xmake adds smart code scanning compilation mode

Recently, a new feature has been added to xmake . For a project source code, there is no need to write a makefile or various make-related project description files (for example: xmake.lua, makefile.am, cmakelist.txt, etc.)

xmake can compile them directly. How is this done? Simply put, the implementation principle:

First scan all source code files supported by xmake in the current directory
Analyze the code and detect which codes have the main entry function
All code without a main entry is compiled into a static library
The code with the main entry is compiled into an executable program and linked with other static library programs at the same time

This kind of code scanning and intelligent compilation is very simple. At present, xmake does not support multi-level directory scanning. It only scans and compiles the code of a single-level directory. .

Porting and compilation of open source code

Although this method is not very smart, and there are many restrictions, it is necessary to temporarily write some code to compile and run, or temporarily want to cross-compile some simple open source library code.

This method is enough to use, let's look at the next practical example:

I downloaded a copy of the source code of zlib-1.2.10. To compile it, I just need to enter the source directory of zlib and execute:

$ cd zlib-1.2.10
$ xmake

That's it, the output is as follows:

xmake.lua not found, scanning files ..
target(zlib-1.2): static
    [+]: ./adler32.c
    [+]: ./compress.c
    [+]: ./crc32.c
    [+]: ./deflate.c
    [+]: ./gzclose.c
    [+]: ./gzlib.c
    [+]: ./gzread.c
    [+]: ./gzwrite.c
    [+]: ./infback.c
    [+]: ./inffast.c
    [+]: ./inflate.c
    [+]: ./inftrees.c
    [+]: ./trees.c
    [+]: ./uncompr.c
    [+]: ./zutil.c
xmake.lua generated, scan ok!��
checking for the architecture ... x86_64
checking for the Xcode SDK version for macosx ... 10.12
checking for the target minimal version ... 10.12
checking for the c compiler (cc) ... xcrun -sdk macosx clang
checking for the c++ compiler (cxx) ... xcrun -sdk macosx clang
checking for the objc compiler (mm) ... xcrun -sdk macosx clang
checking for the objc++ compiler (mxx) ... xcrun -sdk macosx clang++
checking for the swift compiler (sc) ... xcrun -sdk macosx swiftc
checking for the assember (as) ... xcrun -sdk macosx clang
checking for the linker (ld) ... xcrun -sdk macosx clang++
checking for the static library archiver (ar) ... xcrun -sdk macosx ar
checking for the static library extractor (ex) ... xcrun -sdk macosx ar
checking for the shared library linker (sh) ... xcrun -sdk macosx clang++
checking for the debugger (dd) ... xcrun -sdk macosx lldb
checking for the golang compiler (go) ... go
configure
{
    ex = "xcrun -sdk macosx ar"
,   sh = "xcrun -sdk macosx clang++"
,   host = "macosx"
,   ar = "xcrun -sdk macosx ar"
,   buildir = "build"
,   as = "xcrun -sdk macosx clang"
,   plat = "macosx"
,   xcode_dir = "/Applications/Xcode.app"
,   arch = "x86_64"
,   mxx = "xcrun -sdk macosx clang++"
,   go = "go"
,   target_minver = "10.12"
,   ccache = "ccache"
,   mode = "release"
,   clean = true
,   cxx = "xcrun -sdk macosx clang"
,   cc = "xcrun -sdk macosx clang"
,   dd = "xcrun -sdk macosx lldb"
,   kind = "static"
,   ld = "xcrun -sdk macosx clang++"
,   xcode_sdkver = "10.12"
,   sc = "xcrun -sdk macosx swiftc"
,   mm = "xcrun -sdk macosx clang"
}
configure ok!
clean ok!
[00%]: ccache compiling.release ./adler32.c
[06%]: ccache compiling.release ./compress.c
[13%]: ccache compiling.release ./crc32.c
[20%]: ccache compiling.release ./deflate.c
[26%]: ccache compiling.release ./gzclose.c
[33%]: ccache compiling.release ./gzlib.c
[40%]: ccache compiling.release ./gzread.c
[46%]: ccache compiling.release ./gzwrite.c
[53%]: ccache compiling.release ./infback.c
[60%]: ccache compiling.release ./inffast.c
[66%]: ccache compiling.release ./inflate.c
[73%]: ccache compiling.release ./inftrees.c
[80%]: ccache compiling.release ./trees.c
[86%]: ccache compiling.release ./uncompr.c
[93%]: ccache compiling.release ./zutil.c
[100%]: archiving.release libzlib-1.2.a
build ok!��

Through the output results, you can see that xmake will detect and scan all the .c codes in the current directory and find that there is no main entry, which should be a static library program. Therefore, after executing xmake, it will be directly compiled into a static library libzlib-1.2.a

Even xmake.lua has not been written. In fact, after the scan is completed, xmake will automatically generate a copy of xmake.lua in the current directory, and there is no need to rescan and check the next time you compile.

The automatically generated xmake.lua content is as follows:

-- define target
target("zlib-1.2")

    -- set kind
    set_kind("static")

    -- add files
    add_files("./adler32.c")
    add_files("./compress.c")
    add_files("./crc32.c")
    add_files("./deflate.c")
    add_files("./gzclose.c")
    add_files("./gzlib.c")
    add_files("./gzread.c")
    add_files("./gzwrite.c")
    add_files("./infback.c")
    add_files("./inffast.c")
    add_files("./inflate.c")
    add_files("./inftrees.c")
    add_files("./trees.c")
    add_files("./uncompr.c")
    add_files("./zutil.c")

Maybe you would say, like this kind of open source library, configure; makeit's just fine. They also provide makefiles to compile directly. It is indeed the case. I am just giving an example here. .

Of course, when many open source libraries are cross-compiled, they are configurestill very cumbersome to handle through their own built -in libraries. It is more convenient to use xmake to cross-compile. .

Instant code writing, compiling and running

The main purpose of this scanning code compilation feature of xmake is to allow us to write some test code temporarily, without thinking too much, to directly type the code, and then execute it quickly xmake runto debug the verification result. .

E.g:

I want to write a simple main.c test program and print it hello world!. If you want to write a makefile or directly use gcc commands, it is very cumbersome. You need to:

gcc ./main.c -o demo
./demo

The fastest way, you also need to execute two lines of commands, and if you use xmake, you only need to execute:

xmake run

That's it, after it automatically detects the code, it automatically generates the corresponding xmake.lua, automatically compiles, automatically runs, and then outputs:

hello world!

If you have more than a dozen code files, the way to type gcc by hand, or the way to write makefiles, the gap is even more obvious. With xmake, you still only need one line of command:

xmake run

Multi-language support

This kind of code detection and instant compilation supports multi-language, not only supports c/c++, but also supports objc/swift, and later also supports golang (under development)

For example, I downloaded a fmdb ios open source framework code:

.
├── FMDB.h
├── FMDatabase.h
├── FMDatabase.m
├── FMDatabaseAdditions.h
├── FMDatabaseAdditions.m
├── FMDatabasePool.h
├── FMDatabasePool.m
├── FMDatabaseQueue.h
├── FMDatabaseQueue.m
├── FMResultSet.h
└── FMResultSet.m

If you want to compile it into a static library for ios, but don't want to write xmake.lua or makefile, then you only need to use this new feature of xmake and execute it directly:

$ xmake f -p iphoneos; xmake

That's it, the output is as follows:

xmake.lua not found, scanning files ..
target(FMDB): static
    [+]: ./FMDatabase.m
    [+]: ./FMDatabaseAdditions.m
    [+]: ./FMDatabasePool.m
    [+]: ./FMDatabaseQueue.m
    [+]: ./FMResultSet.m
xmake.lua generated, scan ok!��
checking for the architecture ... armv7
checking for the Xcode SDK version for iphoneos ... 10.1
checking for the target minimal version ... 10.1
checking for the c compiler (cc) ... xcrun -sdk iphoneos clang
checking for the c++ compiler (cxx) ... xcrun -sdk iphoneos clang
checking for the objc compiler (mm) ... xcrun -sdk iphoneos clang
checking for the objc++ compiler (mxx) ... xcrun -sdk iphoneos clang++
checking for the assember (as) ... gas-preprocessor.pl xcrun -sdk iphoneos clang
checking for the linker (ld) ... xcrun -sdk iphoneos clang++
checking for the static library archiver (ar) ... xcrun -sdk iphoneos ar
checking for the static library extractor (ex) ... xcrun -sdk iphoneos ar
checking for the shared library linker (sh) ... xcrun -sdk iphoneos clang++
checking for the swift compiler (sc) ... xcrun -sdk iphoneos swiftc
configure
{
    ex = "xcrun -sdk iphoneos ar"
,   ccache = "ccache"
,   host = "macosx"
,   ar = "xcrun -sdk iphoneos ar"
,   buildir = "build"
,   as = "/usr/local/share/xmake/tools/utils/gas-preprocessor.pl xcrun -sdk iphoneos clang"
,   arch = "armv7"
,   mxx = "xcrun -sdk iphoneos clang++"
,   cxx = "xcrun -sdk iphoneos clang"
,   target_minver = "10.1"
,   xcode_dir = "/Applications/Xcode.app"
,   clean = true
,   sh = "xcrun -sdk iphoneos clang++"
,   cc = "xcrun -sdk iphoneos clang"
,   ld = "xcrun -sdk iphoneos clang++"
,   mode = "release"
,   kind = "static"
,   plat = "iphoneos"
,   xcode_sdkver = "10.1"
,   sc = "xcrun -sdk iphoneos swiftc"
,   mm = "xcrun -sdk iphoneos clang"
}
configure ok!
clean ok!
[00%]: ccache compiling.release ./FMDatabase.m
[20%]: ccache compiling.release ./FMDatabaseAdditions.m
[40%]: ccache compiling.release ./FMDatabasePool.m
[60%]: ccache compiling.release ./FMDatabaseQueue.m
[80%]: ccache compiling.release ./FMResultSet.m
[100%]: archiving.release libFMDB.a
build ok!��

Compile multiple executable files at the same time

The beginning part of the output result is the analysis result of the code. Although only single-level directory structure code scanning is currently supported, it can still support the detection and compilation of multiple executable files at the same time.

Let's take libjpeg's open source library as an example:

After we enter the jpeg-6b directory, execute:

$ xmake

The output is as follows:

xmake.lua not found, scanning files ..
target(jpeg-6b): static
    [+]: ./cdjpeg.c
    [+]: ./example.c
    [+]: ./jcapimin.c
    [+]: ./jcapistd.c
    [+]: ./jccoefct.c
    [+]: ./jccolor.c
    [+]: ./jcdctmgr.c
    [+]: ./jchuff.c
    [+]: ./jcinit.c
    [+]: ./jcmainct.c
    [+]: ./jcmarker.c
    [+]: ./jcmaster.c
    [+]: ./jcomapi.c
    [+]: ./jcparam.c
    [+]: ./jcphuff.c
    [+]: ./jcprepct.c
    [+]: ./jcsample.c
    [+]: ./jctrans.c
    [+]: ./jdapimin.c
    [+]: ./jdapistd.c
    [+]: ./jdatadst.c
    [+]: ./jdatasrc.c
    [+]: ./jdcoefct.c
    [+]: ./jdcolor.c
    [+]: ./jddctmgr.c
    [+]: ./jdhuff.c
    [+]: ./jdinput.c
    [+]: ./jdmainct.c
    [+]: ./jdmarker.c
    [+]: ./jdmaster.c
    [+]: ./jdmerge.c
    [+]: ./jdphuff.c
    [+]: ./jdpostct.c
    [+]: ./jdsample.c
    [+]: ./jdtrans.c
    [+]: ./jerror.c
    [+]: ./jfdctflt.c
    [+]: ./jfdctfst.c
    [+]: ./jfdctint.c
    [+]: ./jidctflt.c
    [+]: ./jidctfst.c
    [+]: ./jidctint.c
    [+]: ./jidctred.c
    [+]: ./jmemansi.c
    [+]: ./jmemmgr.c
    [+]: ./jmemname.c
    [+]: ./jmemnobs.c
    [+]: ./jquant1.c
    [+]: ./jquant2.c
    [+]: ./jutils.c
    [+]: ./rdbmp.c
    [+]: ./rdcolmap.c
    [+]: ./rdgif.c
    [+]: ./rdppm.c
    [+]: ./rdrle.c
    [+]: ./rdswitch.c
    [+]: ./rdtarga.c
    [+]: ./transupp.c
    [+]: ./wrbmp.c
    [+]: ./wrgif.c
    [+]: ./wrppm.c
    [+]: ./wrrle.c
    [+]: ./wrtarga.c
target(ansi2knr): binary
    [+]: ./ansi2knr.c
target(cjpeg): binary
    [+]: ./cjpeg.c
target(ckconfig): binary
    [+]: ./ckconfig.c
target(djpeg): binary
    [+]: ./djpeg.c
target(jpegtran): binary
    [+]: ./jpegtran.c
target(rdjpgcom): binary
    [+]: ./rdjpgcom.c
target(wrjpgcom): binary
    [+]: ./wrjpgcom.c
xmake.lua generated, scan ok!��
checking for the architecture ... x86_64
checking for the Xcode SDK version for macosx ... 10.12
checking for the target minimal version ... 10.12
checking for the c compiler (cc) ... xcrun -sdk macosx clang
checking for the c++ compiler (cxx) ... xcrun -sdk macosx clang
checking for the objc compiler (mm) ... xcrun -sdk macosx clang
checking for the objc++ compiler (mxx) ... xcrun -sdk macosx clang++
checking for the swift compiler (sc) ... xcrun -sdk macosx swiftc
checking for the assember (as) ... xcrun -sdk macosx clang
checking for the linker (ld) ... xcrun -sdk macosx clang++
checking for the static library archiver (ar) ... xcrun -sdk macosx ar
checking for the static library extractor (ex) ... xcrun -sdk macosx ar
checking for the shared library linker (sh) ... xcrun -sdk macosx clang++
checking for the debugger (dd) ... xcrun -sdk macosx lldb
checking for the golang compiler (go) ... go
configure
{
    ex = "xcrun -sdk macosx ar"
,   sh = "xcrun -sdk macosx clang++"
,   host = "macosx"
,   ar = "xcrun -sdk macosx ar"
,   buildir = "build"
,   as = "xcrun -sdk macosx clang"
,   plat = "macosx"
,   xcode_dir = "/Applications/Xcode.app"
,   arch = "x86_64"
,   mxx = "xcrun -sdk macosx clang++"
,   go = "go"
,   target_minver = "10.12"
,   ccache = "ccache"
,   mode = "release"
,   clean = true
,   cxx = "xcrun -sdk macosx clang"
,   cc = "xcrun -sdk macosx clang"
,   dd = "xcrun -sdk macosx lldb"
,   kind = "static"
,   ld = "xcrun -sdk macosx clang++"
,   xcode_sdkver = "10.12"
,   sc = "xcrun -sdk macosx swiftc"
,   mm = "xcrun -sdk macosx clang"
}
configure ok!
clean ok!
[00%]: ccache compiling.release ./cdjpeg.c
[00%]: ccache compiling.release ./example.c
[00%]: ccache compiling.release ./jcapimin.c
[00%]: ccache compiling.release ./jcapistd.c
[00%]: ccache compiling.release ./jccoefct.c
[00%]: ccache compiling.release ./jccolor.c
[01%]: ccache compiling.release ./jcdctmgr.c
[01%]: ccache compiling.release ./jchuff.c
[01%]: ccache compiling.release ./jcinit.c
[01%]: ccache compiling.release ./jcmainct.c
[01%]: ccache compiling.release ./jcmarker.c
[02%]: ccache compiling.release ./jcmaster.c
[02%]: ccache compiling.release ./jcomapi.c
[02%]: ccache compiling.release ./jcparam.c
[02%]: ccache compiling.release ./jcphuff.c
[02%]: ccache compiling.release ./jcprepct.c
[03%]: ccache compiling.release ./jcsample.c
[03%]: ccache compiling.release ./jctrans.c
[03%]: ccache compiling.release ./jdapimin.c
[03%]: ccache compiling.release ./jdapistd.c
[03%]: ccache compiling.release ./jdatadst.c
[04%]: ccache compiling.release ./jdatasrc.c
[04%]: ccache compiling.release ./jdcoefct.c
[04%]: ccache compiling.release ./jdcolor.c
[04%]: ccache compiling.release ./jddctmgr.c
[04%]: ccache compiling.release ./jdhuff.c
[05%]: ccache compiling.release ./jdinput.c
[05%]: ccache compiling.release ./jdmainct.c
[05%]: ccache compiling.release ./jdmarker.c
[05%]: ccache compiling.release ./jdmaster.c
[05%]: ccache compiling.release ./jdmerge.c
[06%]: ccache compiling.release ./jdphuff.c
[06%]: ccache compiling.release ./jdpostct.c
[06%]: ccache compiling.release ./jdsample.c
[06%]: ccache compiling.release ./jdtrans.c
[06%]: ccache compiling.release ./jerror.c
[07%]: ccache compiling.release ./jfdctflt.c
[07%]: ccache compiling.release ./jfdctfst.c
[07%]: ccache compiling.release ./jfdctint.c
[07%]: ccache compiling.release ./jidctflt.c
[07%]: ccache compiling.release ./jidctfst.c
[08%]: ccache compiling.release ./jidctint.c
[08%]: ccache compiling.release ./jidctred.c
[08%]: ccache compiling.release ./jmemansi.c
[08%]: ccache compiling.release ./jmemmgr.c
[08%]: ccache compiling.release ./jmemname.c
[09%]: ccache compiling.release ./jmemnobs.c
[09%]: ccache compiling.release ./jquant1.c
[09%]: ccache compiling.release ./jquant2.c
[09%]: ccache compiling.release ./jutils.c
[09%]: ccache compiling.release ./rdbmp.c
[10%]: ccache compiling.release ./rdcolmap.c
[10%]: ccache compiling.release ./rdgif.c
[10%]: ccache compiling.release ./rdppm.c
[10%]: ccache compiling.release ./rdrle.c
[10%]: ccache compiling.release ./rdswitch.c
[11%]: ccache compiling.release ./rdtarga.c
[11%]: ccache compiling.release ./transupp.c
[11%]: ccache compiling.release ./wrbmp.c
[11%]: ccache compiling.release ./wrgif.c
[11%]: ccache compiling.release ./wrppm.c
[12%]: ccache compiling.release ./wrrle.c
[12%]: ccache compiling.release ./wrtarga.c
[12%]: archiving.release libjpeg-6b.a
[12%]: ccache compiling.release ./wrjpgcom.c
[25%]: linking.release wrjpgcom
[25%]: ccache compiling.release ./ansi2knr.c
[37%]: linking.release ansi2knr
[37%]: ccache compiling.release ./jpegtran.c
[50%]: linking.release jpegtran
[50%]: ccache compiling.release ./djpeg.c
[62%]: linking.release djpeg
[62%]: ccache compiling.release ./ckconfig.c
[75%]: linking.release ckconfig
[75%]: ccache compiling.release ./rdjpgcom.c
[87%]: linking.release rdjpgcom
[87%]: ccache compiling.release ./cjpeg.c
[100%]: linking.release cjpeg
build ok!��

It can be seen that when dealing with static libraries, xmake has also analyzed many executable test programs, and the rest of the code is compiled into a static library of libjpeg.a for which test programs are linked to. .

target(ansi2knr): binary
    [+]: ./ansi2knr.c
target(cjpeg): binary
    [+]: ./cjpeg.c
target(ckconfig): binary
    [+]: ./ckconfig.c
target(djpeg): binary
    [+]: ./djpeg.c
target(jpegtran): binary
    [+]: ./jpegtran.c
target(rdjpgcom): binary
    [+]: ./rdjpgcom.c
target(wrjpgcom): binary
    [+]: ./wrjpgcom.c

Some problems and limitations encountered

The current automatic analysis and detection of xmake is not very smart, for:

Requires special compilation options
Need to rely on header file search in other directories
Need to conditionally compile different source files
Multiple static libraries need to be generated in the same directory
Source code library that needs multi-level directory support

For the above situations, xmake has not yet released automated intelligent processing. Limits 1, 2 can still be solved by semi-manual methods, such as:

$ xmake f --cxflags="" --ldflags="" --includedirs="" --linkdirs=""; xmake

When automatically detecting and compiling, manually configure the special compilation options required by this source code project, and you can directly pass the compilation

The limitation 3 can only be solved by deleting the source code for the time being. Just like the code for compiling jpeg just now, in fact, its directory exists at the same time:

jmemdos.c
jmemmac.c
jmemansi.c

Two of them cannot be compiled and need to be deleted. .

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