Version Incrementor v1.0.1

Table of Contents

• Description
• Change Log
• Versioning System
• Features
• Make and Install
  • Dependencies
• Usage
  • Overview
  • Specific Recipe Command Details
  • Input arguments
  • Examples

Description

A project that builds a binary for the automated version incrementor program. The project binary should be included in the C++ Library project by default, and installed in the /usr/bin directory.

Change Log

v1.0.0:

• Initial release including binary to automatically increment version numbers and create the original header file if it doesn't exist.

v1.0.1:

• Updated directory include paths.
• Fixed mistake with included licenses.
• Fixed typo's in readme's.

v1.0.2:

• Adding include guard for version number header by default.

Versioning System

This Version Incrementor operates based on the Semantic Versioning standard. A MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH.BUILD version numbering system has been adopted, where the MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH number is based on the Semantic Versioning documentation standard, and the Build number is incremented every time the build command is used. The Build can be incremented in one of the following ways (this list is not exhaustive): A Pre-build step in a comprehensive IDE, or a prerequisite step in a Make or CMake based project.

Features

The program accepts two options: A file path for the header file in a given project and the number you wish to increment. The format must follow a strict pattern, and you should let this program create the header file itself if it doesn't exist on the first use so it generates the file as it needs to be. This does not automatically implement pre-build steps into VS code or any other type of project, rather it creates a program binary that will increment a given version number as required. You should look at the Usage section on how to use this program.

Make and Install

NOTE: Due to the nature of command recipe's implemented in this program for testing and demonstration purposes, follow these exact steps to build the program and install it into the required location.

1. Run make build, to execute the primary build recipe. This will generate the program binary.
2. Run sudo make install to copy or 'install' the binary file in the include directory so an IDE can see it and can be used in your code. Alternatively, use make install at=/your/chosen/directory/ to install the file in a custom folder location.
3. Review the Usage section to see how to use this program and get details for other make recipes in this project.

Dependencies

This program requires the log.h, cli_parser.h, and string.h files to be installed from the C++ Classes project I have developed. The file paths for the include statements in main.cpp for those files may need changing depending on your chosen install location.

Usage

Overview

Once installed into the directory of your choice, you will be able to execute the binary file from anywhere, or you can install it in the /usr/bin directory so it is accessible in the Linux terminal window like any other system software, including from within makefile's, but you will need to remember the binary file path to use in your makefile later if you do not install it in the normal /usr/bin folder.

Specific Recipe Command Details

Reviewing the list of make recipe's in this project, you'll notice several additions compared to other projects I have developed: main_target, major, minor, patch, increment_version_major, increment_version_minor, increment_version_patch and increment_version_build. The latter 4 recipes specifically show you how to call the version incrementor from a makefile, while the remaining recipe's simply call one of the increment recipe's before calling clean and then building the main target executable.

patch: increment_version_patch clean $(BLD_SRC_DIR)/$(TARGET_EXEC)

increment_version_patch:
	@echo Incrementing patch...
	@VersionIncrementor -p ./src/version_number.h -n PATCH

increment_version_build:
	@echo Incrementing build...
	@VersionIncrementor -p ./src/version_number.h

The clean recipe must be called before building the final executable because the version number header has been updated, but using the standard make or make build commands don't always detect a change and therefore won't attempt to rebuild the main target with the new header file data. The main_target: increment_version_build clean $(BLD_SRC_DIR)/$(TARGET_EXEC) recipe has been declared above the standard main target executable build step, so every time you run make, it will call this recipe to increment the build number, clean the project and rebuild the target executable with the latest version number data.

You should carefully examine the format and order of make recipe's within this project if you want to replicate these simple features, but you are free to implement this program and use it as you desire.

Input arguments

1. The -p argument, or --header-file-path, defines the full file path (including file name) to the header file where the version numbers are stored as macro's. This file is created if it does not exist, and you should let this program create that file upon first use so you can understand the format expected by this program.
2. The -n argument, or --version-number, defines the version number you want to increment at this time. MAJOR, MINOR, PATCH and BUILD are the only options, and you should review the Versioning System section for more information.

Examples

• VersionIncrementor -h shows the help information.
• VersionIncrementor -v shows the version information.
• VersionIncrementor -n -h shows the help information for the -n argument.
• VersionIncrementor -p /path/to/project/header.h will increment numbers in the file in the specified path. If the -n argument is not present, it assumed BUILD.
• VersionIncrementor -p ./src/header.h will increment the build number in the file in the specified path, and in this instance, the specified path has been written to go from the makefile's location. So within the given project a makefile is run for, the sub folder /src/ with the header file header.h is used in this project.
• VersionIncrementor -p /path/to/project/header.h -n MAJOR will increment the major number in the header file.
• VersionIncrementor -p /path/to/project/header.h -n PATCH will increment the patch number in the header file.