RTI Connext DDS Config

A small command-line utility, similar to pkg-config that help supply build information for a given architecture

Usage

RTI Connext DDS Config version 1.0.4
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Usage:
    connext-config -h|--help        Show this help
    connext-config -V|--version     Prints version number
    connext-config --list-all       List all platform architectures supported
    connext-config --list-installed List the installed architectures
    connext-config --dump-all       Dump all platforms and all settings (testing only)
    connext-config [modifiers] <what> [targetArch]

Where [modifiers] are:
    --static      use static linking against RTI Connext DDS
    --debug       use debug version of the RTI Connext DDS libraries
    --sh          use shell-like variable expansion (vs. make-like variables)
    --noexpand    do not expand environment variables in output
    --libmsg      include libraries for building request/reply apps

Required argument <what> is one of:
  C API:
    --ccomp       output the C compiler to use
    --cflags      output all pre-processor and compiler flags
    --clink       output the C linker to use
    --ldflags     output the linker flags
    --ldlibs      output the required libraries
  Traditional C++ API:
    --cxxcomp     output the C++ compiler to use
    --cxxflags    output all pre-processor and compiler flags
    --cxxlink     output the C++ linker to use
    --ldxxflags   output the linker flags
    --ldxxlibs    output the required libraries
  Modern C++ API (C++-03):
    --cxx03comp   output the C++ compiler to use
    --cxx03flags  output all pre-processor and compiler flags
    --cxx03link   output the C++ linker to use
    --ldxx03flags output the linker flags
    --ldxx03libs  output the required libraries
  Modern C++ API (C++-11):
    --cxx11comp   output the C++ compiler to use
    --cxx11flags  output all pre-processor and compiler flags
    --cxx11link   output the C++ linker to use
    --ldxx11flags output the linker flags
    --ldxx11libs  output the required libraries
  Miscellaneous:
    --os          output the OS (i.e. UNIX, ANDROID, IOS, ...)
    --platform    output the Platform (i.e. i86, x64, armv7a, ...)

Optional argument [targetArch] is one of the supported target architectures.
If not specified, uses environment variable NDDSARCH.
Use `--list-all` or `--list-installed` to print a list of architectures

The tool can be invoked in two ways:

1. To list all the supported targets (including targets NOT installed): connext-config --list-all
2. List all the installed targets: connext-config --list-installed
3. To obtain the right tool name, flags and libraries for a given architecture.

In general, when determining the tools required to build a RTI Connext DDS application, you may need to use this tool few times. For example, to build a C program:

• Use the --ccomp to determine the correct compiler to use for the specified API (api=c/cxx/cxx03/cxx11)
• Use the --cflags to determine the right flags for the C compiler
• Use the --clink to determine the correct linker to use
• Use the --ldflags and --ldlibs to get the flags and libraries for the linker. Place the output of the --ldflags at the beginning of the argument list, and the output of --ldlibs at the end.

NOTE: there is also an additional way you can invoke the tool that is accessible only when you build the tool from the source code, and you use the --enable-debug flag with the ./configure script. This enables the following use:connext-config --dump-all to dump all the platforms and settings available. This mode is only meant to debugging and troubleshooting.

If a target does not support a specific language, the tool will print an error. E.g.:

$ connext-config --cxx11flags i86Linux2.6gcc4.4.5
Error: target 'i86Linux2.6gcc4.4.5' does not support C++11

Examples

Show all the supported Linux 64-bit targets:

$ ./connext-config --list-all | grep x64Linux
x64Linux2.6gcc3.4.5
x64Linux2.6gcc4.1.1
x64Linux2.6gcc4.1.2
...

Show all the installed targets:

$ connext-config --list-installed
armv6vfphLinux3.xgcc4.7.2
x64Linux4gcc7.3.0
x64Darwin17clang9.0

Show the C compiler to use for the target architecture ppc4xxFPLinux2.6gcc4.5.1:

$ ./connext-config --ccomp ppc4xxFPLinux2.6gcc4.5.1
powerpc-ngc-linux-gcc

Shows the libraries to use when statically linking (--static) C applications on x64Linux2.6gcc4.5.1 with debugging information (--debug):

$ ./connext-config --debug --static --ldlibs x64Linux2.6gcc4.5.1
-L/Users/fabrizio/working/rti_connext_dds-6.0.0/lib/x64Linux2.6gcc4.5.1 -lnddsczd -lnddscorezd -ldl -lnsl -lm -lpthread -lrt

How to use it in projects

Inside the examples directory you can find some projects that uses this tool to automatically configure the build system.

• examples/autoconf-hello: this is the same hello_builtin example located in the RTI workspace area (typically ~/rti_workspace) under the examples/connext_dds/c/hello_builtin directory. This example uses the popular autotools (autoconf, automake) to invoke connext-config to determine the correct build settings. Refer to the README.md file for additional information on this example.
• example/autoconf-hello-idl-cpp: this is the same hello_idl example located in the RTI workspace area, under the examples/connext_dds/c++/hello_idl directory. Similar to the previous example, this project uses autotools (autoconf, automake) to automatically invoke rtiddsgen to generate type support code from the included IDL file, andconnext-config to obtain build settings for a given platform.
• examples/cmake-requestreply: this is the same hello_world_request_reply example located in the RTI workspace area under the examples/connext_dds/c/hello_world_request_reply directory. This example uses cmake to invoke connext-config and generate the appropriate build files. Refer to the README.md file for additional information on this example

Additional Notes

• The tool operates by looking up the requested information from the platform file used by rtiddsgen. This file is located under: $NDDSHOME/resource/app/app_support/rtiddsgen/templates/projectfiles/platforms.vm.

  where $NDDSHOME is the directory where RTI Connext DDS is installed. Because of this dependency, connext-config needs to be able to locate this directory.

• connext-config will first use the environment variable $NDDSHOME to locate the platform file above. If $NDDSHOME is not defined, it will attempt to determine the location of the platform file from the location of the connext-config application (assumes this tool is invoked from the $NDDSHOME/bin directory). If it cannot locate the platforms.vm file, it will report an error.

• Starting from version 1.0.1, connext-config the target architecture can be omitted from the command line and specified in the environment variable NDDSARCH. For example: the following two lines are equivalent:

  $ ./connext-config --cflags x64Linux4gcc7.3.0
  $ NDDSARCH=x64Linux4gcc7.3.0 ./connext-config --cflags

• All the error messages are printed to stderr, while the normal results are printed to stdout (help is printed to stdout).

• The --debug option affects only the name of the required libraries and NOT the C or C++ compiler flags (for example, it does not include -g or disable any optimization, nor define any debug-related macros).

• Many platforms are not supported: Windows, iOS, Integrity, and in general all the platform where a project is normally not built through Makefile. All the unix-based architectures are supported.

• To build connext-config from the the git source tree, just run:

  $ autoreconf -ivf
  $ ./configure
  $ make
  

  You need to have the traditional autoconf, automake, make, buildtools installed in your system.

• To build connext-config from a source release, you don't need to invoke autoreconf as the .tar.gz already include the ./configure script.

• To install this application on your existing RTI Connext DDS installation:

  • Copy the script: bin/connext-config under $NDDSHOME/bin
  • Copy the compiled version of connext-config under: $NDDSHOME/resource/app/bin/<hostPlatform> (where is the name of the directory containing platform-specific binaries).

  Alternatively just un-tar one of the pre-built binaries (see the Release page)