/Cate

An Easy and Modern Build System For C/C++ With Readable Syntax.

Primary LanguageC++MIT LicenseMIT

Cate: A Build System for the sane.

Cate is a simple build system for C/C++ with C-like syntax.

Introduction

Cate is a simple and fast build system for C/C++, its syntax is much simpler than the other build systems. While Cate is slower than Make, it's much easier to set up and create projects and libraries with.

Cate does not have a Windows release as of yet because of our laziness

Unlike CMake and other build systems, Cate does not require Make and is not Turing complete. Cate is more like a wrapper state-machine for GCC/clang than an object oriented build system (unlike CMake), or a build system programming language (also unlike CMake).

Cate is not written in Rust and never will be; Cate has 0 memory leaks thanks to a practice known as "knowing how memory works".

Do note:

  • We know the source code isn't great, it was our first project.
  • Cate uses Catel, a messy file that allows us to set a default file.
  • Cate does not support string splitting.
  • This readme is full of little jokes. No offense intended to any other build system... except Autotools.

Advantages of Cate over other build systems

You may be wondering what issues Cate solves, let us clear it up for you!

  1. It's extremely easy to learn, it doesn't require learning an entirely new language just to build a project!
  2. It (unlike CMake) has a consistent syntax that doesn't require documentation.
  3. It's smol, it has everything it needs and a little more to keep the 1% happy.
  4. It's colorful and fun to use, not everything has to be monochrome.
  5. Cate, unlike Make, just cates sense!

Installing Cate

If you're still here; that means you suffered enough CMake (or Autotools) to reconsider your life choices, Thank you for choosing Cate!

Debian/Ubuntu

Run the following commands:

wget https://github.com/TheMilkies/Cate/releases/download/v2.9.6/cate_2.9-6_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i cate_2.9-6_amd64.deb
rm cate_2.9-6_amd64.deb

Other distributions

Run the following commands:

mkdir catering
cd catering
wget https://github.com/TheMilkies/Cate/releases/download/v2.9.6/linux_cate_v2.9.6.zip
unzip linux_cate_v2.9.6.zip
sudo ./install.sh
cd ..
rm -rf catering

Building from source

Make sure you have these installed:

  • A Unix-like operating system
  • A C++17 compiler (g++ or clang++)

Using build.sh

Run ./build.sh, It'll ask you if you'd like to install at the end.

Using Cate

If you're using cate <= 1.3, run sudo cate legacy.

Run cate, it'll ask you if to install after building. Unlike Make and other build systems; it'll automatically detect the thread count.

Using Cate

Cate's CLI is intuitive, but doesn't offer much more than necessary.

Flags (Options)

  • -l: Lists Catefiles in Catefiles directory (set by Catel).
  • -iV: Init a project with the name V.
  • -tN (and -jN): Set thread count to N. Cate automatically detects thread count so this isn't required.
  • -y: Install without asking (always answer 'y').
  • -n: Don't install (always answer 'n').
  • -D: Disable all user-defined system() calls in script.
  • -d: Print all commands in script without running them. (dry run)
  • -S: Smolize even if not set in script.
  • -f (and -B): Forcefully rebuild project.
  • -v: Shows the installed Cate version.
  • -h: Shows help and Cate version.
  • -A: PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS. Disables the useless security measure.

Creating a Cate project

Create the following structure

cate/
  |_ build.cate

include/

src/
  |_ main.c

Or use the following commands

mkdir cate include src
touch cate/build.cate src/main.c

Creating Catefiles (Catering)

You've come this far! Good Job!

Cate breaks most known build-system conventions by forcing you to use multiple files for different targets, and having a file extension (unlike CMake, Make, Autotools, and many more). For a debug build you'll have a debug.cate, for a cross-platform build you'll have a platformname.cate.

Syntax

Cate uses C-like syntax with the exception of it being a "state-machine" rather than a language. It does not support int-literals (0123456789) as of yet (and hopefully forever). Cate supports #comments in addition to C-comments.

Cate does not support a.property = b.property; syntax

There are only two class types, Project and Library.

Example project

Project project;
project.files = {"src/main.c"};
project.includes = {"include"};
project.libs = {/*add libraries here*/};
project.flags = "/*flags here*/";
project.smol = true;
project.out = "/*out name here*/";

project.build();

Libraries require a parameter called LibraryType which can be either static or dynamic

Example library (not in example project)

Library library(static)
library.files = {"src/main.c"};
library.includes = {"include"};
library.libs = {/*add libraries here*/};
library.flags = "-O2";
library.out = "out/liblibrary.a";

library.build();

Cate (since 2.6) does not require the object names to be repeated.

Project proj;
.flags = "-O3";
.files = "src/main.c";
.build();

Properties

Both classes have these properties, even if they don't make sense for the class

  • Array<String> files: Files of the project/library. No default.

  • Array<String> incs|includes|include_paths: Include paths of the project/library. Defaults to "include/" or "inc/" if present.

  • Array<String> defs|defines|definitions: Definitions. Default is set by the compiler.

  • String out: The output file name.

    • In projects: Defaults to the identifier.
    • In libraries: Defaults to "lib" + the identifier + the extension for the library type.

  • String cc|compiler: The compiler to use. Default is cc.

  • String std|standard: The C/C++ standard to use. Default is set by the compiler.

  • String obj_dir|object_dir|build_dir|build_directory: The folder it'd store object files in. Defaults to "build" (or cate/build if catedir is present), unless a directory named "obj" is present; where it'd use it.

  • String flags: The cflags of the project/library, All object files are compiled with them. Default is empty.

  • String final_flags: The cflags ran at the end (linking step) of the project/library's compilation. Default is empty.

  • bool link: Whether to run the linking step or not. Default is true.

  • bool threading: Whether to add -pthread to build command. Default is false. (Just syntactical sugar.)

  • bool smol|smolize: Whether to attempt to reduce output-file's size with minimal to no performance loss. Default is false. Do NOT use with libraries.

  • LibraryType type: Type of library, static or dynamic. Gets from library "constructor".

Class methods

  • void build(): Builds project/library.
  • void clean(): Deletes project/library's object files, doesn't affect other projects/libraries!
  • void install(): Install projects to /usr/local/bin and libraries to /usr/local/lib.

General functions

  • Array<String> recursive(String path): Get all files (or libraries, or include paths) in path ending with an extension. Example: project.files = recursive("src/*.c");.

    • recursive() Allows subdirectory recursion, Example: recursive("src/**.c");
    • recursive() is also called iterate().
    • If for some reason you don't have enough disk space to type recursive, you can do files = {"src/*.c"}

  • void system(String command): Run command. Will be skipped if user runs Cate with the -D flag.

  • void subcate(String file_name): Starts a new Cate "instance" with the passed file name. (since 2.7)

  • void mkdir(String): Create a new directory at the specified path. (since 2.9.6)

Subcate (fully functional since 2.9.5)

Cate allows you to run another catefile from the current one and use libraries that you built in the other.

static.cate

Library example_lib(static)
.files = recursive("src/lib/*.c")
.build() //will be named "out/libexample_lib.a" automatically

test.cate

subcate("static.cate") //include it here
Project Test
.libs = {example_lib} //we can use it here
.files = recursive("src/test.c")
.build()

Global (since 2.8.1)

All classes use global values as default. There are only 5 global variables you can change, being:

  • String cc|compiler
  • String std|standard
  • String obj_dir|object_dir|build_dir|build_directory
  • bool smol|smolize
  • bool threading

Usage example:

compiler = "g++" //global
smol     = true

Project proj
.flags = "-O3"
.files = {"src/main.cpp"}
.build()

Project proj2
.flags = "-O3"
.files = {"src2/main.cpp"}
.build()

Project proj3
.compiler = "cc"
.flags = "-O3"
.files = {"src3/main.c"}
.build()
.install()

Catel

A Catel file (.catel) is a dumb file made to point cate at the right directory, and use a default file.

Since 2.8.1; you can create Catel files named:

  • .linux.catel
  • .mac.catel
  • .windows.catel

for those targets.

Here's an example Catel file:

def smol.cate
dir cate

Here's an example of Catel for different platforms:

.windows.catel

dir cate/windows
def smol

.linux.catel

dir cate/linux
def smol

Credits

  • Yogurt (Creator and Main Maintainer)
  • Lemon (Creator)
  • Latte (Bug fixer)

Special thanks

Special thanks to

  • Make for being hard to work with, and extremely ugly.
  • CMake for failing to be an an improvement over make, and becoming so complicated over the years that you need a CMake debugger to use it.
  • Autotools for being the worst build system to ever exist.

Without these crimes against humanity, Cate would not have existed.

Thank you; Make, CMake, and Autotools for being so terrible.