Using Local Packages

Generate a local package

After version 2.5.5, we have provided a new local package packaging solution that will seamlessly integrate with add_requires and add_packages.

We can execute the xmake package command to generate the default new version of the packaging format.

$ xmake package
package(foo): build/packages/f/foo generated

It will generate the file build/packages/f/foo/xmake.lua with the following content:

package("foo")
    set_description("The foo package")
    set_license("Apache-2.0")
    add_deps("add", "sub")

    on_load(function (package)
        package:set("installdir", path.join(os.scriptdir(), package:plat(), package:arch(), package:mode()))
    end)

    on_fetch(function (package)
        local result = {}
        result.links = "foo"
        result.linkdirs = package:installdir("lib")
        result.includedirs = package:installdir("include")
        return result
    end)

In fact, it uses package() to define and describe local packages, just like remote packages.

The generated directory structure is as follows:

$ tree build/packages/f/foo/
build/packages/f/foo/
├── macosx
│   └── x86_64
│       └── release
│           ├── include
│           │   └── foo.h
│           └── lib
│               └── libfoo.a
└── xmake.lua

Using generated package

We can also use the add_requires/add_repositories interface to seamlessly integrate this package.

add_rules("mode.debug", "mode.release")

add_repositories("local-repo build")
add_requires("foo")

target("bar")
    set_kind("binary")
    add_files("src/*.cpp")
    add_packages("foo")

Among them, the add_repositories configuration specifies the repository root directory of the local package, and then this package can be referenced through add_requires.

In addition, the generated local package has another feature, which is to support target/add_deps, which automatically associates the dependencies of multiple packages, and automatically connects all dependency links during integration.

Here is the complete test example.

"/usr/bin/xcrun -sdk macosx clang++" -o build/macosx/x86_64/release/bar build/.objs/bar/macosx/x86_64/release/src/main.cpp.o -arch x86_64 -mmacosx-version -min=10.15 -isysroot
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX11.0.sdk -stdlib=libc++
 -L/Users/ruki/projects/personal/xmake/tests/actions/package/localpkg/bar/build/packages/f/foo/macosx/x86_64/release/lib
 -L/Users/ruki/projects/personal/xmake/tests/actions/package/localpkg/bar/build/packages/s/sub/macosx/x86_64/release/lib
 -L/Users/ruki/projects/personal/xmake/tests/actions/package/localpkg/bar/build/packages/a/add/macosx/x86_64/release/lib
 -Wl,-x -lfoo -lsub -ladd -lz

Using package from CMake

Now CMake is the de facto standard, so the find_package provided by CMake can already find a large number of libraries and modules. We fully reuse this part of CMake's ecosystem to expand xmake's integration of packages.

We can use find_package("cmake::xxx") to find some packages with CMake. Xmake will automatically generate a CMake script to call CMake's find_package to find some packages and get the build information.

E.g:

$ xmake l find_package cmake::ZLIB
{
  links = {
    "z"
  },
  includedirs = {
    "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.
15.sdk/usr/include"
  },
  linkdirs = {
    "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.
15.sdk/usr/lib"
  }
}
$ xmake l find_package cmake::LibXml2
{
  links = {
    "xml2"
  },
  includedirs = {
    "/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX10.15.sdk/usr/include/libxml2"
  },
  linkdirs = {
    "/usr/lib"
  }
}

If we integrate and find CMake dependent packages in the xmake.lua project configuration, we usually don't need to use find_package directly, and we can use a more general and simple package integration method.

add_requires("cmake::ZLIB", {alias = "zlib", system = true})
target("test")
    set_kind("binary")
    add_files("src/*.c")
    add_packages("zlib")

We specify system = true to tell xmake to force CMake to find the package from the system. If it cannot be found, the installation logic will not be followed, because CMake does not provide the installation function of package managers such as vcpkg/conan. Only the package search feature is provided.

Specify version

add_requires("cmake::OpenCV 4.1.1", {system = true})

Specified components

add_requires("cmake::Boost", {system = true, configs = {components = {"regex", "system"}}))

Default switch

add_requires("cmake::Boost", {system = true, configs = {components = {"regex", "system"}, presets = {Boost_USE_STATIC_LIB = true}}})

It is equivalent to predefining some configurations in CMakeLists.txt before calling find_package internally to find the package, to control the find_package search strategy and status.

set(Boost_USE_STATIC_LIB ON) - will be used in FindBoost.cmake
find_package(Boost REQUIRED COMPONENTS regex system)

Set environment variables

add_requires("cmake::OpenCV", {system = true, configs = {envs = {CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH = "xxx"}}})

Specify custom FindFoo.cmake module script directory

mydir/cmake_modules/FindFoo.cmake

add_requires("cmake::Foo", {system = true, configs = {moduledirs = "mydir/cmake_modules"}})

Related issues: #1632

Specifying links

For CMake packages, we have added the link_libraries configuration option to allow users to customize the configuration of package dependencies and even support for target links when looking to use CMake packages.

add_requires("cmake::xxx", {configs = {link_libraries = {"abc::lib1", "abc::lib2"}}})

xmake automatically appends the following configuration to improve the extraction of linked libraries when looking for CMake packages.

target_link_libraries(test PRIVATE ABC::lib1 ABC::lib2)

Specify the search mode

In addition, we add the following search mode configuration.

add_requires("cmake::xxx", {configs = {search_mode = "config"}})
add_requires("cmake::xxx", {configs = {search_mode = "module"}})
add_requires("cmake::xxx") -- both

Specify config search mode, for example, to tell CMake to look for packages from XXXConfig.cmake.

xmake will automatically append the following configuration internally when it looks for CMake packages.

find_package(ABC CONFIG REQUIRED)