The Meson Build System
http://mesonbuild.com/
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158 lines
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158 lines
5.0 KiB
--- |
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title: Quickstart Guide |
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short-description: Getting Started using Mesonbuild |
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# Using Meson |
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Meson has been designed to be as simple to use as possible. This page |
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outlines the initial steps needed for installation, troubleshooting, |
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and standard use. |
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For more advanced configuration please refer to the command line help |
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`meson --help` or the Meson documentation located at the |
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[Mesonbuild](https://mesonbuild.com) website. |
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Table of Contents: |
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* [Requirements](#requirements) |
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* [Installation using package manager](#installation-using-package-manager) |
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* [Installation using Python](#installation-using-python) |
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* [Installation from source](#installation-from-source) |
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* [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting) |
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* [Compiling a Meson project](#compiling-a-meson-project) |
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* [Using Meson as a distro packager](#using-meson-as-a-distro-packager) |
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Requirements |
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-- |
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* [Python 3](https://python.org) |
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* [Ninja](https://github.com/ninja-build/ninja/) |
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*Ninja is only needed if you use the Ninja backend. Meson can also |
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generate native VS and Xcode project files.* |
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Installation using package manager |
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-- |
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Ubuntu: |
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```console |
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$ sudo apt-get install python3 python3-pip python3-setuptools \ |
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python3-wheel ninja-build |
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``` |
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*Due to our frequent release cycle and development speed, distro packaged software may quickly become outdated.* |
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Installation using Python |
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-- |
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Requirements: **pip3** |
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The best way to receive the most up-to-date version of Mesonbuild. |
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Install as a local user (recommended): |
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```console |
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$ pip3 install --user meson |
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``` |
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Install as root: |
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```console |
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$ pip3 install meson |
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``` |
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*If you are unsure whether to install as root or a local user, install |
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as a local user.* |
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Installation from source |
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-- |
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Requirements: **git** |
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Meson can be run directly from the cloned git repository. |
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```console |
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$ git clone https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson.git /path/to/sourcedir |
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``` |
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Troubleshooting: |
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-- |
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Common Issues: |
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```console |
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$ meson builddir |
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$ bash: /usr/bin/meson: No such file or directory |
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``` |
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Description: The default installation prefix for the python pip module |
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installation is not included in your shell environment PATH. The |
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default prefix for python pip installation modules is located under |
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``/usr/local``. |
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**Resolution: |
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This issue can be resolved by altering the default shell environment |
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PATH to include ``/usr/local/bin``. ** |
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*Note: There are other ways of fixing this issue such as using |
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symlinks or copying the binaries to a default path and these methods |
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are not recommended or supported as they may break package management |
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interoperability.* |
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Compiling a Meson project |
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-- |
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The most common use case of Meson is compiling code on a code base you |
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are working on. The steps to take are very simple. |
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```console |
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$ cd /path/to/source/root |
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$ meson builddir && cd builddir |
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$ meson compile |
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$ meson test |
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``` |
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The only thing to note is that you need to create a separate build |
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directory. Meson will not allow you to build source code inside your |
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source tree. All build artifacts are stored in the build directory. |
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This allows you to have multiple build trees with different |
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configurations at the same time. This way generated files are not |
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added into revision control by accident. |
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To recompile after code changes, just type `meson compile`. The build |
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command is always the same. You can do arbitrary changes to source |
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code and build system files and Meson will detect those and will do |
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the right thing. If you want to build optimized binaries, just use the |
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argument `--buildtype=debugoptimized` when running Meson. It is |
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recommended that you keep one build directory for unoptimized builds |
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and one for optimized ones. To compile any given configuration, just |
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go into the corresponding build directory and run `meson compile`. |
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Meson will automatically add compiler flags to enable debug |
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information and compiler warnings (i.e. `-g` and `-Wall`). This means |
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the user does not have to deal with them and can instead focus on |
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coding. |
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Using Meson as a distro packager |
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-- |
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Distro packagers usually want total control on the build flags |
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used. Meson supports this use case natively. The commands needed to |
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build and install Meson projects are the following. |
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```console |
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$ cd /path/to/source/root |
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$ meson --prefix /usr --buildtype=plain builddir -Dc_args=... -Dcpp_args=... -Dc_link_args=... -Dcpp_link_args=... |
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$ meson compile -C builddir |
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$ meson test -C builddir |
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$ DESTDIR=/path/to/staging/root meson install -C builddir |
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``` |
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The command line switch `--buildtype=plain` tells Meson not to add its |
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own flags to the command line. This gives the packager total control |
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on used flags. |
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This is very similar to other build systems. The only difference is |
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that the `DESTDIR` variable is passed as an environment variable |
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rather than as an argument to `meson install`. |
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As distro builds happen always from scratch, you might consider |
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enabling [unity builds](Unity-builds.md) on your packages because they |
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are faster and produce better code. However there are many projects |
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that do not build with unity builds enabled so the decision to use |
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unity builds must be done by the packager on a case by case basis.
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