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      1 Design document for the unified scheme data
      2 ===========================================
      3 
      4 How are things connected?
      5 -------------------------
      6 
      7 The unified scheme takes all its data from the build.info files seen
      8 throughout the source tree.  These files hold the minimum information
      9 needed to build end product files from diverse sources.  See the
     10 section on build.info files below.
     11 
     12 From the information in build.info files, Configure builds up an
     13 information database as a hash table called %unified_info, which is
     14 stored in configdata.pm, found at the top of the build tree (which may
     15 or may not be the same as the source tree).
     16 
     17 Configurations/common.tmpl uses the data from %unified_info to
     18 generate the rules for building end product files as well as
     19 intermediary files with the help of a few functions found in the
     20 build-file templates.  See the section on build-file templates further
     21 down for more information.
     22 
     23 build.info files
     24 ----------------
     25 
     26 As mentioned earlier, build.info files are meant to hold the minimum
     27 information needed to build output files, and therefore only (with a
     28 few possible exceptions [1]) have information about end products (such
     29 as scripts, library files and programs) and source files (such as C
     30 files, C header files, assembler files, etc).  Intermediate files such
     31 as object files are rarely directly referred to in build.info files (and
     32 when they are, it's always with the file name extension .o), they are
     33 inferred by Configure.  By the same rule of minimalism, end product
     34 file name extensions (such as .so, .a, .exe, etc) are never mentioned
     35 in build.info.  Their file name extensions will be inferred by the
     36 build-file templates, adapted for the platform they are meant for (see
     37 sections on %unified_info and build-file templates further down).
     38 
     39 The variables PROGRAMS, LIBS, ENGINES and SCRIPTS are used to declare
     40 end products.  There are variants for them with '_NO_INST' as suffix
     41 (PROGRAM_NO_INST etc) to specify end products that shouldn't get
     42 installed.
     43 
     44 The variables SOURCE, DEPEND and INCLUDE are indexed by a produced
     45 file, and their values are the source used to produce that particular
     46 produced file, extra dependencies, and include directories needed.
     47 
     48 All their values in all the build.info throughout the source tree are
     49 collected together and form a set of programs, libraries, engines and
     50 scripts to be produced, source files, dependencies, etc etc etc.
     51 
     52 Let's have a pretend example, a very limited contraption of OpenSSL,
     53 composed of the program 'apps/openssl', the libraries 'libssl' and
     54 'libcrypto', an engine 'engines/ossltest' and their sources and
     55 dependencies.
     56 
     57     # build.info
     58     LIBS=libcrypto libssl
     59     INCLUDE[libcrypto]=include
     60     INCLUDE[libssl]=include
     61     DEPEND[libssl]=libcrypto
     62 
     63 This is the top directory build.info file, and it tells us that two
     64 libraries are to be built, the include directory 'include/' shall be
     65 used throughout when building anything that will end up in each
     66 library, and that the library 'libssl' depend on the library
     67 'libcrypto' to function properly.
     68 
     69     # apps/build.info
     70     PROGRAMS=openssl
     71     SOURCE[openssl]=openssl.c
     72     INCLUDE[openssl]=.. ../include
     73     DEPEND[openssl]=../libssl
     74 
     75 This is the build.info file in 'apps/', one may notice that all file
     76 paths mentioned are relative to the directory the build.info file is
     77 located in.  This one tells us that there's a program to be built
     78 called 'apps/openssl' (the file name extension will depend on the
     79 platform and is therefore not mentioned in the build.info file).  It's
     80 built from one source file, 'apps/openssl.c', and building it requires
     81 the use of '.' and 'include' include directories (both are declared
     82 from the point of view of the 'apps/' directory), and that the program
     83 depends on the library 'libssl' to function properly.
     84 
     85     # crypto/build.info
     86     LIBS=../libcrypto
     87     SOURCE[../libcrypto]=aes.c evp.c cversion.c
     88     DEPEND[cversion.o]=buildinf.h
     89 
     90     GENERATE[buildinf.h]=../util/mkbuildinf.pl "$(CC) $(CFLAGS)" "$(PLATFORM)"
     91     DEPEND[buildinf.h]=../Makefile
     92     DEPEND[../util/mkbuildinf.pl]=../util/Foo.pm
     93 
     94 This is the build.info file in 'crypto', and it tells us a little more
     95 about what's needed to produce 'libcrypto'.  LIBS is used again to
     96 declare that 'libcrypto' is to be produced.  This declaration is
     97 really unnecessary as it's already mentioned in the top build.info
     98 file, but can make the info file easier to understand.  This is to
     99 show that duplicate information isn't an issue.
    100 
    101 This build.info file informs us that 'libcrypto' is built from a few
    102 source files, 'crypto/aes.c', 'crypto/evp.c' and 'crypto/cversion.c'.
    103 It also shows us that building the object file inferred from
    104 'crypto/cversion.c' depends on 'crypto/buildinf.h'.  Finally, it
    105 also shows the possibility to declare how some files are generated
    106 using some script, in this case a perl script, and how such scripts
    107 can be declared to depend on other files, in this case a perl module.
    108 
    109 Two things are worth an extra note:
    110 
    111 'DEPEND[cversion.o]' mentions an object file.  DEPEND indexes is the
    112 only location where it's valid to mention them
    113 
    114 Lines in 'BEGINRAW'..'ENDRAW' sections must always mention files as
    115 seen from the top directory, no exception.
    116 
    117     # ssl/build.info
    118     LIBS=../libssl
    119     SOURCE[../libssl]=tls.c
    120 
    121 This is the build.info file in 'ssl/', and it tells us that the
    122 library 'libssl' is built from the source file 'ssl/tls.c'.
    123 
    124     # engines/build.info
    125     ENGINES=dasync
    126     SOURCE[dasync]=e_dasync.c
    127     DEPEND[dasync]=../libcrypto
    128     INCLUDE[dasync]=../include
    129 
    130     ENGINES_NO_INST=ossltest
    131     SOURCE[ossltest]=e_ossltest.c
    132     DEPEND[ossltest]=../libcrypto.a
    133     INCLUDE[ossltest]=../include
    134 
    135 This is the build.info file in 'engines/', telling us that two engines
    136 called 'engines/dasync' and 'engines/ossltest' shall be built, that
    137 dasync's source is 'engines/e_dasync.c' and ossltest's source is
    138 'engines/e_ossltest.c' and that the include directory 'include/' may
    139 be used when building anything that will be part of these engines.
    140 Also, both engines depend on the library 'libcrypto' to function
    141 properly.  ossltest is explicitly linked with the static variant of
    142 the library 'libcrypto'.  Finally, only dasync is being installed, as
    143 ossltest is only for internal testing.
    144 
    145 When Configure digests these build.info files, the accumulated
    146 information comes down to this:
    147 
    148     LIBS=libcrypto libssl
    149     SOURCE[libcrypto]=crypto/aes.c crypto/evp.c crypto/cversion.c
    150     DEPEND[crypto/cversion.o]=crypto/buildinf.h
    151     INCLUDE[libcrypto]=include
    152     SOURCE[libssl]=ssl/tls.c
    153     INCLUDE[libssl]=include
    154     DEPEND[libssl]=libcrypto
    155 
    156     PROGRAMS=apps/openssl
    157     SOURCE[apps/openssl]=apps/openssl.c
    158     INCLUDE[apps/openssl]=. include
    159     DEPEND[apps/openssl]=libssl
    160 
    161     ENGINES=engines/dasync
    162     SOURCE[engines/dasync]=engines/e_dasync.c
    163     DEPEND[engines/dasync]=libcrypto
    164     INCLUDE[engines/dasync]=include
    165 
    166     ENGINES_NO_INST=engines/ossltest
    167     SOURCE[engines/ossltest]=engines/e_ossltest.c
    168     DEPEND[engines/ossltest]=libcrypto.a
    169     INCLUDE[engines/ossltest]=include
    170 
    171     GENERATE[crypto/buildinf.h]=util/mkbuildinf.pl "$(CC) $(CFLAGS)" "$(PLATFORM)"
    172     DEPEND[crypto/buildinf.h]=Makefile
    173     DEPEND[util/mkbuildinf.pl]=util/Foo.pm
    174 
    175 
    176 A few notes worth mentioning:
    177 
    178 LIBS may be used to declare routine libraries only.
    179 
    180 PROGRAMS may be used to declare programs only.
    181 
    182 ENGINES may be used to declare engines only.
    183 
    184 The indexes for SOURCE must only be end product files, such as
    185 libraries, programs or engines.  The values of SOURCE variables must
    186 only be source files (possibly generated).
    187 
    188 INCLUDE and DEPEND shows a relationship between different files
    189 (usually produced files) or between files and directories, such as a
    190 program depending on a library, or between an object file and some
    191 extra source file.
    192 
    193 When Configure processes the build.info files, it will take it as
    194 truth without question, and will therefore perform very few checks.
    195 If the build tree is separate from the source tree, it will assume
    196 that all built files and up in the build directory and that all source
    197 files are to be found in the source tree, if they can be found there.
    198 Configure will assume that source files that can't be found in the
    199 source tree (such as 'crypto/bildinf.h' in the example above) are
    200 generated and will be found in the build tree.
    201 
    202 
    203 The %unified_info database
    204 --------------------------
    205 
    206 The information in all the build.info get digested by Configure and
    207 collected into the %unified_info database, divided into the following
    208 indexes:
    209 
    210   depends   => a hash table containing 'file' => [ 'dependency' ... ]
    211                pairs.  These are directly inferred from the DEPEND
    212                variables in build.info files.
    213 
    214   engines   => a list of engines.  These are directly inferred from
    215                the ENGINES variable in build.info files.
    216 
    217   generate  => a hash table containing 'file' => [ 'generator' ... ]
    218                pairs.  These are directly inferred from the GENERATE
    219                variables in build.info files.
    220 
    221   includes  => a hash table containing 'file' => [ 'include' ... ]
    222                pairs.  These are directly inferred from the INCLUDE
    223                variables in build.info files.
    224 
    225   install   => a hash table containing 'type' => [ 'file' ... ] pairs.
    226                The types are 'programs', 'libraries', 'engines' and
    227                'scripts', and the array of files list the files of
    228                that type that should be installed.
    229 
    230   libraries => a list of libraries.  These are directly inferred from
    231                the LIBS variable in build.info files.
    232 
    233   programs  => a list of programs.  These are directly inferred from
    234                the PROGRAMS variable in build.info files.
    235 
    236   rawlines  => a list of build-file lines.  These are a direct copy of
    237                the BEGINRAW..ENDRAW lines in build.info files.  Note:
    238                only the BEGINRAW..ENDRAW section for the current
    239                platform are copied, the rest are ignored.
    240 
    241   scripts   => a list of scripts.  There are directly inferred from
    242                the SCRIPTS variable in build.info files.
    243 
    244   sources   => a hash table containing 'file' => [ 'sourcefile' ... ]
    245                pairs.  These are indirectly inferred from the SOURCE
    246                variables in build.info files.  Object files are
    247                mentioned in this hash table, with source files from
    248                SOURCE variables, and AS source files for programs and
    249                libraries.
    250 
    251   shared_sources =>
    252                a hash table just like 'sources', but only as source
    253                files (object files) for building shared libraries.
    254 
    255 As an example, here is how the build.info files example from the
    256 section above would be digested into a %unified_info table:
    257 
    258     our %unified_info = (
    259         "depends" =>
    260             {
    261                 "apps/openssl" =>
    262                     [
    263                         "libssl",
    264                     ],
    265                 "crypto/buildinf.h" =>
    266                     [
    267                         "Makefile",
    268                     ],
    269                 "crypto/cversion.o" =>
    270                     [
    271                         "crypto/buildinf.h",
    272                     ],
    273                 "engines/dasync" =>
    274                     [
    275                         "libcrypto",
    276                     ],
    277                 "engines/ossltest" =>
    278                     [
    279                         "libcrypto.a",
    280                     ],
    281                 "libssl" =>
    282                     [
    283                         "libcrypto",
    284                     ],
    285                 "util/mkbuildinf.pl" =>
    286                     [
    287                         "util/Foo.pm",
    288                     ],
    289             },
    290         "engines" =>
    291             [
    292                 "engines/dasync",
    293                 "engines/ossltest",
    294             ],
    295         "generate" =>
    296             {
    297                 "crypto/buildinf.h" =>
    298                     [
    299                         "util/mkbuildinf.pl",
    300                         "\"\$(CC)",
    301                         "\$(CFLAGS)\"",
    302                         "\"$(PLATFORM)\"",
    303                     ],
    304             },
    305         "includes" =>
    306             {
    307                 "apps/openssl" =>
    308                     [
    309                         ".",
    310                         "include",
    311                     ],
    312                 "engines/ossltest" =>
    313                     [
    314                         "include"
    315                     ],
    316                 "libcrypto" =>
    317                     [
    318                         "include",
    319                     ],
    320                 "libssl" =>
    321                     [
    322                         "include",
    323                     ],
    324                 "util/mkbuildinf.pl" =>
    325                     [
    326                         "util",
    327                     ],
    328             }
    329         "install" =>
    330             {
    331                 "engines" =>
    332                     [
    333                         "engines/dasync",
    334                     ],
    335                 "libraries" =>
    336                     [
    337                         "libcrypto",
    338                         "libssl",
    339                     ],
    340                 "programs" =>
    341                     [
    342                         "apps/openssl",
    343                     ],
    344            },
    345         "libraries" =>
    346             [
    347                 "libcrypto",
    348                 "libssl",
    349             ],
    350         "programs" =>
    351             [
    352                 "apps/openssl",
    353             ],
    354         "rawlines" =>
    355             [
    356             ],
    357         "sources" =>
    358             {
    359                 "apps/openssl" =>
    360                     [
    361                         "apps/openssl.o",
    362                     ],
    363                 "apps/openssl.o" =>
    364                     [
    365                         "apps/openssl.c",
    366                     ],
    367                 "crypto/aes.o" =>
    368                     [
    369                         "crypto/aes.c",
    370                     ],
    371                 "crypto/cversion.o" =>
    372                     [
    373                         "crypto/cversion.c",
    374                     ],
    375                 "crypto/evp.o" =>
    376                     [
    377                         "crypto/evp.c",
    378                     ],
    379                 "engines/e_dasync.o" =>
    380                     [
    381                         "engines/e_dasync.c",
    382                     ],
    383                 "engines/dasync" =>
    384                     [
    385                         "engines/e_dasync.o",
    386                     ],
    387                 "engines/e_ossltest.o" =>
    388                     [
    389                         "engines/e_ossltest.c",
    390                     ],
    391                 "engines/ossltest" =>
    392                     [
    393                         "engines/e_ossltest.o",
    394                     ],
    395                 "libcrypto" =>
    396                     [
    397                         "crypto/aes.c",
    398                         "crypto/cversion.c",
    399                         "crypto/evp.c",
    400                     ],
    401                 "libssl" =>
    402                     [
    403                         "ssl/tls.c",
    404                     ],
    405                 "ssl/tls.o" =>
    406                     [
    407                         "ssl/tls.c",
    408                     ],
    409             },
    410     );
    411 
    412 As can be seen, everything in %unified_info is fairly simple suggest
    413 of information.  Still, it tells us that to build all programs, we
    414 must build 'apps/openssl', and to build the latter, we will need to
    415 build all its sources ('apps/openssl.o' in this case) and all the
    416 other things it depends on (such as 'libssl').  All those dependencies
    417 need to be built as well, using the same logic, so to build 'libssl',
    418 we need to build 'ssl/tls.o' as well as 'libcrypto', and to build the
    419 latter...
    420 
    421 
    422 Build-file templates
    423 --------------------
    424 
    425 Build-file templates are essentially build-files (such as Makefile on
    426 Unix) with perl code fragments mixed in.  Those perl code fragment
    427 will generate all the configuration dependent data, including all the
    428 rules needed to build end product files and intermediary files alike.
    429 At a minimum, there must be a perl code fragment that defines a set of
    430 functions that are used to generates specific build-file rules, to
    431 build static libraries from object files, to build shared libraries
    432 from static libraries, to programs from object files and libraries,
    433 etc.
    434 
    435     generatesrc - function that produces build file lines to generate
    436                   a source file from some input.
    437 
    438                   It's called like this:
    439 
    440                         generatesrc(src => "PATH/TO/tobegenerated",
    441                                     generator => [ "generatingfile", ... ]
    442                                     generator_incs => [ "INCL/PATH", ... ]
    443                                     generator_deps => [ "dep1", ... ]
    444                                     incs => [ "INCL/PATH", ... ],
    445                                     deps => [ "dep1", ... ],
    446                                     intent => one of "libs", "dso", "bin" );
    447 
    448                   'src' has the name of the file to be generated.
    449                   'generator' is the command or part of command to
    450                   generate the file, of which the first item is
    451                   expected to be the file to generate from.
    452                   generatesrc() is expected to analyse and figure out
    453                   exactly how to apply that file and how to capture
    454                   the result.  'generator_incs' and 'generator_deps'
    455                   are include directories and files that the generator
    456                   file itself depends on.  'incs' and 'deps' are
    457                   include directories and files that are used if $(CC)
    458                   is used as an intermediary step when generating the
    459                   end product (the file indicated by 'src').  'intent'
    460                   indicates what the generated file is going to be
    461                   used for.
    462 
    463     src2obj     - function that produces build file lines to build an
    464                   object file from source files and associated data.
    465 
    466                   It's called like this:
    467 
    468                         src2obj(obj => "PATH/TO/objectfile",
    469                                 srcs => [ "PATH/TO/sourcefile", ... ],
    470                                 deps => [ "dep1", ... ],
    471                                 incs => [ "INCL/PATH", ... ]
    472                                 intent => one of "lib", "dso", "bin" );
    473 
    474                   'obj' has the intended object file *without*
    475                   extension, src2obj() is expected to add that.
    476                   'srcs' has the list of source files to build the
    477                   object file, with the first item being the source
    478                   file that directly corresponds to the object file.
    479                   'deps' is a list of explicit dependencies.  'incs'
    480                   is a list of include file directories.  Finally,
    481                   'intent' indicates what this object file is going
    482                   to be used for.
    483 
    484     obj2lib     - function that produces build file lines to build a
    485                   static library file ("libfoo.a" in Unix terms) from
    486                   object files.
    487 
    488                   called like this:
    489 
    490                         obj2lib(lib => "PATH/TO/libfile",
    491                                 objs => [ "PATH/TO/objectfile", ... ]);
    492 
    493                   'lib' has the intended library file name *without*
    494                   extension, obj2lib is expected to add that.  'objs'
    495                   has the list of object files (also *without*
    496                   extension) to build this library.
    497 
    498     libobj2shlib - function that produces build file lines to build a
    499                   shareable object library file ("libfoo.so" in Unix
    500                   terms) from the corresponding static library file
    501                   or object files.
    502 
    503                   called like this:
    504 
    505                         libobj2shlib(shlib => "PATH/TO/shlibfile",
    506                                      lib => "PATH/TO/libfile",
    507                                      objs => [ "PATH/TO/objectfile", ... ],
    508                                      deps => [ "PATH/TO/otherlibfile", ... ]);
    509 
    510                   'lib' has the intended library file name *without*
    511                   extension, libobj2shlib is expected to add that.
    512                   'shlib' has the corresponding shared library name
    513                   *without* extension.  'deps' has the list of other
    514                   libraries (also *without* extension) this library
    515                   needs to be linked with.  'objs' has the list of
    516                   object files (also *without* extension) to build
    517                   this library.
    518 
    519                   This function has a choice; it can use the
    520                   corresponding static library as input to make the
    521                   shared library, or the list of object files.
    522 
    523     obj2dynlib  - function that produces build file lines to build a
    524                   dynamically loadable library file ("libfoo.so" on
    525                   Unix) from object files.
    526 
    527                   called like this:
    528 
    529                         obj2dynlib(lib => "PATH/TO/libfile",
    530                                    objs => [ "PATH/TO/objectfile", ... ],
    531                                    deps => [ "PATH/TO/otherlibfile",
    532                                    ... ]);
    533 
    534                   This is almost the same as libobj2shlib, but the
    535                   intent is to build a shareable library that can be
    536                   loaded in runtime (a "plugin"...).  The differences
    537                   are subtle, one of the most visible ones is that the
    538                   resulting shareable library is produced from object
    539                   files only.
    540 
    541     obj2bin     - function that produces build file lines to build an
    542                   executable file from object files.
    543 
    544                   called like this:
    545 
    546                         obj2bin(bin => "PATH/TO/binfile",
    547                                 objs => [ "PATH/TO/objectfile", ... ],
    548                                 deps => [ "PATH/TO/libfile", ... ]);
    549 
    550                   'bin' has the intended executable file name
    551                   *without* extension, obj2bin is expected to add
    552                   that.  'objs' has the list of object files (also
    553                   *without* extension) to build this library.  'deps'
    554                   has the list of library files (also *without*
    555                   extension) that the programs needs to be linked
    556                   with.
    557 
    558     in2script   - function that produces build file lines to build a
    559                   script file from some input.
    560 
    561                   called like this:
    562 
    563                         in2script(script => "PATH/TO/scriptfile",
    564                                   sources => [ "PATH/TO/infile", ... ]);
    565 
    566                   'script' has the intended script file name.
    567                   'sources' has the list of source files to build the
    568                   resulting script from.
    569 
    570 Along with the build-file templates is the driving engine
    571 Configurations/common.tmpl, which looks through all the information in
    572 %unified_info and generates all the rulesets to build libraries,
    573 programs and all intermediate files, using the rule generating
    574 functions defined in the build-file template.
    575 
    576 As an example with the smaller build.info set we've seen as an
    577 example, producing the rules to build 'libcrypto' would result in the
    578 following calls:
    579 
    580     # Note: libobj2shlib will only be called if shared libraries are
    581     # to be produced.
    582     # Note 2: libobj2shlib gets both the name of the static library
    583     # and the names of all the object files that go into it.  It's up
    584     # to the implementation to decide which to use as input.
    585     # Note 3: common.tmpl peals off the ".o" extension from all object
    586     # files, as the platform at hand may have a different one.
    587     libobj2shlib(shlib => "libcrypto",
    588                  lib => "libcrypto",
    589                  objs => [ "crypto/aes", "crypto/evp", "crypto/cversion" ],
    590                  deps => [  ]);
    591 
    592     obj2lib(lib => "libcrypto"
    593             objs => [ "crypto/aes", "crypto/evp", "crypto/cversion" ]);
    594 
    595     src2obj(obj => "crypto/aes"
    596             srcs => [ "crypto/aes.c" ],
    597             deps => [ ],
    598             incs => [ "include" ],
    599             intent => "lib");
    600 
    601     src2obj(obj => "crypto/evp"
    602             srcs => [ "crypto/evp.c" ],
    603             deps => [ ],
    604             incs => [ "include" ],
    605             intent => "lib");
    606 
    607     src2obj(obj => "crypto/cversion"
    608             srcs => [ "crypto/cversion.c" ],
    609             deps => [ "crypto/buildinf.h" ],
    610             incs => [ "include" ],
    611             intent => "lib");
    612 
    613     generatesrc(src => "crypto/buildinf.h",
    614                 generator => [ "util/mkbuildinf.pl", "\"$(CC)",
    615                                "$(CFLAGS)\"", "\"$(PLATFORM)\"" ],
    616                 generator_incs => [ "util" ],
    617                 generator_deps => [ "util/Foo.pm" ],
    618                 incs => [ ],
    619                 deps => [ ],
    620                 intent => "lib");
    621 
    622 The returned strings from all those calls are then concatenated
    623 together and written to the resulting build-file.
    624