NAME

vfnmake - a relatively simple Makefile generator

SYNOPSIS

vfnmake [ -f file ] [ -d dir ] [ options ]

vfnmake --version

DESCRIPTION

vfnmake works on fire-and-forget basis with as few configuration as possible. It does not try to compete with CMake or Autotools (yet ;) ). I wrote it because writing Makefiles, while not difficult, can be really tedious even for the simple projects. Some features may seem strange but keep in mind that I write it mostly for myself.

To enable linking with Assembly, use --asm32/--asm64 options.

Qt4 is kind of supported (--qt option) but you have to rename your headers that use QObject so they will end with _qt.hpp.

For the complete list of arguments, see below.

OPTIONS

-h, --help

Display the brief version of this help.

--man

Display the full version of this help.

--name name

Specify the name of the executable file. Default: a.out

--src dir

Specify the directory with the source. Default: src/ or ./

--objs dir

Specify the directory for the *.o files. Default: objs/

--bin dir

Specify the directory for the executable file. Default: ./

-c flag, --cflag flag (add)

-C flag, --Cflag flag (remove)

Add/remove a compilation flag.

--cflags comma_separated_list_of_flags

Overwrite the previous cflags.

-O n

Set the optimization level.

-l library, --lib library (add)

-L library, --Lib library (remove)

Add/remove a library to link.

--libs comma_separated_list_of_libraries

Overwrite the previous libraries.

-p package, --pkg package (add)

-P package, --Pkg package (remove)

Add/remove a package for pkg-config.

--pkgs comma_separated_list_of_packages

Overwrite the previous packages.

--lflag flag (add)

--Lflag flag (remove)

Add/remove a linker flag.

--lflags comma_separated_list_of_flags

Overwrite the previous lflags.

--noe, --no-echo

-e, --echo

Print the executed commands or not. Default: --no-echo

--no-std

--std standard

Set language standard (-std compiler flag, see your compiler's manpage for list of available options).

--c99

Use C99 standard (alias to --std=c99).

--c11

Use C11 standard (alias to --std=c11).

--cpp0x

(deprecated) Use C++11 standard (alias to --std=c++11).

--cpp11

Use C++11 standard (alias to --std=c++11).

--cpp1y

Use C++1y standard (alias to --std=c++1y).

--no-asm32

--asm32

Enable 32-bit Assembly support (only nasm). Default: --no-asm

--no-asm64

--asm64

Enable 64-bit Assembly support (only nasm). Default: --no-asm64

--no-asm

--asm

alias to --asm32

--no-qt

--qt

Enable Qt4 meta-object support for files named *_qt.hpp and add some useful flags. Default: --no-qt

-v, --verbose

Do print the config variables.

--stdout

Print the Makefile to the stdout instead of saving in the file so it can be piped directly to make ("vfnmake --stdout | make -f -").

-f file, --file file

Use file instead of vfnmake.conf as the config file. Default: vfnmake.conf

-d dir, --chdir dir

Use dir as the working directory.

-r, --run

Run make automatically. It can do various other things depending on the times it is specified:

-r - just run make

-rr - run make and then the compiled program

-rrr - run make clean and make

-rrrr - run make clean, make, and the compiled program

You can specify the arguments for make after "--" to override this behavior.

-g, --force-generate

Generate the Makefile even if there are no C/C++ files (used mainly with vfnmake.begin/end).

--no-legacy

--legacy

Enable/disable compatibility mode with the older versions of GNU Make and older software in general. It effectively disables debugging options and explicitly uses gcc/g++.

--configure

Generates the configure.pl script. To be specific, it just copies itself to the current directory.

MAKE TARGETS

all

default options

debug (d)

compile with -g3 flag, O0 optimization and DEBUG macro

clean (c)

delete all compilation results

fresh (f)

force full recompilation (equivalent of 'make clean && make')

run (r)

compile and run

THE CONFIG FILES

The config files are read from /etc/vfnmake.conf, ~/.vfnmake.conf and vfnmake.conf in that order. The vfnmake.conf in the working directory is automatically modified on each run. Additionaly there are two other files - vfnmake.begin and vfnmake.end. Their role is described below.

vfnmake.conf syntax

#version:           version
libs:               lib1 lib2 ...
pkgs:               pkg1 pkg2 ...
O:                  0|1|2|3|s
std:                c99|c++11|...
cflags:             flag1 flag2 ...
debug_cflags:       flag1 flag2 ...
lflags:             flag1 flag2 ...
name:               name
src_directory:      dir
bin_directory:      dir
objs_directory:     dir
echo:               0|1
asm:                0|32|64
qt:                 0|1

To use the default value, leave the field empty.

Currently there is no way to set custom "debug_cflags" without modifying the config file manually.

vfnmake.begin

Whatever is in this file, will be in the Makefile right after the initialization of the variables. Can be used to override the variables or the default target.

vfnmake.end

Just like vfnmake.begin but is put at the end of the Makefile. Can be used to add some custom targets without affecting the default one.

EXAMPLES

To generate a Makefile for a program not using any external libraries with no compilation flags just type:

vfnmake

You can add -r to turn vfnmake into the automagic make - it will run the generated Makefile afterwards:

vfnmake -r

You can specify the make target (for example debug) for the -r flag in the following way (note the space after "--"!):

vfnmake -r -- debug

If you need to link the ncurses library and want to use the -Wall flag, use this:

vfnmake --lib=ncurses --cflag=-Wall

2.0.0 CHANGES

IMPORTANT:

THE CONFIG FILES FROM 1.2.0 ARE *NOT* COMPATIBLE

Removed features

• the compiler is not selected by vfnmake; use "export CC=your_C_compiler" and "export CXX=your_C++_compiler" before running make

• CXXFLAGS; CFLAGS are used for both C and C++

Added features

• THE GLORIOUS RETURN OF SIMPLICITY!!!

If you do need any of the removed features, email me, I'll see what I can do.

AUTHOR

vfnmake was written by Wojciech 'vifon' Siewierski <darkvifon at gmail dot com>.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Tadeusz Sośnierz for some advices and fixes, Maciej Grzybek for some ideas and Mateusz Makowski for bug reports.

SEE ALSO

make(1)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2011-2013 Wojciech Siewierski, Aleksander Nitecki

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.