pesy: Native Reason Project from Json.

• Use package.json to automatically configure libraries and executables built with Dune.

Create New Project:

pesy global command creates esy projects instantly inside of any directory.

npm install -g pesy

cd my-project
pesy      # Hit enter to accept default name

This creates:

• package.json with useful dependencies/compilers.
• .gitignore and README.md with instructions for new contributors.
• .circleci continuous integration with cache configured for ultra-fast pull requests.
• library/, executable/ and test/ directory with starter modules.

The created project uses pesy in its build step. As always, run esy pesy any time you update the build config in the package.json.

Once you've created a project, you normally only ever run esy build on the command line. If you update your package.json buildDirs field, you will need to run esy pesy which will update all the project build config based on your package.json file changes. Then, you just run esy build as usual. You only need to run esy pesy if you change your package.json file.

(Hopefully, this could be automatically done in the future so you only ever run esy build as usual).

Build pesy Project:

esy build

Your project's esy.build field is set to pesy, which will run pesy to verify that all your build config is up to date before invoking the Dune build. It will let you know if you need to run esy pesy to update your build config from new changes to package.json.

Update pesy Project:

esy pesy

If you change your buildDirs config in package.json, run this command to update build configuration.

Configuring:

Configure your package.json's buildDirs field for multiple libraries and executables. buildDirs.DirectoryName means that a library or executable will be located at ./DirectoryName. The buildDirs.DirectoryName.name field determines the public name of the library or executable. a name ending in .exe is automatically configured as an executable, and a name of the form packageName.anything is automatically configured to be a library with the public name of packageName.anything.

"buildDirs": {
  "MyLibrary": {
    "name": "packageNameMyLibrary",
    "namespace": "MyLibrary",
    "require": ["console.lib"]
  },
  "Tests": {
    "name": "Tests.exe",
    "description": "Runs all the tests natively",
    "flags": ["-linkall"],
    "require": ["console.lib", "packageNameMyLibrary""]
  }
}

Supported Config

Not all config is supported. This is just a proof of concept. If you'd like to add support for more config fields, PRs are welcomed.

Binaries

Field	Type	Description
name	string	The name of the binary that must end with .exe.
main	string	The name of the module that serves as the main entrypoint of the binary.
modes	list(string)	Advanced linking modes. Each string should be of the form "(<compilation-mode> <binary-kind>)" where <compilation-mode> is one byte, native or best and <binary-kind> is one of c, exe, object, shared_object.

Libraries

Field	Type	Description
name	string	The name of the library
modes	list("byte"|"native"|"best")	Mode which should be built by default. Useful for disabling native compilation for some libraries.
cNames	list(string)	List of strings to use as C stubs (filenames without the .c extension).
virtualModules	list(string)	List of modules within the library that will have interfaces but no implementation, causing this library to be considered "virtual". Another library can then claim to "implement" this library by including "implements": "yourLibName". See Virtual Libraries
implements	list(string)	List of virtual library names that this library implements.
wrapped	`true	false`

Both Libraries And Binaries

Field	Type	Description
require	list(string)	Public library names you want to be able to use.
flags	list(string)	List of strings to pass to both native and bytecode compilers.
ocamlcFlags	list(string)	List of flags to pass to ocamlc
ocamloptFlags	list(string)	List of flags to pass to ocamlopt
jsooFlags	list(string)	List of flags passed to jsoo
preprocess	list(string)	List of preprocess options to enable. Primarily used to enable PPX
ignoredSubdirs	list(string)	Subdirectory names to ignore (This feature is soon to be deprecated).
includeSubdirs	"no"|"unqualified"	Default is "no", and changing to "unqualified" will compile modules at deeper directories than the place where the dune file is generated. See Dune docs
rawBuildConfig	list(string)	Raw build config to be injected into the build config for this target.
rawBuildConfigFooter	list(string)	Raw build config to be injected into the footer of the build config.

Consuming New Package And Library Dependencies:

• Add dependencies to dependencies in package.json.

• Add the name of that new dependencies library to package.json's buildDirs section that you want to use the library within. For example, if your project builds a library in the exampleLib/ directory, and you want it to depend on a library named bos.top from an opam package named bos, change the package.json to look like this:

  {
    "name": "my-package",
    "dependencies": {
      "@opam/bos": "*"
    },
    "buildDirs": {
      "exampleLib": {
        "namespace": "Examples",
        "name": "my-package.example-lib",
        "require": [ "bos.top" ]
      }
    }
  }

• Then run:

  esy install  # Fetch dependency sources
  esy pesy     # Configure the build based on package.json
  esy build    # Do the build

Note: After adding/building a new dependency you can use esy ls-libs to see which named libraries become available to you by adding the package dependency.

Tradeoffs:

esy-pesy is good for rapidly making new small executables/libraries. Once they grow, you'll want to "eject out" of esy-pesy and begin customizing using a more advanced build system.

Adding pesy to an existing project.

You probably don't need pesy if you have an existing project that is working well, but to add pesy to an existing project, follow these steps:

1. Add a dependency on pesy, and configure buildDirs:

{
  "name": "my-package",
  "dependencies": {
    "pesy": "*"
  },
  "buildDirs": {
    "exampleLib": {
      "namespace": "Examples",
      "name": "my-package.example-lib",
      "require": [ "bos.top" ]
    },
    "bin": {
      "name": "my-package.exe",
      "require": [
        "my-package.lib"
      ]
    }
  }
}

2.Install and Build:

esy install
esy pesy  # Generate the project build config from json
esy build

Example Project:

The following example project already has an example config. You can base your project off of this one.

npm install -g esy@next
git clone git@github.com:jordwalke/esy-peasy-starter.git

esy install
esy pesy    # Use pesy to configure build from package.json
esy build

• Change the name of the package, and names of libraries in buildDirs accordingly.
• Then rerun:

esy pesy
esy build

Changes:

version 0.4.0 (12/21/2018)

• Allow buildDirs to contain deeper directories such as "path/to/my-lib": {...}".
• Added support for wrapped property on libraries.
• Added support for virtualModules and implements - properties for Dune virtual libraries. (This will only be supported if you mark your project as Dune 1.7 - not yet released).
• Stopped using ignore_subdirs in new projects, instead using (dirs (:standard \ _esy)) which only works in Dune 1.6.0+, so made new projects have a lower bound of Dune 1.6.0.
• Support new properties rawBuildConfig which will be inserted at the bottom of the target being configured (library/executable).
  • It expects an array of strings, each string being a separate line in the generated config.
• Support new properties rawBuildConfigFooter which will be inserted at the bottom of the entire Dune file for the target being configured.
  • It expects an array of strings, each string being a separate line in the generated config.
• Support new properties modes for binaries and libraries list(string).