Alternative Build Script for C and C++

This bash script serves as a quick alternative to tools like Make and CMake.

GNU gettext translation support

Usage

For the following example project structure, simply copy the build.sh file.

• 📂 Project root
  • 📂 src
    • 📄 main.c
    • 📄 test.c
  • 📂 include
    • 📄 test.h
    • 📄 tools.h
  • 📄 build.sh

Then, simply modify the first lines of the script:

SRC_DIR="src"                  # Source code dir.
SRC_EXT="*.c"                  # *.c  *.cpp extensions.
TYPE="executable"              # "executable" target, "static" library or "shared" library.
BUILD_DIR="build"              # Target build directory.
TARGET="test"                  # Name of the executable or library.
CXX="gcc"                      # "gcc" or "g++" compiler selection.
CFLAGS="-Wall -I include"      # Compiler options.
LFLAGS=""                      # Linker options.
MODULE_DEPS=""                 # Module lib dependences.

# Translation
DOMAIN="$TARGET"
LOCALE_DIR="locales"
LANGUAGES="es fr it"           # space-separated list
POT_FILE="$DOMAIN.pot"
TRANSL_SRC_EXTRA=""            # Extra source files to translate (space-separated list)

Running

Mark build.sh as executable using:

chmod +x build.sh

or

bash build.sh

You can create an alias

alias build='bash ./build.sh'

and run the script in the following ways:

• ./build.sh or ./build.sh build: build the project.
• ./build.sh clean: clean the built files.
• ./build.sh run: run the target (only executables).
• ./build.sh debug: run the executable using the GDB debugger (only executables). Note: The object files and the executable must include debugging information generated with the compiler's options.
• ./build.sh translations or ./build.sh transl: create or update gettext translation files.

Static and Shared Libraries

Setting the option TYPE="static", the script will generate a static library inside the build/ directory.

Then: if TARGET="Example", it will generate libExample.a

On the other hand, the option TYPE="shared" generates a shared library (.so).

Dependencies

Only the translation files that have been modified compared to the compiled objects will be compiled. If any object is compiled, the target is relinked.

The script enables the compiler option to generate dependency files within the build directory. It then checks if they have been modified to regenerate the object.

Modules

Projects can be created with modules as follows:

• 📂 Project root

  • 📂 ExtendLib

    • 📂 src
      • 📄 utils.cpp
    • 📂 include
      • 📄 utils.h
    • 📄 build_1.sh

  • 📂 main

    • 📂 src
      • 📄 main.cpp
    • 📄 build_2.sh

  • 📄 build.sh

build_1.sh (lib):

SRC_DIR="src"
SRC_EXT="*.cpp"
TYPE="static"			# Static library
BUILD_DIR="build"
TARGET="ExtendLib"		# Generates: "build/libExtendLib.a"
CXX="g++"
CFLAGS="-Wall -I include"
LFLAGS=""
MODULE_DEPS=""

build_2.sh (main module):

SRC_DIR="src"
SRC_EXT="*.cpp"
TYPE="executable"		# Executable
BUILD_DIR="build"
TARGET="test"			# Executable name
CXX="g++"
CFLAGS="-Wall -I include -I ../ExtendLib/include"	# Compiler options
LFLAGS="-L ../ExtendLib/build -l ExtendLib"			# Linker options
MODULE_DEPS="../ExtendLib/build/libExtendLib.a"		# Add module dependence to rebuild project

build.sh (simple root build script):

#!/bin/bash
./ExtendLib/build_1.sh $1
./main/build_2.sh $1

Consider ExtendLib and main as modules. main depends on ExtendLib. The following line makes the dependency more robust:

MODULE_DEPS="../ExtendLib/build/libExtendLib.a"

If anything in ExtendLib changes, the main target is rebuilt.

When using the run option, it checks if the target is available. It also recompiles if there are changes.

Translations

The translation argument generates the file and directory structure for the project’s translation. You only need to list the languages separated by spaces. All the project’s source files will be included. Gettext must be properly configured, including both the domain and the strings to be read.

Generated example if LANGUAGE="es fr it":

• 📂 Project root
  • 📂 locales
    • 📂 es
      • 📂 LC_MESSAGES
        • 📄 test.mo
    • 📂 fr
      • 📂 LC_MESSAGES
        • 📄 test.mo
    • 📂 it
      • 📂 LC_MESSAGES
        • 📄 test.mo
  • 📂 po
    • 📄 es.po
    • 📄 fr.po
    • 📄 it.po
  • 📄 test.pot
  • 📄 build.sh