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208 lines
6.8 KiB
208 lines
6.8 KiB
--- |
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short-description: Build options to configure project properties |
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# Build options |
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Most non-trivial builds require user-settable options. As an example a |
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program may have two different data backends that are selectable at |
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build time. Meson provides for this by having a option definition |
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file. Its name is `meson_options.txt` and it is placed at the root of |
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your source tree. |
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Here is a simple option file. |
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```meson |
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option('someoption', type : 'string', value : 'optval', description : 'An option') |
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option('other_one', type : 'boolean', value : false) |
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option('combo_opt', type : 'combo', choices : ['one', 'two', 'three'], value : 'three') |
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option('integer_opt', type : 'integer', min : 0, max : 5, value : 3) # Since 0.45.0 |
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option('free_array_opt', type : 'array', value : ['one', 'two']) # Since 0.44.0 |
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option('array_opt', type : 'array', choices : ['one', 'two', 'three'], value : ['one', 'two']) |
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option('some_feature', type : 'feature', value : 'enabled') # Since 0.47.0 |
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``` |
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For built-in options, see [Built-in options][builtin_opts]. |
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## Build option types |
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All types allow a `description` value to be set describing the option, |
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if no description is set then the name of the option will be used instead. |
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### Strings |
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The string type is a free form string. If the default value is not set |
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then an empty string will be used as the default. |
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### Booleans |
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Booleans may have values of either `true` or `false`. If no default |
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value is supplied then `true` will be used as the default. |
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### Combos |
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A combo allows any one of the values in the `choices` parameter to be |
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selected. If no default value is set then the first value will be the |
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default. |
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### Integers |
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An integer option contains a single integer with optional upper and |
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lower values that are specified with the `min` and `max` keyword |
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arguments. |
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This type is available since Meson version 0.45.0. |
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### Arrays |
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Arrays represent an array of strings. By default the array can contain |
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arbitrary strings. To limit the possible values that can used set the |
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`choices` parameter. Meson will then only allow the value array to |
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contain strings that are in the given list. The array may be |
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empty. The `value` parameter specifies the default value of the option |
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and if it is unset then the values of `choices` will be used as the |
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default. |
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As of 0.47.0 -Dopt= and -Dopt=[] both pass an empty list, before this -Dopt= |
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would pass a list with an empty string. |
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This type is available since version 0.44.0 |
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### Features |
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A `feature` option has three states: `enabled`, `disabled` or `auto`. It is intended |
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to be passed as value for the `required` keyword argument of most functions. |
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Currently supported in |
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[`dependency()`](Reference-manual.md#dependency), |
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[`find_library()`](Reference-manual.md#compiler-object), |
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[`find_program()`](Reference-manual.md#find_program) and |
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[`add_languages()`](Reference-manual.md#add_languages) functions. |
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- `enabled` is the same as passing `required : true`. |
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- `auto` is the same as passing `required : false`. |
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- `disabled` do not look for the dependency and always return 'not-found'. |
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When getting the value of this type of option using `get_option()`, a special |
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object is returned instead of the string representation of the option's value. |
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That object has three methods returning boolean and taking no argument: |
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`enabled()`, `disabled()`, and `auto()`. |
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```meson |
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d = dependency('foo', required : get_option('myfeature')) |
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if d.found() |
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app = executable('myapp', 'main.c', dependencies : [d]) |
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endif |
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``` |
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If the value of a `feature` option is set to `auto`, that value is overriden by |
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the global `auto_features` option (which defaults to `auto`). This is intended |
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to be used by packagers who want to have full control on which dependencies are |
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required and which are disabled, and not rely on build-deps being installed |
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(at the right version) to get a feature enabled. They could set |
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`auto_features=enabled` to enable all features and disable explicitly only the |
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few they don't want, if any. |
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This type is available since version 0.47.0 |
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## Using build options |
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```meson |
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optval = get_option('opt_name') |
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``` |
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This function also allows you to query the value of Meson's built-in |
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project options. For example, to get the installation prefix you would |
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issue the following command: |
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```meson |
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prefix = get_option('prefix') |
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``` |
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It should be noted that you can not set option values in your Meson |
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scripts. They have to be set externally with the `meson configure` |
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command line tool. Running `meson configure` without arguments in a |
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build dir shows you all options you can set. |
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To change their values use the `-D` |
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option: |
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```console |
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$ meson configure -Doption=newvalue |
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``` |
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Setting the value of arrays is a bit special. If you only pass a |
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single string, then it is considered to have all values separated by |
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commas. Thus invoking the following command: |
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```console |
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$ meson configure -Darray_opt=foo,bar |
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``` |
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would set the value to an array of two elements, `foo` and `bar`. |
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If you need to have commas in your string values, then you need to |
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pass the value with proper shell quoting like this: |
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```console |
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$ meson configure "-Doption=['a,b', 'c,d']" |
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``` |
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The inner values must always be single quotes and the outer ones |
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double quotes. |
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To change values in subprojects prepend the name of the subproject and |
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a colon: |
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```console |
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$ meson configure -Dsubproject:option=newvalue |
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``` |
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**NOTE:** If you cannot call `meson configure` you likely have a old |
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version of Meson. In that case you can call `mesonconf` instead, but |
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that is deprecated in newer versions |
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## Yielding to superproject option |
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Suppose you have a master project and a subproject. In some cases it |
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might be useful to have an option that has the same value in both of |
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them. This can be achieved with the `yield` keyword. Suppose you have |
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an option definition like this: |
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```meson |
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option('some_option', type : 'string', value : 'value', yield : true) |
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``` |
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If you build this project on its own, this option behaves like |
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usual. However if you build this project as a subproject of another |
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project which also has an option called `some_option`, then calling |
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`get_option` returns the value of the superproject. If the value of |
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`yield` is `false`, `get_option` returns the value of the subproject's |
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option. |
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## Built-in build options |
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There are a number of [built-in options][builtin_opts]. To get the current list execute `meson |
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configure` in the build directory. |
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[builtin_opts]: https://mesonbuild.com/Builtin-options.html |
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### Visual Studio |
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#### Startup project |
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The backend\_startup\_project option can be set to define the default project |
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that will be executed with the "Start debugging F5" action in visual studio. |
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It should be the same name as an executable target name. |
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```meson |
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project('my_project', 'c', default_options: ['backend_startup_project=my_exe']) |
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executable('my_exe', ...) |
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``` |
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### Ninja |
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#### Max links |
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The backend\_max\_links can be set to limit the number of processes that ninja |
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will use to link.
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