slam
Traditionally C++ software projects have been built using make or one of its variants. However more and more people are finding that make is simply inadequate for building non-trivial pieces of software.
Slam, an acronym for Slightly Less Awful Make, allows you to describe basic C++ builds in a platform- and compiler-agnostic way. It will handle header dependencies for you automatically and has good support for multiple build variants and parallel builds.
Recent activity
Code
Clone the repository using mercurial:
> hg clone http://bitbucket.org/edd/slam
Or get a zip file of the code.
Downloads
Quick start
To create a default slamfile:
> slam -ms slam: running version 0.2.10 slam: default slamfile created
Let's see what's inside:
> cat slamfile #------------------------------------ # Generated by slam. Edit as needed. #------------------------------------ # Compiles all source files with the # 'usual' C++ filename extensions. sources : common : *.cpp *.cxx *.c *.C *.cc *.CC defines : debug : DEBUG defines : release : NDEBUG flags : common : strict iso flags : debug : debug optimize-off flags : release : optimize # Object files are linked to create an # executable called app or app.exe on # Windows. target : common : app type : common : executable # The directory for the object files # and executable depend on the toolset # name and the build variant. dir : common : obj/$(toolset)/$(variant)
The default slamfile will take all C++ source files, compile them in to object files and link them in to an application. You might run the slamfile as follows:
> slam toolset=gcc variant=debug
Further reading
- The slam wiki
- Many of the projects on this site come with slamfiles.
Comments
[10/09/2008 at 20:40:00]
Hi Kory.
Unfortunately, it isn't possible to separate the location of the object files from that of the library/executable.
slam is long overdue an update, actually, so perhaps in a little while I'll add that feature. Currently I don't have a Windows machine handy, so I can't do any cross-platform tests but in a few weeks I will.
All original content copyright© Edd Dawson.
All source code appearing on this website that was written by Edd Dawson is made available under the terms of the Boost software license version 1.0 unless otherwise stated or implied by the license associated with the work from which the code is derived.
Kory
[09/09/2008 at 06:15:00]
Great tool!
I was building my project with slam in a matter of minutes. I do have one question, however. Is it possible to change the output directory for the target? I can’t stand having my libs & executables in the build directory. I could probably adjust the toolset’s linker & librarian settings, but a directive would be ideal.
Again, nice work!