makepp_build_algorithm - Online in the Cloud

PROGRAM:

NAME

makepp_build_algorithm -- How makepp executes a makefile

DESCRIPTION

Makepp's internals differ from the standard Unix make in fundamental ways. This page
describes the different philosophy in detail.

Reverse vs. forward inference
Makepp works in the opposite direction from the standard Unix make. Traditional Unix make
is given a target to build, and then it finds a rule which matches the characters in the
target filename. If the target is older than any of its dependencies of the rule, then it
is rebuilt.

For example, consider this pattern rule:

%.o: %.cxx
$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) -c $(input) -o $(output)

When make realizes it needs to make a file called "xyz.o", it searches through its list of
pattern rules until it sees that "xyz.o" matches the pattern "%.o", and then it applies
this rule.

Makepp works in the opposite direction. It first computes all files that it can possibly
build by applying rules that match the characters in the dependency filenames. Then when
it needs to build a file, it simply looks to see if it's one of the files that it knows
how to build. The list of known files is stored based on the absolute filename.

When makepp encounters the above pattern rule, it searches for all files in the directory
matching the pattern "%.cxx" (i.e., "*.cxx"). For each of these files, it then remembers
that it can produce the corresponding ".o" file. If subsequently makepp discovers that it
can make another ".cxx" file that doesn't currently exist, this rule will also be applied
and the corresponding ".o" file will be marked.

This might seem somewhat inefficient, but it turns out not to be that slow in most cases,
and it is often true that virtually all the files that can be built are in fact built.
And knowing the complete list of files that can be built has several advantages:

· Wildcards can match files which don't exist yet but can be built.

· Header files which have been detected by the automatic dependency scanner don't have
to exist; makepp knows where they will be. (Most other solutions to this problem
assume that any headers which don't exist yet are in the current directory.)

· Repositories are much simpler to implement since makepp knows beforehand what files it
can make. (See makepp_repositories for details.)

· It is possible to determine easily which files can be built (see the
"$(only_targets )" function.

· Makepp's "$(infer_objects)" function is greatly simplified by knowing what objects are
available.

Files vs. textual patterns
Makepp associates build commands with a target file, not to a textual pattern for a
filename. It is therefore not confused by different names for the same file. Thus, for
example, makepp will know that "./xyz" and and "xyz" are the same file, whereas other make
utilities may not.

This is particularly important because (unlike the standard make) makepp loads makefiles
from different directories. In order for the makefiles to be relatively independent, with
no special position given to a top-level makefile, each makefile refers to all files
relative to its own directory. Thus if you load a makefile from the subdirectory
"other_stuff", and that makefile refers to "../xyz", makepp will again realize that it's
the same file referred to above. (It also won't be confused by soft-linked directory
names.)

Stored build information
Makepp stores much more information about each file that it builds beyond just the date
stamp (which is all that the standard make cares about). This information includes:

· The signature of this file on the last build, so we know if the file itself has
changed.

· The names of each dependency file, including include files and other files inferred
automatically. If this list changes, then makepp assumes it needs to rebuild.

· The signature of each dependency. This way, makepp knows to rebuild not only when the
dependencies are newer than the target, but when they change at all. This also makes
it possible to use other kinds of signatures, such as cryptographic checksums, rather
than the file date.

· The entire build command (and its cwd). This way if you change the build command
(e.g., change the compiler options), makepp knows to rebuild even if the files
themselves haven't changed.

· The architecture. If you have compiled your program on Linux and then switch to
Solaris, makepp automatically knows to recompile everything.

Makepp makes a subdirectory in every directory that it touches called ".makepp". The
build information for a file filename in a directory is stored in .makepp/filename. If
you delete this subdirectory or alter the files, makepp will rebuild all affected files.

Implicit loading
If makepp is trying to build a target in a directory and doesn't have a rule for it yet,
or if it is looking for files matching a wildcard in a directory, it will look in that
directory to see if a makefile is present. If so, the makefile will be loaded
automatically.

This means that you usually don't have to tell makepp explicitly where to find
makefiles--all you have to do is to reference a file in another directory, and makepp will
automatically figure out how to build it.

Implicit loading will occur only if the directory is writable to you. Thus if you want to
prevent makepp from trying to build a bunch of things that never change, simply make the
directory read-only.

Implicit loading will not occur if you are in a tree under a RootMakeppfile(.mk) and the
other makefile is outside that tree. If you do want this once, you can give a
"--do-build=/" option to makepp, to make everything outside the tree buildable. If you
always want this, you can put a "load_makefile" statement somewhere within the tree to
explicitly connect it to the tree.

If implicit loading gets in your way (i.e., makepp loads too many makefiles and it wastes
time, or else you really don't want it to try to rebuild all the stuff described in the
makefiles), you can turn it off for all directories using the "--noimplicit_load" command
line option, or you can turn it off for selected directories using the "no_implicit_load"
statement in your makefile.

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