# &kde; User's Manual

`kdesrc-build`

1 1.15.1

`kdesrc-build`

Downloads, builds and installs &kde; software.

    kdesrc-build
    OPTIONS
    Module name | Module set name

## DESCRIPTION

The `kdesrc-build` command is used in order to build &kde; software directly from its source repositories. It can download from Subversion or Git repositories, interfaces with the &kde; project database, and supports controlling which options are passed to `make`(1) and `cmake`(1). The operation of `kdesrc-build` is driven by a configuration file, typically `~/.kdesrc-buildrc`.

The `module name` or `module set name` as given on the command line should be as those names were defined in the configuration file (either in a module definition or `use-modules` declaration, or in a `module-set` definition). In addition, it can be the name of a &kde; module listed in the &kde; project database (and you can precede the module name with + to force this).

`kdesrc-build` is designed to be able to be completely headless (however, see ENVIRONMENT), and so typically ignores its input completely. Command output is logged instead of being shown on the kdesrc-build output.

Modules are built one after the other. If a module fails to update then it is not built. `kdesrc-build` will not abort just because of a module failure, instead it will keep trying to update and build subsequent modules. By default, `kdesrc-build` will commence building a module as soon as the source code update is complete for that module, even if other updates are occurring concurrently.

At the end `kdesrc-build` will show which modules failed to build, and where the logs were kept for that build run.

## OPTIONS

NOTE: Some options have short forms, but the `kdesrc-build` option parser does not support combining short options into one at this point. (E.g. running `kdesrc-build -pv` would not be the same as `kdesrc-build --pretend --verbose`).

`-h, --help`

- Shows a brief synopsis and frequently-used command line options.

`-p, --pretend`

- Operate in a "dry run" mode. No network accesses are made, no log files are created, no modules are built, and no other permanent changes to disk are made. One important exception is that if you try to build a module that comes from the &kde; project database, and the database hasn't been downloaded yet, the database will be downloaded since the pretend-mode output may change significantly based on the database results.

`--install`

- Skips the update and build phase and immediately attempts to install the modules given.

`--uninstall`

- Skips the update and build phase and immediately attempts to uninstall the modules given. NOTE: This is only supported for buildsystems that supports the `make uninstall` command (e.g. &kde; CMake-based).

`--no-src`

- Skips the source update phase. Other phases are included as normal. `--no-svn` is a deprecated alias for this option and will be removed in a future release.

`--no-install`

- Skips the install phase from the build. Other phases are included as normal.

`--no-build`

- Skips the build phase for the build. Internally the install phase depends on the build phase completing so this is effectively equivalent to `--src-only`, but the semantics may change in the future (e.g. when test suites are moved into their own phase).

`--no-tests`

- Disables running the test suite for CMake-based modules. To be fully effective this requires re-running CMake, which can be forced by using the `--reconfigure` or `--refresh-build` options.

`--src-only`

- Only performs the source update phase, does not build or install. `--svn-only` is a deprecated alias for this option and will be removed in a future release.

`--build-only`

- Forces the build process to be performed without updating source code first. In addition, installation is not performed. (Testing is still performed if applicable, but this will change in a future release)

`--refresh-build`

- Removes the build directory for a module before the build phase starts. This has the desired side effect of forcing `kdesrc-build` to re-configure the module and build it from a "pristine" state with no existing temporary or intermediate output files. Use this option if you have problems getting a module to build but realize it will take longer (possibly much longer) for the build to complete as a result. When in doubt use this option for the entire `kdesrc-build` run.

`--reconfigure`

- Force CMake to be re-run, but without deleting the build directory. Usually you actually want `--refresh-build`, but if you are 100% sure your change to `cmake-options` will not invalidate your current intermediate output then this can save some time.

`--build-system-only`

- Interrupts the build process for each module built: The build process consists of normal setup up to and including running `cmake` or `configure` (as appropriate), but `make` is not run and no installation is attempted. This is mostly only useful to get things like `configure --help` and `cmake-gui` to work. Normally you want `--reconfigure` or `--refresh-build`.

`--resume-from=`foo``

- Use this option to skip module processing until the module `foo` is encountered. `foo` and all subsequent modules will be processed normally as if they had been specified on the command line. If you use this option because of a build failure you may want to consider using `--no-src` in addition to skip the resultant source update phase.

`--resume-after=`foo``

- This is just like `--resume-from`, except that the module `foo` is not included in the list of modules to consider. You might use this if you've manually built/installed foo after fixing the build and just want to resume from there.

`--ignore-modules`

- Forces ALL modules that follow this option to be excluded from consideration by `kdesrc-build`. This might be useful if you know you want to process all modules except for specific exceptions.

`--rc-file=`foo``

- Use the given file, `foo`, for the configuration instead of `~/.kdesrc-buildrc` or `./kdesrc-buildrc`. The file can be empty, but must exist.

`--prefix=`foo``

- Overrides the `kdedir` setting to be `foo` for this run. In addition, implies `--reconfigure`. It does not actually perform the action you would think it does (overriding the `prefix` option to change where modules are installed), although by default modules are installed to the `kdedir` setting if `prefix` is not set.

`--nice=`foo``

- Changes the CPU priority given to `kdesrc-build` (and all processes used by `kdesrc-build` e.g. `make`(1)). `foo` should be an integer number between -20 and 19. Positive values are "nicer" to the rest of the system (i.e. lower priority).

  Note that the possible priorities available on your system may be different than listed here, see `nice`(2) for more information. Note also that this only changes CPU priority, often you want to change I/O priority on systems where that is supported. There is no command-line option for I/O priority adjustment, but there is a configuration file option: `use-idle-io-priority` (although like all options, there is a generic way to set this from the command line).

`--run=`foo``

- Runs the program named by `foo` using `kdesrc-build`'s normal build environment. All command line arguments present after this option are passed to `foo` as it is run.

`--color`

- Enables "colorful output". (Enabled by default).

`--no-color`

- Disables "colorful output". This can be made permanent by setting the `colorful-output` option to false (or 0) in your configuration file.

`--async`

- Have `kdesrc-build` start the build process for a module as soon as the source code has finished downloading. Without this option `kdesrc-build` performs all source updates at once and only then starts with the build process. This option is enabled by default.

`--no-async`

- Disables asynchronous building of modules. See `--async` for a more detailed description. Note that `kdesrc-build`'s output will be slightly different in this mode.

`-v, --verbose`

- Increases the level of verbosity of `kdesrc-build` output (which is already fairly verbose!)

`-q, --quiet`

- Makes `kdesrc-build` less noisy. Only important messages are shown.

`--really-quiet`

- Makes `kdesrc-build` even less noisy. Only warnings/errors are shown.

`--debug`

- This will fill your terminal with descriptions and debugging output, usually unintelligible, describing what `kdesrc-build` is doing (and thinks it should be doing). The flag is included since the output may sometimes prove useful for debugging.

`--force-build`

- Normally when `kdesrc-build` notices that there is no source update on a module which was previously successfully installed, it does not attempt to build or install that module. You can pass this flag to disable that behavior and always run `make`.

`--no-snapshots`

- Normally `kdesrc-build` supports using source repository tarball snapshots to reduce load on &kde; infrastructure for git clones for some &kde; modules. Passing this option disables this feature.

`--delete-my-patches`

- This option must be passed to allow `kdesrc-build` to remove conflicting source directories. Currently even this only happens when trying to clone a git-based module if an existing source directory is present. Never specify this option unless it is suggested by `kdesrc-build`, and only if you don't mind the source directories that are referenced being deleted and re-cloned.

`--`foo`=`bar``

- Any option not listed above is checked to see if it matches the list of possible configuration file options. If so, the configuration file option `foo` is temporarily set to `bar` for the duration of this run.

`--`module`,`foo`=`bar``

- Like above, but option `foo` is only set to `bar` for the module `module`. This does not work for module sets yet, you must repeat this for each module you want to be affected. (Of course, you could simply edit your configuration file...)

## EXIT STATUS

0

- Success

1

- Normally this means some part of the update, build or install process failed, but is also used for any abnormal program end not otherwise covered below.

5

- A signal was received that killed `kdesrc-build`, but it attempted to perform normal closedown.

8

- Unknown option was passed on the command line.

99

- An exception was raised that forced `kdesrc-build` to abort early.

## ENVIRONMENT

`HOME`

- Used for tilde-expansion of file names, and is the default base for the source, build, and installation directories.

`PATH`

- This environment variable controls the default search path for executables. You can use the `binpath` configuration file option to add to this variable (e.g. for running from `cron`(8)).

`LC_`*

- Environment variables starting with LC_ control the locale used by `kdesrc-build`. Although `kdesrc-build` is still not localizable at this point, many of the commands it uses are. `kdesrc-build` normally sets `LC_ALL`=C for commands that its must examine the output of but you can manually do this as well. If setting `LC_ALL`=C fixes a `kdesrc-build` problem please submit a bug report.

`SSH_AGENT_PID`

- This environment variable is checked to see if `ssh-agent`(1) is running, but only if `kdesrc-build` determines that you are checking out a module that requires an SSH login (but you should know this as no module requires this by default).

`KDESRC_BUILD_USE_TTY`

- If set, this variable forces `kdesrc-build` not to close its input while executing system processes. Normally `kdesrc-build` closes stdin since the stdout and stderr for its child processes are redirected and therefore the user would never see an input prompt anyways.

`KDESRC_BUILD_DUMP_CONTEXT`

- If set, this variable prints out a description of its "build context" just after reading options and command line arguments and determining which modules to build. You pretty much never want to set this.

others

- Many programs are used by `kdesrc-build` in the course of its execution, including `svn`(1), `git`(1), `make`(1), and `cmake`(1). Each of these programs may have their own response to environment variables being set. `kdesrc-build` will pass environment variables that are set when it is run onto these processes. You can ensure certain environment variables (e.g. `CC` or `CXX`) are set by using the `set-env` configuration file option.

## FILES

`~/.kdesrc-buildrc` - Default global configuration file.

`./kdesrc-buildrc` - If this file (note there is no leading period (.) this time) is found in the current directory when kdesrc-build is run, this file will be used for the configuration instead of `~/.kdesrc-buildrc`.

`~/.kdesrc-build-data` - `kdesrc-build` uses this file to store persistent data (such as last CMake options used, last revision successfully installed, etc.). It can be safely deleted.

## BUGS

See http://bugs.kde.org/. Be sure to search against the `kdesrc-build` product.

## EXAMPLE

$ ``kdesrc-build``

- Downloads, builds and installs all modules listed in the configuration file, in the order defined therein.

$ ``kdesrc-build` `--pretend``

- Same as above, except no permanent actions are taken (specifically no log files are created, downloads performed, build processes run, etc.). EXCEPTION: If you are trying to build a module defined in the &kde; project database, and the database has not been downloaded yet, `kdesrc-build` will download the database since this can significantly affect the final build order.

$ ``kdesrc-build` `--no-src` `--refresh-build` kdebase`

- Deletes the build directory for the kdebase module set (`--refresh-build`) and then starts the build process again without updating the source code in-between.

$ ``kdesrc-build` `--rc-file` `/dev/null` `--pretend``

- Forces `kdesrc-build` to read an empty configuration file and simulate the resultant build process. This shows what would happen by default with no configuration file, without an error message about a missing configuration file.

$ ``kdesrc-build` +kdebase/kde-baseapps`

- Downloads, builds and installs the kde-baseapps module from the &kde; project database. Since the module name is preceded by a + it is assumed to defined in the &kde; project database even if this hasn't been specifically configured in the configuration file.

  The kdebase/ portion forces `kdesrc-build` to ignore any kde-baseapps modules that are not children of the kdebase supermodule in the project database (although it is contrived for this example).

$ ``kdesrc-build` `--refresh-build` `--cmake-options=`"-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug"```

- Downloads, builds and installs all modules defined in the configuration file but overrides the cmake-options option to have the value given on the command line for this run only. Any further `kdesrc-build` runs will use the cmake-options given in the configuration file.

## SEE ALSO

build-tool - A program by Michael Jansen which can build &kde; software based on included recipes.

## RESOURCES

Main web site: http://kdesrc-build.kde.org/

Documentation: http://kdesrc-build.kde.org/documentation/

Setup script: `kdesrc-build-setup`

## COPYING

Copyright (C) 2003-2011 Michael Pyne.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA