SuperCBuilder

scb super c builder or stupid c builder is a simple makefile generator program, Which aims to create a custom build system from your repo's file tree.

why use it

You don't have to, as is mostly a tool i made for myself.
The idea behind it is to help restore old projects and make them more accessible, keeping the build logic simple and stupid.
It has enough settings to be versatile but tries to avoid overengeneering, Minimize related the problems that that could bring.

how to use

If you just clone the project you can run compile.sh for initial setup. after that you can do ./scb .
and it gona build a makefile for it self.

$ ./compile.sh
$ ./scb .
$ make

Now we can simply use

$scb {path} [build system name]

By default if no build system is provided scb will use makefile.

variable declaration

the sine # is used for comment, but it need to be the first character of the line to be valid.

simple rule for the config file, to declare value you use that syntax.

name:value
  additional value

If you do not add colon : between the name and the value, an error will be thrown. The colon is needed for the program to know which is which.
Value can have space in side of them but if the are on a new line the space will be trim. In the case you want the value to start with space just add them after the name declaration.

# valid
name:   value

any text under the variable name will be consider as addionnal value only if there is at least,
one space, form-feed \f, carriage return \r, horizontal tab \t, or vertical tab \v.

If unsure use man isspace.

Otherwise it will be considered a new variable declaration. if any text is found "floating" with no other valid text above it it will throw an error.

valid

foo:

foo:bar

foo:
  bar

foo:bar
  baz

invalid

foo

  bar

 foo:

foo:
bar

You can also reference previously declared variable with a %, to make the file more readable.

foo:hello

bar: jeff

baz:
  %foo
  %bar

now baz value is hello jeff. variable can only be read from bottom to top

foo:A

bar:B
  %baz

baz:C
  %foo

The result is foo A bar B baz CA. Like in bash if a variable is not resolved/assigned the value is empty. some variables are pre-declared by scb, you can overwrite them by adding them to your config file.

keywords

now to make the project more modular and have more option we have some keyword that help.
you can use the keywork _LINUX like so to only set a varible if the program is build on linux or the target computer is linux.

foo:are we we building for linux?
  %_LINUX yes
  %_WINDOWS no
  %_MACOS no

todo: add flag for target
you can also change the target with the flag -T=MACOS or any other valid target.

We can also use the keyword _ENV_{NAME} to set a variable to the value of a variable of enviroment.

name: %_ENV_USER
# set variable to the user name

syntaxe

valid

name:value
  additional value
  %variable
  %_keyword
# comment

# valid

name:
  value

name:%_keyword value

name:

name:%variable

invalide

name

name value

  value

name: value #comment

In the last case the comment will be in the value,
scb only take the comment in consideration if the # is the first character on the line.

reserved variable

name	default value	about
CC	cc	c compiler
CXX	c++	cpp compiler
NAME	{directory name}	output file name
NAMEX		add an extension to the output
CFLAGS	-Wall -Werror -Wextra	c flags
CXXFLAGS	-Wall -Werror -Wextra	cpp flags
ING		ignore folder during build
DEP		add a rule that run before compiling
PROG		add the value to the compilation
LIB		set the build mode to library
SHELL	sh	the shell the system will use

if prog or lib is not in the config file, scb will make a program by default.

keyword

name	action
_LINUX	only reads the rest of the line if the system is call on linux or targer is linux
_WINDOWS	only reads the rest of the line if the system is call on windows or targer is windows
_MACOS	only reads the rest of the line if the system is call on macos or targer is macos
_ENV_{NAME}	reads the environment variable with the same name
_SHELL	run line as is
_ROOT	get the root of the projet (first argv)

suported build system and scrips language

name	type	support
make	build system	90%
cmake	build system
ninja	build system
meson	build system
sh	scripting	30%
pyton	scripting
zig	scripting

special thanks

• lord