Provided by: icmake_10.03.00-1_amd64 
NAME
icmbuild - A generic, C++/C program maintenance facility
SYNOPSIS
icmbuild [-h] [-c] args
DESCRIPTION
Icmbuild is a small C program calling icmake(1) to do program maintenance as defined by
the icmbuild script that’s (commonly) found in /usr/lib/icmake.
Icmbuild’s actions are tailored through a configuration file (icmconf) which must be
present in the directory where program maintenance is requested. This file is
automatically installed by icmstart(1). Refer to icmconf(7)’s man-page for details about
this file.
Icmbuild assumes that your sources exist in and below the current working directory. The
file icmconf in icmake(1)’s distribution provides an example of an icmconf file that can
be used by icmbuild. In that example it is assumed that C++ sources are maintained, but
program maintenance for, e.g., C sources can also easily be configured. If icmbuild is
called, but icmconf is not available it displays a usage-summary after which icm() ends.
Icmbuild() handles the maintenance for all sources in each of the subdirectories named in
the file CLASSES, and also of all sources in the current working directory. `Maintenance’
involves compiling all as yet uncompiled source files, recompilation of modified source
files, optionally library maintenance and optionally the pre-compilation of header files,
which normally results in a marked reduction of source compilation times.
When source files are compiled object modules are produced which may be stored in a
library, against which the object module of the program’s main function is linked. It is
also possible to specify additional libraries against which the program must be linked.
If a library is constructed it is kept up to date by icmbuild. When a source is
successfully compiled its new object module replaces the old one in the library. At that
point the separate object files are no longer required and are removed by icmbuild.
KICK-STARTING ICMBUILD
To use icmbuild do as follows:
o Install icmbuild in your path (icmake’s installation procedure should already have
taken care of that);
o Copy icmconf (and probably a file CLASSES) to your project’s base directory (i.e.,
the directory where and below which the project’s sources are found). Usually this
has already been taken care of by the (icmstart) script;
Next:
o Modify the #defines in the file icmconf to taste;
o Enter the names of subdirectories containing sources on separate lines in the file
CLASSES
Note that the order of the classes mentioned in CLASSES is relevant in that new
class (subdirectory) names can always be added to the end of the file CLASSES, but
reordering the lines in the CLASSES file should be avoided as that may easily
result in overwriting identically named object files from already existing
directories.
If reordering is necessary, then first run the command icmbuild clean to remove all
files that were thus far created by icmbuild. Recompilation is necessary as the
names of the object files contain class order-numbers for identification. These
class-order numbers prevent file-name collisions (e.g., two classes might use a
file data.cc) and because of the number-prefixes replacement of a file x.o from
class A by file x.o from class B is prevented;
o Start icmbuild.
The next section covers icmbuild’s modes of operation.
OPTIONS
Icmbuild recognizes three options of which only one can be specified. See the following
section for information about which option is recognized by by which icmbuild command.
o -h: display usage information (which is also automatically shown when the current
directory does not contain a file icmconf) and terminate icmbuild;
o -c: clear the screen (by calling tput clear) before starting the compilation
process;
o -s: strip the compiled program or library at its installation directory (see the
various install modes below).
ICMBUILD COMMANDS
Icmbuild recognizes the following commands (possible options are shown between square
brackets). With the install commands a path argument must be specified, which must be an
existing user-writable directory:
o clean
clean up remnants of previous actions (the directory specified by the TMP_DIR
define in icmconf is removed). If precompiled headers were created (i.e., PRECOMP
in icmconf was specified) then all files having extension .gch in the main
directory and in the directories listed in the CLASSES file are also removed. If
USE_ALL was specified then those files are also removed;
o cleangch
all .gch files that were precompiled are removed (whether existing in the gch
subdirectory of the TMP_DIR directory (specified in icmconf), or in directories
specified in the CLASSES file, or in the project’s main directory). If icmconf does
not specify PRECOMP then nothing happens;
o cleantmp
same as icmbuild clean, but the .gch files and files specified by the USE_ALL
define in icmconf are not removed;
o [-s] install program path
install the constructed program in the specified path (to be used after issuing
icmbuild program, see below). Path can be absolute or relative and may optionally
specify the name of the installed program. Example:
icmbuild install program ~/bin/prog
This installs the constructed binary program in the user’s bin directory with the
name prog;
o [-s] install static path
install the constructed static library in the specified path (to be used after
issuing icmbuild library, see below). Path can be absolute or relative and may
optionally specify the name of the installed library. Example:
icmbuild install static /usr/lib/
This installs the constructed static library (assume its name is libspecial.a) in
/usr/lib as /usr/lib/libspecial.a.
o [-s] install shared path when using this installation command, icmconf must contain
#define SHARED (cf. icmconf(7)). It installs the constructed shared library in the
specified path (to be used after issuing icmbuild library). Path can be absolute or
relative, and must specify an existing directory. Example:
icmbuild install shared /usr/lib/
This installs the constructed binary shared library (e.g. libspecial.so) in
/usr/lib as /usr/lib/libspecial.so. In addition, the soft-links
libspecial.so -> libspecial.so.X
libspecial.so.X -> libspecial.so.X.Y.Y.Z
are defined in /usr/lib, where X.Y.Z are the major, minor and subminor versions
defined in the file VERSION.
o [-c] library
do library maintenance (builds a static and optionally (if icmconf defines SHARED)
a shared (dynamic) library);
o [-c] program
do program maintenance (builds a program from the sources in the current working
directory and from the sources in the directories specified in the file CLASSES);
o If no commands are specified (but optionally only -c) then the DEFCOM specification
in the icmconf is inspected. Recognized specifications are:
#define DEFCOM "program"
which is quivalent to the command icmbuild [-c] program;
if DEFCOM is specified as
#define DEFCOM "library"
then this is quivalent to the command icmbuild [-c] library.
If an explicit command is passed to icmbuild then DEFCOM specifications are
ignored.
ICM-DEP
Class dependencies are handled by icmake’s support program icm-dep. It can be called from
icmake by passing it the option -d. All options and arguments following -d are forwared to
icm-dep.
The program icm-dep is automatically called by icmbuild to handle class dependencies.
Consider two classes Options and Process. If Process uses Options and if precompiled
header files are used, then in addition to Option’s header file, Process’s header must
also be precompiled if Option’s header file changes. Likewise, if Option’s data
organization is altered and Option defines inline members used by Process or Process
defines an Option data member then, in addition to Option’s sources sources Process’s
sources must also be compiled. For the latter case icmconf provides the USE_ALL
specification: if a `USE_ALL’ file exists in a directory, then all sources of that
directory are recompiled.
The program icm_dep determines the program’s class dependencies, and recompiles class
header files of all classes depending on classes whose header files must be recompiled.
Furthermore, if a `USE_ALL’ file exists in a directory then all sources of classes
depending on that directory’s class are also recompiled.
Icm-dep’s options are described in icmake(1)’s man-page.
To start its work, icm_dep needs one command-line argument: go. Any other argument results
in icm_dep performing a `dry run’: it performs all its duties (and verbose messages are
displayed as if go had been specified), but no files (precompiled headers or USE_ALL
files) are touched or removed. If neither options nor arguments are specified icm_dep
writes its usage summary to the standard output.
By default icmbuild calls icmake -d -V go: icm_dep is called to perform its duties and to
show its actions on the standard output stream. By specifying a #define ICM_DEP parameter
in the icmconf file this default can be overruled (cf. icmconf(7)).
FILES
The mentioned paths are sugestive only and may be installation dependent:
o /usr/share/icmake/icmconf Unabbreviated example of an icmbuild configuration file;
o /usr/share/icmake/CLASSES Example of an icmbuild CLASSES file.
EXAMPLES
Here is an example of the configuration file icmconf for a concrete program, using
facilities of the bobcat library:
#define CLS
#define LIBRARY "modules"
#define MAIN "main.cc"
#define SOURCES "*.cc"
#define OBJ_EXT ".o"
#define SHAREDREQ ""
#define TMP_DIR "tmp"
#define USE_ALL "a"
#define USE_ECHO ON
#define CXX "g++"
#define CXXFLAGS " --std=c++20 -Wall -O2 -pthread" " -fdiagnostics-color=never "
#define IH ".ih"
#define PRECOMP "-x c++-header"
#define REFRESH
#define LDFLAGS ""
#define ADD_LIBRARIES "bobcat"
#define ADD_LIBRARY_PATHS ""
#define DEFCOM "program"
SEE ALSO
icmake(1), icmconf(7), icmstart(1), icmstart.rc(7)
BUGS
None reported
COPYRIGHT
This is free software, distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License
(GPL).
AUTHOR
Frank B. Brokken (f.b.brokken@rug.nl).