -
- `partial_dependency(compile_args : false, link_args : false, links
- false, includes : false, source : false)` (Added 0.46.0) returns a new dependency object with the same name, version, found status, type name, and methods as the object that called it. This new object will only inherit other attributes from its parent as controlled by keyword arguments.
generator
object
This object is returned by generator()
and contains a
generator that is used to transform files from one type to another by
an executable (e.g. idl
files into source code and headers).
process(list_of_files, ...)
takes a list of files, causes them to be processed and returns an object containing the result which can then, for example, be passed into a build target definition. The keyword argumentextra_args
, if specified, will be used to replace an entry@EXTRA_ARGS@
in the argument list. The keyword argumentpreserve_path_from
, if given, specifies that the output files need to maintain their directory structure inside the target temporary directory. The most common value for this ismeson.current_source_dir()
. With this value when a file calledsubdir/one.input
is processed it generates a file<target private directory>/subdir/one.out
as opposed to<target private directory>/one.out
.
subproject
object
This object is returned by subproject()
and is an
opaque object representing it.
-
found()
(added 0.48.0) which returns whether the subproject was successfully setup -
get_variable(name, fallback)
fetches the specified variable from inside the subproject. This is useful to, for instance, get a declared dependency from the subproject.If the variable does not exist, the variable
fallback
is returned. If a fallback is not specified, then attempting to read a non-existing variable will cause a fatal error.
run result
object
This object encapsulates the result of trying to compile and run a
sample piece of code with compiler.run()
or
run_command()
. It has the following methods:
compiled()
if true, the compilation succeeded, if false it did not and the other methods return unspecified data. This is only available forcompiler.run()
results.returncode()
the return code of executing the compiled binarystderr()
the standard error produced when the command was runstdout()
the standard out produced when the command was run