Premake4

What is premake4

Premake4 is a build configuration tool that will generate project files for Visual Studio, GNU Make, Xcode, Code::Blocks, and more across Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platform.

A simple example

Put this text in a file named "premake4.lua"

dofile "use_wxwidgets.lua"

    solution "MySolution"
        configurations {"Debug", "Release"}
        location "build" -- optional, but cleaner
        targetdir "bin"  -- optional, same here

        project "testWx"
            kind "WindowedApp"
            flags { "WinMain" }
            language "C++"
            files {"minimal.cpp"}
            wx_config {Unicode="yes", Version="2.8", Libs="core,aui"}

And use this configuration script "use_wxwidgets.lua"

-- use_wxwidgets.lua
-- wxWidgets configuration file for premake4
-- 
-- authors: [email protected]
--          [email protected] 
 
-- optional root folder of wxwidgets installation folder
--
newoption  {
    trigger     =   "wx_root",
    value       =   "PATH",
    description =   "Path to wxwidgets root folder, by default, WXWIN envvar will be used or wx-config found in path on POSIX"
}
 
-- The wx_config the parameters are.
--          Root    : path to wx root folder. Can be left empty if WXWIN is defined
--                      or if wx-config is accessible.
--          Debug   : "yes" use debug version of wxwidgets. Default to "no"
--          Version : one of '2.4', '2.5', '2.6', '2.7', '2.8', '2.9'. Default to '2.9'
--          Static  : indicates how wx is to be linked. Values are
--                      either "yes" for static linking or "no" for shared linking, Default to "no"
--          Unicode : use "yes" for unicode or "no" for ansi version.
--                      ansi version only available up to 2.8
--                      Default to "yes"
--          Universal : use universal configuration. Default to "no"
--          Libs    : a list of wx libraries that you want to link with.
--                      eg: "aui,media,html"
--                      Default to "richtext,aui,xrc,qa,html,adv,core,xml,net"; base is implicit
--          WindowsCompiler : compiler used to compile windows libraries ( "vc" or "gcc" )
 
function wx_config(options)
 
    local wrongParam = false
    local allowedWxOptions = {"Root", "Debug", "Host", "Version", "Static", "Unicode", "Universal", "Libs", "WindowsCompiler" }
    for option in pairs(options) do
        if not table.contains(allowedWxOptions, option) then
            print ("unrecognized option '"..option.. "'")
            wrongParam = true
        end
    end
    if wrongParam then print("valid options are : '" .. table.concat(allowedWxOptions, "', '").."'") end
 
    wx_config_Private( options.Root or "",
                options.Debug or "",
                options.Host or "",
                options.Version or "2.9",
                options.Static or "",
                options.Unicode or "yes",
                options.Universal or "",
                options.Libs or "richtext,aui,xrc,qa,html,adv,core,xml,net", -- base is implicit, std not valid
                options.WindowsCompiler or "vc"
                )
end
 
function wx_config_Private(wxRoot, wxDebug, wxHost, wxVersion, wxStatic, wxUnicode, wxUniversal, wxLibs, wxWindowsCompiler)
    -- some options are not allowed for newer version of wxWidgets
    if wxVersion > "2.8" then -- alphabetical comparison may fail...
    --    wxDebug = "" -- 2.9 still make debug libraries
        wxUnicode = "yes"
    end
 
    --wx_root=PATH override wxRoot parameter
    if _OPTIONS and _OPTIONS["wx_root"] then
        print ("seen option '--wx_root=" .. _OPTIONS["wx_root"] .. "' overriding default root = '" .. wxRoot .. "'")
        wxRoot = _OPTIONS["wx_root"]
    end
    -- the environment variable WXWIN override both wxRoot parameter and --wx_root option
    if os.getenv('WXWIN') then wxRoot = os.getenv('WXWIN') end
 
    if wxUnicode == "yes" then defines { "_UNICODE" } end
 
    if wxDebug == "yes" then defines { "__WXDEBUG__" }
    elseif wxDebug == "no" then flags { "Optimize" } end
 
    if wxStatic == "yes" then
        flags { "StaticRuntime" }
    else
        defines { "WXUSINGDLL" }
    end
 
 
    -- function to compensate lack of wx-config program on windows
    -- but wait, look at http://sites.google.com/site/wxconfig/ for one !
    function wx_config_for_windows(wxWindowsCompiler)
        local wxBuildType = ""  -- buildtype is one of "", "u", "d" or "ud"
        local wxDebugSuffix = "" -- debug buildsuffix is for support libraries only
        if wxUnicode ~= "no" then wxBuildType = wxBuildType .. "u" end
        if wxDebug == "yes" then
            wxBuildType = wxBuildType .. "d"
            wxDebugSuffix = "d"
        end
 
        local wxLibPath = path.join(wxRoot, "lib")
        wxLibPath = path.join(wxLibPath, wxWindowsCompiler .. "_" .. iif(wxStatic == 'yes', 'lib', 'dll'))
        -- common defines
        defines{ "__WXMSW__" }
 
        -- common include path
        includedirs {
            path.join(wxRoot, "include"),
            path.join(wxLibPath, "msw" .. wxBuildType)   -- something like "%WXWIN%\lib\vc_lib\mswud" to find "wx/setup.h"
            }
 
        -- common library path
        libdirs { wxLibPath }
 
        -- add the libs
        libVersion = string.gsub(wxVersion, '%.', '') -- remove dot from version
        links { "wxbase"..libVersion..wxBuildType } -- base lib
        for i, lib in ipairs(string.explode(wxLibs, ",")) do
            local libPrefix = 'wxmsw'
            if lib == "xml" or lib == "net" or lib == "odbc" then
                libPrefix = 'wxbase'
            end
            links { libPrefix..libVersion..wxBuildType..'_'..lib}
        end
        -- link with support libraries
        for i, lib in ipairs({"wxjpeg", "wxpng", "wxzlib", "wxtiff", "wxexpat"}) do
            links { lib..wxDebugSuffix }
        end
        links { "wxregex" .. wxBuildType }
    end
 
    -- use wx-config to figure out build parameters
    function wx_config_for_posix()
        local configCmd = "wx-config"  -- this is the wx-config command ligne
        if wxRoot ~= "" then configCmd = path.join(wxRoot, "bin/wx-config") end
 
        local function checkYesNo(value, option)
            if value == "" then return "" end
            if value == "yes" or value == "no" then return " --"..option.."="..value end
            error("wx"..option..' can only be "yes", "no" or empty' )
        end
 
        configCmd = configCmd .. checkYesNo(wxDebug, "debug")
        configCmd = configCmd .. checkYesNo(wxStatic, "static")
        configCmd = configCmd .. checkYesNo(wxUnicode, "unicode")
        configCmd = configCmd .. checkYesNo(wxUniversal, "universal")
        if wxHost ~= "" then configCmd = configCmd .. " --host=" .. wxHost end
        if wxVersion ~= "" then configCmd = configCmd .. " --version=" .. wxVersion end
 
        -- set the parameters to the curent configuration
        buildoptions{"`" .. configCmd .." --cxxflags`"}
        linkoptions{"`" .. configCmd .." --libs " .. wxLibs .. "`"}
    end
 
-- BUG: here, using any configuration() function will reset the current filter
--      and apply configuration to all project configuration...
--      see http://industriousone.com/post/add-way-refine-configuration-filter
--      and http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=2936443&group_id=71616&atid=531881
--~     configuration "not windows"
--~         wx_config_for_posix()
--~     configuration "vs*"
--~         wx_config_for_windows("vc")
--~     configuration {"windows", "codeblocks or gmake or codelitle"}
--~         wx_config_for_windows("gcc")
    if os.get() ~= "windows" then
        wx_config_for_posix()
    else
        local allowedCompiler = {"vc", "gcc"}
        if not table.contains( allowedCompiler, wxWindowsCompiler) then
            print( "wrong wxWidgets Compiler specified('"..wxWindowsCompiler.."'), should be one of '".. table.concat(allowedCompiler, "', '").."'" )
            wxWindowsCompiler = "vc"
        end
--~  BUG/WISH: I need a function like compiler.get() that return the project/configuration compiler
--~         local wxWindowsCompiler = "vc"
--~  BUG? --cc=compiler standard premake option is not registered in the _OPTIONS array
--~         if _OPTIONS and _OPTIONS["cc"] then
--~             wxWindowsCompiler = _OPTIONS.cc
--~             print("seen option '--cc=" .. _OPTIONS["cc"] .. "' overriding default cc='vc'")
--~         end
        wx_config_for_windows(wxWindowsCompiler)
    end
end

Run premake4 in the same folder to generate project files for codeblocks

premake4 codeblocks

You can specify a path to you wxwidgets library if needed (or use WXWIN environment variable )

premake4 --wx_root=c:\my_libs\wxWidgets vs2005

Tip

when the generated makefiles are used with the eclipse CDT, which has a nice auto-discovery mode where it figures out include paths by observing the output of make, you need to run it (for the first time) with make VERBOSE=1 as otherwise premake generated makefiles are silent and do not print the actual calls to the compiler and linker.