nixpkgs/pkgs/stdenv/generic/docs.txt
Eelco Dolstra 5941f66f0e * The stdenv setup script now defines a generic builder that allows
builders for typical Autoconf-style to be much shorten, e.g.,

    . $stdenv/setup
    genericBuild

  The generic builder does lots of stuff automatically:

  - Unpacks source archives specified by $src or $srcs (it knows about
    gzip, bzip2, tar, zip, and unpacked source trees).
  - Determines the source tree.
  - Applies patches specified by $patches.
  - Fixes libtool not to search for libraries in /lib etc.
  - Runs `configure'.
  - Runs `make'.
  - Runs `make install'.
  - Strips debug information from static libraries.
  - Writes nested log information (in the format accepted by
    `log2xml').

  There are also lots of hooks and variables to customise the generic
  builder.  See `stdenv/generic/docs.txt'.

* Adapted the base packages (i.e., the ones used by stdenv) to use the
  generic builder.

* We now use `curl' instead of `wget' to download files in `fetchurl'.

* Neither `curl' nor `wget' are part of stdenv.  We shouldn't
  encourage people to download stuff in builders (impure!).

* Updated some packages.

* `buildinputs' is now `buildInputs' (but the old name also works).

* `findInputs' in the setup script now prevents inputs from being
  processed multiple times (which could happen, e.g., if an input was
  a propagated input of several other inputs; this caused the size
  variables like $PATH to blow up exponentially in the worst case).

* Patched GNU Make to write nested log information in the format
  accepted by `log2xml'.  Also, prior to writing the build command,
  Make now writes a line `building X' to indicate what is being
  built.  This is unfortunately often obscured by the gigantic tool
  invocations in many Makefiles.  The actual build commands are marked
  `unimportant' so that they don't clutter pages generated by
  `log2html'.


svn path=/nixpkgs/trunk/; revision=845
2004-03-19 16:53:04 +00:00

94 lines
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* genericBuild performs a generic build of (typically) autotool-style
packages
* unpack phase
** may be overriden by setting $unpackPhase to point at a function that
unpacks the source (which should set $sourceRoot)
** the generic unpacker unpacks all sources specified by $srcs, or
$src if $srcs is empty
** supports tar, bzipped tar, gzipped tar, compressed tar, zip
** zip must be in scope (in $buildinputs)
** additional file types may be supported by setting $findUnpacker,
which is called with a single argument specifying the file to be
unpacked
** $findUnpacker should set $unpackCmd, specifying the full command to
unpack the file (must include the file name)
** alternatively, $unpackCmd can be set before calling the generic
builder (e.g., 'unpackCmd="unrar x $src"'); this only works if
there is a single source file
** the generic unpacker then sets $sourceRoot to the name of the
directory created by unpacking the source archives
** the source archives should produce only one directory
** alternatively, $setSourceRoot may be set to a function that sets
$sourceRoot
* the generic builder then chdirs to $sourceRoot
* patch phase (skipped if neither $patchPhase nor $patches are set)
** may be overriden by setting $patchPhase to point at a function that
unpacks the source (which should set $sourceRoot)
** if the $patches variable is set, it runs `patch -p1 < ...' in
$sourceRoot for each element in $patches (the `patch' command
should be in $PATH; note that it isn't in the standard environment)
* configuration phase
** may be overriden by setting $configurePhase to point at a function
** calls $preConfigurer first, if set (useful for running
autoconf/automake)
** the configure script is specified by $configureScript, which
defaults to ./configure
** if no executable file exists at $configureScript, does nothing
** if a file ./ltmain.sh exists and $dontFixLibtool is not set, calls
function fixLibtool to remove its default search path (/usr etc.)
** adds "--prefix=$out" to $configureFlags unless $dontAddPrefix is
set
** calls $configureScript with $configureFlags
** calls $postConfigurer, if set (useful for any last-minute patches
prior to building)
* build phase
** may be overriden by setting $buildPhase to point at a function
** runs make with flags $makeFlags
* install phase
** may be overriden by setting $installPhase to point at a function
** runs make with flags $installFlags
** unless $dontStrip is set or $NIX_STRIP_DEBUG is not 1, finds all *.a
files in $out and runs "strip -S" on them (executables and dynamic
libraries can be stripped automatically by setting NIX_STRIP_DEBUG
to 1 (default))
** if $propagatedBuildInputs is set, its contents are written to
$out/nix-support/propagated-build-inputs