Best Way to Compile Large Project

David T. Ashley

I have a large project on a Linux box that may eventually have several
hundred 'C' source files, which need to be compiled and linked into several
executables.

Not all of the executables will use all of the files (i.e. there would be no
linker references to some symbols).

The project will naturally be broken down into several or more
subdirectories.

Questions:

a)What is the best way in general to build? Compile all the .c files into
corresponding .o files, and then link the .o files explicitly?

b)Any thoughts on doing this with "make"?

c)Any thoughts on the limitations of the linker?

Thanks.

Dec 28 '06 #1

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Pascal Bourguignon

"David T. Ashley" <dt*@e3ft.comwr ites:

I have a large project on a Linux box that may eventually have several
hundred 'C' source files, which need to be compiled and linked into several
executables.

Not all of the executables will use all of the files (i.e. there would be no
linker references to some symbols).

The project will naturally be broken down into several or more
subdirectories.

Questions:

a)What is the best way in general to build? Compile all the .c files into
corresponding .o files, and then link the .o files explicitly?

Yes. An alternative, if the project is big, with subparts evolving at
different paces, would be to make libraries of subprojects (modules).

Also, it could be faster to build the libraries and link several
programs with a choice of these libraries, rather than linking these
programs from all the object files everytime. (Better benchmark it,
it'd depend on the project).

b)Any thoughts on doing this with "make"?

Yes. But read this first:

http://members.canb.auug.org.au/~mil...cons-harm.html

ie. use only one Makefile.

c)Any thoughts on the limitations of the linker?

None. I've got an empty brain. Sorry.
--
__Pascal Bourguignon__ http://www.informatimago.com/

"Specificat ions are for the weak and timid!"

Dec 28 '06 #2

dcorbit

David T. Ashley wrote:

I have a large project on a Linux box that may eventually have several
hundred 'C' source files, which need to be compiled and linked into several
executables.

Not all of the executables will use all of the files (i.e. there would be no
linker references to some symbols).

The project will naturally be broken down into several or more
subdirectories.

Questions:

a)What is the best way in general to build? Compile all the .c files into
corresponding .o files, and then link the .o files explicitly?

b)Any thoughts on doing this with "make"?

c)Any thoughts on the limitations of the linker?

Thanks.

<OT>
Have you tried Eclipse and CDT?
http://www.eclipse.org/
http://www.eclipse.org/cdt/
</OT>

Dec 28 '06 #3

Barry

"David T. Ashley" <dt*@e3ft.comwr ote in message
news:nB******** ***********@fe1 78.usenetserver .com...

I have a large project on a Linux box that may eventually have several
hundred 'C' source files, which need to be compiled and linked into

several

executables.

Not all of the executables will use all of the files (i.e. there would be

linker references to some symbols).

The project will naturally be broken down into several or more
subdirectories.

Questions:

a)What is the best way in general to build? Compile all the .c files into
corresponding .o files, and then link the .o files explicitly?

b)Any thoughts on doing this with "make"?

c)Any thoughts on the limitations of the linker?

Thanks.

Build tools are off topic for clc, but you could start by looking
at make. The last time some of the folks on this board tried to
respond to a questions about "make" several showed they had
noclue Best done by a search and use of your man pages.

<<OT>>
If you have a fully installed development environment you may
take a look at autoconf and automake. But, they come with
caveats with you should look at as well, which may lead you
to better tools.
<</OT>>

Dec 28 '06 #4

Henrik Goldman

b)Any thoughts on doing this with "make"?

>

We're in a situation much like your own. More then 100 files, at least 10
applications build from both our "framework" code and application specific
code.

If you consider make then try out makepp instead:
http://makepp.sourceforge.net/

I've used it for like 3 years for now and don't regret it at all!
It's suppose to be a make replacement and it solves several issues that make
has.
E.g. it has an automatic dependency scanner and I've never suffered from
files which were not correctly recompiled.
Also it won't need recursing (in most cases) like traditional make.

Besides you can write extra scripts for it in perl.

The downside is though that it's a bit slower since it's written in perl.
However this is a cheap price to pay. Also the latest build from CVS is
nessecary but not always stable. I've contributed with alot of feedback to
the project so far but usually it's only for the better.

One more thing is that it's very portable. We use it on Windows, Linux,
Macosx, Solaris, AIX and HP-UX and also support several cross compilers
without additional scripts or applications.

At least if you consider make then give this one a try.

-- Henrik

Dec 28 '06 #5

Stefaan A Eeckels

On Wed, 27 Dec 2006 22:11:31 -0500
"David T. Ashley" <dt*@e3ft.comwr ote:

I have a large project on a Linux box that may eventually have
several hundred 'C' source files, which need to be compiled and
linked into several executables.

That's not a large project :)

Not all of the executables will use all of the files (i.e. there
would be no linker references to some symbols).

Then you should consider using shared objects (.so libraries).

The project will naturally be broken down into several or more
subdirectories.

One hopes so. Also consider using a version control system. Subversion
is pretty neat and a doddle to set up.

Questions:

a)What is the best way in general to build? Compile all the .c files
into corresponding .o files, and then link the .o files explicitly?

See above. One would normally group the related functions into shared
libraries, and then link the various programs against these libraries.
Just linking everything statically is so twentieth century, dear :)

>
b)Any thoughts on doing this with "make"?

Make is the time-honoured way to do this. You need to spend some time
mastering its syntax, but once you know how to use it, make is a very
powerful tool. There are alternatives to make, but they have their own
limitations and idiosyncrasies, in addition to being niche products.

c)Any thoughts on the limitations of the linker?

Unless you have some specific requirements you did not mention, rest
assured that for a project like yours (building a few executables from
a moderate number of source files) the Unix linkers have no
limitations.

--
Stefaan A Eeckels
--
"We have gone from a world of concentrated knowledge and wisdom to one
of distributed ignorance. And we know and understand less while being
increasingly capable." Prof. Peter Cochrane, formerly of BT Labs
(With thanks to Brian Hamilton Kelly)

Dec 28 '06 #6

toby

Barry wrote:

"David T. Ashley" <dt*@e3ft.comwr ote in message
news:nB******** ***********@fe1 78.usenetserver .com...
I have a large project on a Linux box that may eventually have several
hundred 'C' source files, which need to be compiled and linked into
several
executables.

Not all of the executables will use all of the files (i.e. there would be
no
linker references to some symbols).

The project will naturally be broken down into several or more
subdirectories.

Questions:

a)What is the best way in general to build? Compile all the .c files into
corresponding .o files, and then link the .o files explicitly?

b)Any thoughts on doing this with "make"?

Yes.

c)Any thoughts on the limitations of the linker?

Thanks.

Build tools are off topic for clc, but you could start by looking
at make. The last time some of the folks on this board tried to
respond to a questions about "make" several showed they had
noclue Best done by a search and use of your man pages.

What also tends to be revealed by make *questions* is that the
questioner has not read 'info make'[1], which should a first step to
any serious use of it.

[1] Online here: http://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/make.html

>
<<OT>>
If you have a fully installed development environment you may
take a look at autoconf and automake. But, they come with
caveats with you should look at as well, which may lead you
to better tools.
<</OT>>

Dec 28 '06 #7

jussij

David T. Ashley wrote:

b)Any thoughts on doing this with "make"?

IMHO once any project grows to anything over one or two files,
using make is the only way to go.

Also if you take a little bit of time to understand make files:

http://www.zeusedit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=300

you'll find make is pretty easy to use.

Jussi Jumppanen
Author: Zeus for Windows
http:\\www.zeusedit.com

Dec 28 '06 #8

Logan Shaw

toby wrote:

What also tends to be revealed by make *questions* is that the
questioner has not read 'info make'[1], which should a first step to
any serious use of it.

Provided you have a specific reason to use GNU make. If not, then
reading some documentation that isn't GNU-specific might be a better
idea.

- Logan

Dec 29 '06 #9

Logan Shaw

ju****@zeusedit .com wrote:

Jussi Jumppanen
Author: Zeus for Windows
http:\\www.zeusedit.com

^^

I'm sure you meant to give a legal URI there...

- Logan

Dec 29 '06 #10

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