blam

Description

blam is a very simple build system for Blitz. It's based on BlitzBuild, but has been rebuilt in BlitzMax and made cross-platform.

Overview

blam looks to a file called either blam.xml or build.xml in the current working directory. This file must contain a project node as the root and at least one target element.

A simple build file looks something like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<project name="example" default="build:debug">

  <!-- Build properties -->
  <property name="build.paths.base"   value="${project::get-buildfile-path()}" />
  <property name="build.paths.source" value="${build.paths.base}/src" />
  <property name="build.paths.output" value="${build.paths.base}/build" />

  <!-- Building -->
  <target name="build:debug" description="Build the app in debug mode">
    <bmk action="makeapp" threaded="true" gui="false"
         output="${build.paths.output}/example"
         source="${build.paths.source}/app.bmx" />
  </target>

</project>

The build file can then be run by calling blam build:debug (or just blam when executing the default target).

Configuration

Before blam can properly run, it needs to be configured with paths to BlitzMax. blam will look for a configuration file in the following places:

• "~/.blamrc"
• "~/.config/blam.ini"
• "~/.config/bliztzbuild.ini"
• "blam.ini" in the blam executable' directory
• "blitzbuild.ini" in the blam executable' directory

The configuration path can also be set via the --config command line option.

If no configuration file is present, you will be prompted to use the set wizard which will prompt for a bmk path.

To manually configure blam, create an ini file at any of the locations above. The ini should contain the following information:

# Configuration file for blam
[BlitzMax]
win32       = c:\path\to\blitzmax\bin\bmk.exe
linux       = /path/to/blitzmax/bin/bmk
macos       = /path/to/blitzmax/bin/bmk

blam will complain if the bmk executable is not found, but it can still be used to run non-bmk tasks.

Usage

Calling blam with the name of a target will execute that target in the default build file.

Some of the most commonly-used alternative commands are:

• -f or --file-name -- Specify the build file to execute (instead of the default blam.xml/build.xml.
• -t or --target -- Specify the build target to call. Alternatively specify the build target as the last argument.
• -l or --list -- List all build targets in the build file.

For example, blam -f=myfile.xml -t=mytarget will run mytarget in the myfile.xml file (if both exist).

blam --help lists all available commands and switches.

Building

Prerequisites

• BlitzMax
• Modules required (not including built-in brl.mod and pub.mod):
  • sodaware.mod
    • sodaware.console_basic
    • sodaware.console_color
    • sodaware.console_commandline
    • sodaware.file_config
    • sodaware.file_config_iniserializer
    • sodaware.file_fnmatch
    • sodaware.file_ini
    • sodaware.file_util
    • sodaware.file_ziphelper
    • sodaware.stringtable
  • prime.mod
    • prime.maxml
  • bah.mod
    • bah.volumes
  • gman.mod
    • gman.zipengine

Compiling

To build the app in release mode, run the following from the command line:

bmk makeapp -h -r -o build/blam src/main.bmx

Copy the blam executable to its final destination.

Licence

Released under the GPLv3. See COPYING for the full licence.