About

This is a simple and easy to use C++ build system for Linux designed for use with C++20 modules in mind, it uses JSON based project files.

Install

Prerequisites:

clang 18>
git

Clone and build:

git clone https://github.com/Catcrafts/Crafter.Build.git
cd Crafter.Build
./build.sh

(optionally add to path)

How to use

Quickstart

create a project.json in an empty folder, open it in your preferred text editor. Create a basic project file, with a base configuration and debug and release configuration

{
    "name": "hello-world",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "base",
            "standard": "c++26",
            "source_files": ["main"],
            "module_files": [],
            "build_dir": "./build",
            "output_dir": "./bin"
        },
        {
            "name": "debug",
            "extends": ["base"],
            "optimization_level": "0"
        }
        {
            "name": "release",
            "extends": ["base"],
            "optimization_level": "3"
        }
    ]
}

Save and close the file, create a main.cpp

#include <print>
int main() {
  std::println("Hello World!");
}

Save and close, then run crafter-build -c debug. Now you can run the hello-world executable that has appeared in the bin folder

CLI arguments

--help Displays a help message.

-c The name of the configuration to build.

-p The path to the project file, defaults to project.json.

-o Overrides the output folder.

configuration properties

name Name of the configuration.

standard C++ standard that this configuration uses, please refer to the relevant clang documentation

source_files All source files of the project .cpp extension is assumed.

module_files All C++ 20 module files of the project .cppm extension is assumed.

build_dir The directory where intermediate files are stored.

output_dir The directory where the output files will be placed.

extends An array of configuration names that this configuration extends, later elements in the array take priority over previous ones.

optimization_level Please refer to the relevant clang documentation.

dependencies An object array of the dependencies of this project, example:

"dependencies": [
    {
        "path":"/home/Crafter.Build/project.json",
        "configuration":"debug-lib"
    }
]

This will now link the library of Crafter.Build in the configuration you use this in.

target Clang triplet this configuration uses, please refer to the relevant clang documentation.

Note: the WASI SDK needs to be installed to compile to webassmbly, and $WASI_SDK_PATH needs to be set, please refer to the wasi-sdk installation guide.