icmake(1)

NAME
icmake - A program maintenance (make) utility using a C-like grammar

SYNOPSIS
icmake [options] source[.im] [dest[.bim]] [-- [args]]

icmun bimfile

DESCRIPTION

Icmake(1) was designed as a generic tool that can be used as an alternative to make(1), handling program maintenance. It’s a generic tool in that icmake-scripts, written in a language closely resembling the C programming language, can perform tasks that are traditionally the domain of scripting languages.

Icmake allows programmers to use a programming language (closely resembling the well-known C-programming language) to define the actions that are required for (complex) program maintenance. For this, icmake offers various special operators as well as a set of support functions that have shown their usefulness in program maintenance.

Although icmake-scripts can be written from scratch for handling program maintenance, often the required activities are highly comparable. This observation resulted in the construction of two icmake-scripts: icmstart(1), initializing a directory for program development and icmbuild(1), handling the actual program maintenance. Both come predefined as scripts tailored to initializing and maintaining C++ programs (or, after minimal adaptation, C programs), but can easily be adapted to other programming languages. Both icmstart and icmbuild can be run without explicitly calling icmake.

This man-page covers icmake (the program), its support programs and the syntax and facilities offered by icmake’s scripting language. Refer to the icmstart(1)) man-page for information about how a directory can be initialized (created) in which (by default) a C++ or C program can be developed and refer to the icmbuild(1) man-page for information about how icmbuild can be used to handle program maintenance.

It should be stressed that icmake and its support programs and scripts do not offer an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). It merely performs tasks for which scripts can be written, and it offers just a few pre-defined scripts (icmstart and icmbuild) that repeatedly have shown to be extremely useful when developing and maintaining programs.

In its standard operation mode, icmake calls the following programs:

o   icm-pp to preprocess the icmake file

o   icm-comp to byte-code compile the icmake s

o   icm-dep to handle class-dependencies (see section ICM-DEP in icmbuild(1)’s man-page for more information about icm-dep).

o   icm-exec to execute the byte-code file

The program icmun(1) can be used to disassemble the compiled byte-code (.bim) file. Icmun is mainly used for illustration, education, and debugging. As it is not required for icmake’s daily use it is not installed in a standard PATH directory but (since icmake’s version 9.02.00) in icmake’s lib directory, commonly /usr/lib/icmake.

Traditional make-utilities recompile sources once header files are modified. When developing C++ programs this is often a bad idea, as adding a new member to a class does not normally require you to recompile all of the class’s source files. To handle class dependencies icmbuld(1) may inspect class dependencies, (re)compiling sources of dependent classes whenever necessary. By default, class-dependencies are not interpreted, but this can easily be changed by activating the PRECOMP and/or USE_ALL defines in icmconf. Refer to the icmconf(7) man-page for further details.

Precompiled header files can also easily be used. Precompiled header files dramatically reduce the time that is required for compiling classes’ source files. Refer to the icmconf(7) man-page (in particular the description of the PRECOMP define) for further details.

Icmake’s C-like scripting language is described in the upcoming sections of this man-page:

o   PREPROCESSOR DIRECTIVES
    - supported preprocessor directives, like #include and #define;

o   DATA TYPES
    - int, list, string, and void (for functions);

o   PREDEFINED CONSTANTS
    - like O_FILE, OFF, and S_IFREG;

o   OPERATORS
    - like +, younger, and casts

o   FLOW CONTROL
    - if, for, while, etc. (the switch is not available);

o   PREDEFINED FUNCTIONS
    - executing programs, changing directories, operations on string and list type variables, etc.;

o   USER DEFINED FUNCTIONS
    - at least main, with or without its common parameters argc, argv, and envp.

OPTIONS

Where available, single letter options are listed between parentheses beyond their associated long-option variants.

The -- option is special:

o   --: icmake arguments separator separating icmake arguments from arguments passed to the .bim filenl(). Those arguments are passed to the .bim file as-is, and are available from the list argv parameter available from the icmake script’s main function’s second parameter (see below at section USER DEFINED FUNCTIONS). For some options (see below) the -- separator is not required.

Icmake supports various options, and only one of these can be specified when icmake is invocated.

o   --about (-a)
    Show information about icmake and terminate.

o   --compile (-c)
    The icmake source file is compiled, generating a .bim file.

o   --execute (-e)
    Execute the icmake .bim file, given as icmake’s first file argument. Any additional arguments are passed to the .bim file as-is, and -- should not be specified.

o   --force (-f)
    The icmake source file is recompiled (even if the .bim file is up-to-date) either when no other options are specified, or when in combination with options --source and --tmpbin.

o   --help (-h)
    Provide usage info and terminate.

o   --icm-dep (-d)
    Calls /usr/lib/icmake/icm-dep, passing it all remaining arguments. If no additional arguments are specified icm-dep’s short usage information is shown to the std. output stream. See section ICM-DEP in icbuild(1)’s man-page for more information about the icm-dep support program. An overview of icm-dep’s option follows below, next to this overview of icmake’s options.

o   --preprocess (-p)
    The icmake source file is only preprocessed, and the preprocessed file is written to icmake’s second file argument (by default `source’.pim).

o   --source (-i)
    The first argument is the icmake source file, the default binary file is constructed if necessary. Any additional arguments are passed to the .bim file as-is, and -- should not be specified.

o   --summary (-F)
    The filenames and flags as well as an overview of all actions to be performed by icmake are shown on the standard output stream.

o   -t tmpbim
    The tmpbim argument following -t is the name of a temporary .bim file, which is removed after icmake’s call. When . is specified for tmpbim then the default temporary directory, followed by icmake’s process-id, followed by .bim is used.

    Following the name of the temporary .bim file the name of the icmake source script must be specified. Any additional arguments are passed to the .bim file as-is, and -- should not be specified; After setting the source script file’s executable flag (chmod +x script), and providing it with an initial line like this:
        #!/usr/bin/icmake -t.

    the icmake script can directly be called:
        script arg1 arg2

    in which case the icmake script `script’ is executed while it receives the arguments script arg1 arg2.

o   -T directory
    The specified directory is used to store temporary files. E.g., when compiling an icmake script, the output of icmake’s preprocessor is a temporary file which is removed on exit. By default /tmp is used, unless /tmp is not a writable directory, in which case the current user’s $HOME directory is used. Implicit temporary filenames always start with the process id of the current icmake process.

o   --version (-v)
    Displays icmake’s version number, and terminates.

Icmun:

bimfile: binary icmake script file.

ICM-DEP invocation and options

To start its work, the dependencies-analyzer icm_dep needs one command-line argument: go. Any other argument results in icm_dep performing a `dry run’: it will perform all its duties (and verbose messages are displayed as if go had been specified), but no files (precompiled headers or USE_ALL files) will be touched or removed. If neither options nor arguments are specified icm_dep writes its usage summary to the standard output.

Options of icm-dep can be specified immediately following icmake’s --icm-dep option. The following options are recognized by icm-dep:

o   --classes=filename (-c)
    By default, icm-dep inspects dependencies of the classes whose directories are mentioned in the file CLASSES. If specified in the icmconf(7) file, it will also consider dependencies of the classes Parser (directory parser) and Scanner (directory scanner), or it uses their actual names as defined in the icmconf(7) file. Use this option if instead of CLASSES another file should be inspected.

o   --help (-h)
    Icm-dep writes a summary of its usage to the standard output and terminates.

o   --icmconf=filename (-i)
    By default icm-dep inspects the contents of an icmconf file, looking for the USE_ALL and PRECOMP specifications. Use this option if instead of icmconf another file should be inspected.

o   --mainih=mainheader (-m)
    The icmconf file uses the #define IH parameter to specify the suffix of class header files that should be precompiled, their filenames being equal to the names of the classes mentioned in the CLASSES file. CLASSES does not specify a top-level directory. The name of the top-level header file to precompile can be specified using this option. By default it is main.ih.

o   --gch
    By default precompiled header files are inspected if icmconf contains a #define PRECOMP specification. If it does not, but precompiled headers should nonetheless be inspected, the option --gch can be specified.

o   --no-gch
    By default precompiled header files are inspected if icmconf contains a #define PRECOMP specification. If so, but precompiled headers should not be inspected, the option --no-gch can be specified.

o   --no-use-all
    By default files named at the #define USE_ALL specification are inspected if icmconf contains such a specification. If it does, but the `USE_ALL’ files should not be inspected, this option can be specified.

o   --use-all=filename
    By default files named at the #define USE_ALL specification are inspected if icmconf contains such a specification. If it does not, but `USE_ALL’ files should nonetheless be inspected, this option can be specified, together with the name of files (existing in one or more directories that indicate that all the directory’s source files must be recompiled).

o   --verbose (-V)
    This option can be specified multiple times. The number of times it is specified defines icm_dep’s verbosity. If none is specified, icm_dep silently performs its duties. If specified once, then icm_dep reports to the standard output what actions it performs; if specified twice it reports the options it encountered; if specified three times it also reports the class dependencies; if specified more often it reports what files it encountered and what situations caused it to make its decisions.

o   --version (-v)
    Icm_dep reports its version number to the standard output and terminates.

PREPROCESSOR DIRECTIVES

The following preprocessor directives are available:

o   comment:
    standard C comment (all between /* and */) as well as comment-to-end-of-line (all line contents following //) are ignored.

o   Shell startup: The first line of the icmake-script may start with #!path, where path defines the absolute location of the icmake program. By making the script executable, it can be called without explicitly calling icmake.

    E.g., if the first line of an (executable) icmakefile ’icm’ (without extension) contains
                #!/usr/bin/icmake -i

    then icm may be issued as a command, thus executing
                /usr/bin/icmake -i icm ...

    Alternatively,
                #!/usr/bin/icmake -t /tmp/icm

    may be used, resulting in the execution of
                #!/usr/bin/icmake -t /tmp/icm icm ...

    In this case the binary file is removed on exit.

o   #include "filename"
    The file filename is included at the location of the directive

o   #include <filename>
    The file filename is included at the location of the #include directive; filename is searched in the colon-separated directories specified by the IM environment variable. The first occurrence of filename in the directories specified by the IM environment variable is used.

o   #define identifier [definition]
    The text identifier will be replaced by definition. The definition may contain references to already defined identifiers, using the ${identifier} format. If the ${identifier} hasn’t been defined (yet), the text ${identifier} is literally kept. To prevent infinite recursion at most 100 ${identifier} replacements are allowed.

    Definitions continue at the next line if the last character on a line is a backslash (\). (which is not included in the definition). The preprocessor concatenates double-quuted strings, and double quoted strings may not span multiple lines. Multiple blanks (outside of double quoted strings) in definitions are contracted to a single blank space.

    The definition following the #define’s identifier is optional. If omitted, the macro is defined, so it can be used in #if(n)def directives (see below), but they are not replaced by any text in icmake code statements.

o   #ifdef identifier
    If the identifier macro was defined the next block of code (until a matching #else or #endif directive was read) is byte-compiled. Otherwise, the block of code is ignored.

o   #ifndef identifier
    If the identifier macro was not defined the next block of code (until a matching #else or #endif directive was detected) is byte-compiled. Otherwise, the block of code is ignored.

o   #else
    Terminates a #ifdef and #ifndef directive, reversing the acceptance decision about the following code. Only one #else directive can be associated with #if(n)def directives.

o   #endif
    Terminates the preprocessor block starting at the matching #ifdef, #ifndef or #else directive. The #endif directory and its matching #if(n)def directive must be specified in the same file.

o   #undef identifier
    Remove identifier from the set of defined symbols. This does not affect the specification of any previously defined symbols in which identifier’s definition has been used. If identifier hasn’t been defined a warning is issued.

DATA TYPES

Icmake supports these data types:

o   ASCII character constants
    ASCII character constants consist of one character, surrounded by single or double quotes. Single characters (e.g., ’a’) represent the character itself. Standard escape sequences (e.g., ’\n’) are supported and represent their standard converted value (e.g., ’\n’ represents ascii value 10 (decimal)). Non-standard escape sequences (e.g., ’\x’) represent the ascii character following the escape character (so ’\x’ equals ’x’). Escape sequences consisting of three octal digits represent the ascii character corresponding to the octal value modulo 256 (e.g., ’\123’). Escape sequences consisting of an x followed by two hexadecimal digits represent the ascii character corresponding to the hexadecimal value (e.g., ’\xa4’).

o   int
    Integral values, ranging from -0x8000 through 0x7fff. int constants may be specified as decimal numbers (starting with digits 1 through 9), octal numbers (starting with 0, followed by one or more octal digits) hexadecimal numbers (starting with 0x, followed by one or more hexadecimal digits) or as ASCII character constants.

o   string
    Text variables. String constants are delimited by double quotes. Multiple string constants may be concatenated, but a single string constant may not span multiple lines. String constants separated by white space only (i.e., blanks, newlines, comment) are concatenated and represent one single string constant. To indicate an end-of-line in a string constant use the \n escape sequence.

    ASCII character constants surrounded by double quotes can also be used in arithmetic expressions if one of the operands is an int. The single character string constant must be a constant, and cannot be a string variable.

    Likewise, ASCII character constants surrounded by single quotes may be used in situations where a string operand is expected.

o   list
    A data structure containing a series of individually accessible string values. When a list contains elements, its first element is indicated by index 0.

o   void
    Used with function definitions to indicate that the function does not return a value.

Variables can be defined at the global level as well as at any local level inside functions. When defined inside functions, the standard C scoping and visibility rules apply. E.g., local variables can only be used in their own or in more deeply nested blocks, their visibility is masked in more deeply nested blocks by defining an identically named variable inside those more deeply nested blocks. Variables are strongly typed, and cannot have type void.

Variables may be initialized when they are defined. Initializations are expressions, that can use pre- or user-defined functions, constant values, and values of variables that are visible at the point of definition.

PREDEFINED CONSTANTS

The following constants are predefined by icmake. All are constant int values:
symbol | value | intended for
O_ALL | 8 | makelist
O_DIR | 2 | makelist
O_FILE | 1 | makelist
O_SUBDIR | 4 | makelist
OFF | 0 | echo
ON | 1 | echo
P_CHECK | 0 | system calls
P_NOCHECK | 1 | system calls
S_IEXEC | 32 | stat
S_IFCHR | 1 | stat
S_IFDIR | 2 | stat
S_IFREG | 4 | stat
S_IREAD | 8 | stat
S_IWRITE | 16 | stat

The following constants are architecture dependent:
symbol | 1 when defined on the platform, otherwise 0
unix | Unix, usually with GNU’s gcc compiler
UNIX | may alternatively be available
linux | x86 running Linux (usually with gcc)
LINUX | may alternatively be available
M_SYSV, M_UNIX | x86 running SCO/Unix
_POSIX | _SOURCE Unix with Posix compliant compiler
__hpux | HP-UX, with the native HP compiler

OPERATORS

int-typed operand(s):

All C operators are available (except for pointer operators, as icmake does not support pointers). They operate like their C-programming language counterparts.

string-typed operand(s):

For string type variables and/or constants the following operators are available (a and b represent string variables or constants):

o   a + b: returns a new string value containing the concatenation of string values a and b. Note that string constants may be directly concatetated (without using the + operator), e.g., the following two lines both define the string "hello world":
    "hello "   "world"
    "hello " + "world"

o   a += b: a must be a string variable, to which the string variable or value b is appended.

o   string comparisons: operators == != <= >= < > != and == may be applied to string values or variables, returning 1 if the comparison succeeds, otherwise 0. Comparison is case sensitively, and follows the ordering or characters as defined in the ASCII character set.

o   !a: the boolean ! (not) operator returns 1 if the string a is empty, otherwise 0 is returned.

o   a younger b, a newer b: returns 1 if file a is more recent than file b. E.g., "source.cc" newer "source.o". The files a and b do not have to exist: if both don’t exist 0 is returned; if b doesn’t exist, 1 is returned; if a doesn’t exist 0 is returned; if they are equally old 0 is returned. (the exists() predefined function (see below, section PREDEFINED FUNCTIONS) can be used to test explicitly whether a file exists).

o   a older b: turns 1 if file a is older than file b. E.g., "libprog.a" older "source.o". The files a and b do not have to exist: if both don’t exist 0 is returned; if a doesn’t exist, 1 is returned; if b doesn’t exist 0 is returned; if they are equally old 0 is returned.

o   []: the index operator retrieves a character from a string variable or constant: it returns a string as an rvalue. Therefore, the following statement compiles OK:
        // assume str1 and str2 are strings
    str1 = str2[3];

    but the following statement won’t compile:
    str2[3] = "a";

    An empty string is returned if an invalid index value is provided.

o   The `backtick` operator (`string cmd`)
    A string placed between two backticks is executed by the popen(3) function. The standard output gererated by the command that is stored in the string argument is returned as a list. An empty list indicates that the command could not be executed. A command that could be executed but did not produce any output returns a list containing one empty element. The command’s standard error stream output is not collected by the backtick operator. However, standard shell redirection could be used to collect the standard error stream’s output. Example:
    printf(`"ls"`);     // prints the elements in
                        // the current directory

    The predefined function eval(string cmd) behaves exactly like the backtick operator: they are synonyms.

list-typed operand(s):

For list type variables and/or values the following operators are available:

o   a + b: returns a new list value containing the concatenation of list values a and b. This is not a set operation: if an element appears both in a and in b, they will appear twice in the resulting list (set-addition is provided by the built-in function listunion).

o   a - b: returns a new list value containing the elements in a that are not present in b. This is a set-difference operation: the returned list contains all elements in a that are not elements of b.

o   a += b: elements in b are added to the elements in a, which must be a list variable. This is not a set operation.

o   a -= b: elements in b are removed from the elements in a, which must be a list variable. This is a set operation: all elements of a that are found in b are removed from a.

o   list equality comparisons: operators != and == may be applied to list values or variables. Operator == returns 1 if both lists have element-by-element identical elements, otherwise 0 is returned. Operator != reverses the result of ==.

o   !a: the boolean ! operator returns 1 if the list a is empty, otherwise 0 is returned.

o   []: the index operator retrieves a list element from a list variable: it returns a string as an rvalue. Therefore, the following statement compiles OK:
        // assume lst is a list, str is a string
    str = lst[3];

    but the following statement won’t compile:
    lst[3] = str;

    An empty string is returned if an invalid index value is provided.

Casting:

Type-casts may be performed using the standard C cast-operator to cast:

o   Strings to ints and vice versa ((int)"123", (string)55)

o   Strings to lists (list lst = (list)"hello")

FLOW CONTROL

Icmake offers the following subset of C’s statements. They can be used as in the C programming language.

o   expression ;
    The plain expression statement;

o   The compound statement
    Variables of any type may be defined and initialized anywhere inside any compound statement. The visibility of a variable starts at its point of definition.

o   if (condition) statement
    Inside the condition a variable may be defined and initialized. E.g,
        if (string str = getText())
            process(str);

    In this example, process is not called if getText() returns an empty string. The variable str does not exist either before or after the if statement.

o   if (condition) statement else statement
    As with the previous statement, inside the condition a variable may be defined and initialized.

o   for (init; condition; increment) statement
    Variables (of a single type) may be initialized (and optionally be defined) in the init section. The init, condition and increment sections may remain empty. The empty condition section is interpreted as `always true’.

o   while (condition) statement
    Inside the condition a variable may be defined and initialized.
    A complementary do ... while() statement is not available. Note that defining a variable, using an initialization expression means that the initialization expressing is executed at each iteration of the while statement. So the following statement will never end, and will display a never ending stream of values 10:
    while (int x = 10)
        printf(x--, "\n");

o   return;, and return expression;
    Plain return statements can be used in void functions, and return expression statements are used in other type of functions. The function main has return type void and so in main only plain return statements can be used. By default an icmake script’s exit value equals 0. Use the built-in function exit (see below) to specify any other exit value.

    Be advised: the behavior of non-void functions not returning values is undefined.

o   break
    Leaves for and while statements, overruling the statement’s condition.

o   continue
    Continues with the next iteration of a for or while statement.

o   exit(expression)
    Ends the execution of an icmake-script. The expression must evaluate to an int value, which becomes the script’s exit value.

PREDEFINED FUNCTIONS

Icmake offers the following predefined functions, which can be used anywhere in icmake scripts. The following overview is ordered alphabetically by function name.

o   void arghead(string h)
    Helper function of exec() (see also below at exec()): defines the `argument head’, to be used with exec(). By default, the `argument head’ is an empty string.

o   void argtail (string t)
    Helper function of exec() (see also below at exec()): defines the `argument tail’, to be used with exec(). By default, the `argument tail’ is an empty string.

o   int ascii(string s)
    Returns the first character of s as an int; e.g., ascii("A") returns 65;

o   string ascii(int i)
    Returns i as a string, e.g., ascii(65) returns the string "A";

o   string change_base(string file, string newbase)
    Changes the basename of file, returns the changed name. E.g, change_base("/path/demo.im", "out") returns "/path/out.im";

o   string change_ext(string file, string newext)
    Changes the extension of file, returns the changed name. E.g, rss_changeExt("source.cc", "o") returns "source.o";

o   string change_path(string file, string newpath)
    Changes the path specification of file, returns the changed name. E.g, change_path("tmp/binary", "/usr/bin") returns "/usr/bin/binary". Note that the /-separator is inserted if required.

o   string chdir(string newdir)
    Changes the script’s working directory, returns the previous dir as an absolute path.

    Use chdir(".") to obtain the current working directory, chdir("") may be used to obtain the startup working directory (this functionality was broken in releases before than 7.00, but is now operational). The function terminates the icmake-script if the specified newdir does not exist.

o   string chdir(int checking, string newdir)
    Same functionality as the previous function, but by specifying checking as P_NOCHECK. the function won’t terminate the script. Rather, it will return the script’s current working directory.

o   cmdhead(string h)
    Helper function of exec() (see also below at exec()): Defines a `command head’, to be used with exec(). By default, the `command head’ is an empty string.

o   cmdtail(string t)
    Helper function of exec() (see also below at exec()): Defines a `command tail’, to be used with exec(). By default, the `command tail’ is an empty string.

o   echo(int opt)
    Controls echoing of called programs (and their arguments), specify OFF if echoing is not requested. By default echo(ON) is used.

o   string element(int index, list (or string) var)
    Acts identical to the index operator: refer to the index ([]) operator in the section OPERATORS.

o   list eval(string str)
    This function acts identically to the backtick operator. The example provided with the backtick operator could therefore also have been written like this:

    printf(eval("ls")); // prints the elements in the current
                        // directory

o   exec(string cmd, ...)
    Executes command with arguments. Each argument will be prefixed by arghead()’s argument and postfixed by argtail()’s argument. Note that no blanks are inserted between arghead()’s contents, the argument proper, and argtail()’s argument. All thus modified arguments are concatenated, this time separated by single blanks, and then cmdhead()’s contents are inserted between the command and the first argument (on either side delimited by single blanks) and cmdtail()’s contents are appended to the arguments (again, separated by a single blank). PATH is searched to locate cmd. 0 is returned.

o   exec(int checkcmd, string cmd, ...)
    Same functionality as the previous function, but by specifying checking as NOT_CHECKED the function won’t terminate the script. Rather, it will return the called command’s exit status, or 0x7f00 if the command wasn’t found.

o   execute(string cmd, string cmdhd, string arghd, ..., string argtl, string cmdtl)
    Same as exec(), but command head/tail and argument head/tail must be specified.

    The actually executed command starts with cmd, followed by cmdhd. Next is a series of arguments follows, each enclosed by arghd and argtl. The command terminates with cmdtl. 0 is returned

o   execute(int checking, string cmd, string cmdhd, string arghd, ..., string argtl, string cmdtl)
    Same functionality as the previous function, but by specifying checking as NOT_CHECKED the function won’t terminate the script. Rather, it will return the called command’s exit status, or 0x7f00 if the command wasn’t found.

o   int exists(string file)
    Returns a non-zero value if file exists, otherwise 0 is returned.

o   list fgets(string file, list offset)
    NOTE: in icmake version 8.00.00 the prototype of this function was changed from list fgets(string file, int offset) to list fgets(string file, list offset).

    The next line found at the offset contained in offset is read from file. Pass an empty list to fgets to read file from its beginning.

    It returns a list containing as its first element the contents of the read line (without the \n line terminator), as its second element the line’s terminator `\n’ (if encountered), and as its third element the string OK if a line was successfully read, FAIL if reading from file failed. When reading at EOF an empty list is returned. The returned list may contain additional elements, which are internally used by fgets when reading the next line.

    To read multiple lines, start by passing an empty list as gets’s second argument. To read subsequent lines, pass the previously returned list to fgets’s second argument.

    Here is an example showing how to read a complete file:
    list ret;
    while (1)
    {
        ret = fgets("filename", ret);
        if (!ret)
            break;
        process(ret[0], ret[1]);
    }

o   int fprintf(string filename, ...)
    Appends all (comma separated) arguments to the file filename. Returns the number of printed arguments.

o   int fprintf(string filename, string format, ...)
    Appends all (comma separated) arguments to the file filename. Returns the number of printed arguments.

    If format contains placeholders %1 .. %n the output is formatted (see also strformat). Note that in this case argument counting (also) starts beyond the format string: the first argument following format is referred to as %1.

o   string get_base(string file)
    Returns the base name of file. The base name is the file without its path prefix and without its extension. The extension is all information starting at the final dot in the filename. If no final dot is found, the file name is the base name. E.g., the base name of a.b equals a, the base name of a.b.c equals a.b, the base name of a/b/c equals c.

o   string getch()
    Returns the next pressed key as a string (pressing `Enter’ is not required).

o   string get_dext(string file)
    Returns the extension of file, including the separating dot. The extension is all information starting at the filename’s final dot.

    If no final dot is found, an empty string is returned.

o   list getenv(string envvar)
    Returns the value of environment variable envvar in a list containing two elements:

    the first element indicates whether the environment variable was defined (value "1") or not (value "0");
    the second element indicates the value of the environment variable.

    Enivironment variables are of the form variable=value, and if defined the list’s second element contains value. If the value is empty, the variable is defined, but has no text associated with it.

o   string get_ext(string file)
    Returns the extension of file, except for the separating dot. The extension is all information starting at the final dot in the filename.

    If no final dot is found, an empty string is returned.

o   int getpid()
    Returns the process-id of the icmake byte code interpreter icm-exec.

o   string gets()
    Returns the next line read from the keyboard as a string. The line entered on the keyboard must be terminated by an `Enter’ key, which is not stored in the returned string.

o   string get_path(string file)
    Returns the path-prefix of file. The path prefix is all information up to (and including) the final directory separator (which is, depending on the operating system, a forward- or backslash).

    If no path is found, an empty strring is returned.

o   int listfind(list lst, string str)
    Returns the first index in lst where the string str is found, or -1 if lst does not contain str.

o   int listlen(list l)
    Returns the number of elements in list.

o   list listunion(list lhs, list rhs)
    Returns a list containing the union of the elements in lhs and rhs.

o   list listunion(list lst, string str)
    Returns a list containing the union of the elements in lst and str.

o   list makelist(string mask)
    Returns a list of all files matching mask. E.g., makelist("*.c") returns a list containing all files ending in .c.

o   list makelist(type, string mask)
    Same as the previous function, but the type of the directory elements may be specified as its first argument:
    symbol | meaning |
    O_ALL | obtain all directory entries |
    O_DIR | obtain all directories, including . and .. |
    O_FILE | obtain a list of files |
    O_SUBDIR | obtain all subdirectories |
    Note that the pattern * will not match hidden entries under Unix-type operating systems. Use .* for that.

o   list makelist(string mask, newer, string comparefile)
    Returns list of all files matching mask which are newer than a provided comparefile. Operator younger may be used instead of newer. Note that newer and younger are operators, not strings.

o   list makelist([int = IS_FILE,] string mask, newer, string comparefile)
    Same as the previous function, but type may be specified as in list makelist(type, string mask).

o   makelist(string mask, older, string comparefile)
    See above; returns a list of files that are older than the comparefile.

o   makelist(type, string mask, older, string comparefile)
    Same as the previous function, but type may be specified as in list makelist(type, string mask).

o   int printf(...)
    Shows all (comma separated) arguments to screen (i.e., the standard output stream). Returns the number of printed arguments.

o   int printf(string format, ...)
    Shows all (comma separated) arguments to screen (i.e., the standard output stream). Returns the number of printed arguments (the format string counts as one argument).

    If format contains placeholders %1 .. %n the output is formatted (see also strformat).

o   int putenv(string envvar)
    Adds envvar to the current (icmake) environment Use the format: "VAR=value". Returns 0.

o   string resize(string str, int newlength) Returns a copy of string str, resized to newlength characters. If newlength is negative then an empty string is returned, if newlength exceeds str’s length then the newly added characters are initialized to blank spaces.

o   int sizeof(list l)
    Deprecated: use listlen.

o   int sizeoflist(list l)
    Deprecated: use listlen.

o   list stat(string entry)
    Returns stat(2) information of directory entry entry as a list. The returned list has two elements: element 0 is the attribute value, element 1 contains the size of the file.

    Attributes are returned as bit-flags, composed from the following predefined constants:
    S_IFCHR     S_IFDIR     S_IFREG
    S_IREAD     S_IWRITE    S_IEXEC

    See the stat(2) manual page for the meanings of these constants.

o   list stat(checking, string entry)
    Same as the previous function, but by specifying checking as P_NOCHECK the function won’t terminate the script. Rather, it returns stat(2)’s return value.

o   int strchr(string str, string chars)
    Returns the first index in str where any of the characters in chars is found, or -1 if str does not contain any of the characters in chars.

o   int strlen(string str)
    Returns the number of characters in str (not counting the final 0).

o   int strfind(string haystack, string needle)
    Returns index in haystack where needle is found, or -1 if needle is not contained in haystack.
    This function was called strstr() in versions before 7.00.

o   int strformat(string format,...)
    Returns a formatted string using placeholders %1 .. %2 to address arguments following format.
    Example:
    void main()
    {
        int i = 10;
        int j = 20;
        string s1;
        string s2;
                                        // traditional approach:
        s1 = (string)i + " " + (string)j + " " + (string)i;
                                        // using strformat:
        s2 = strformat("%1 %2 %1", i, j);
        printf("s1 = %1, s2 = %2\n", s1, s2);
    }

o   string strlwr(string s)
    Returns a lower-case duplicate of s.

o   list strtok(string str, string separators)
    Returns a list containing all substrings of str separated by one or more (consecutive) characters in separators. E.g., strtok("hello icmake’s+world", " +") returns the list containing the three strings "hello", "icmake’s", and "world".

o   string strupr(string s)
    Returns an upper-case duplicate of s.

o   string substr(string text, int offset, int count)
    Returns a substring of text, starting at offset, consisting of count characters. If offset exceeds (or equals) the string’s size or if count <= 0, then an empty string is returned. If offset is less than 0 then offset = 0 is used.

o   int system(string command)
    Executes command. The return value indicates the executed command’s exit value. The string command may contain redirection and/or piping characters.

o   int system(int checking, string command)
    Same functionality as the previous function, but by specifying checking as NOT_CHECKED the function won’t terminate the script. Rather, it will return the called command’s exit status, or 0x7f00 if the command wasn’t found.

o   string trim(string s)
    Returns a copy of s without leading and trailing white spaces.

o   string trimleft(string str)
    Returns a copy of s without leading white spaces.

o   string trim(string s)
    Returns a copy of s without trailing white spaces.

USER DEFINED FUNCTIONS

void main

Icmake scripts must be provided with a user-defined function main. The function main has three optional parameters, which may be omitted from the last one (envp) to the first (argc), like in C. Its full prototype is (note: void return type):
    void main(int argc, list argv, list envp)

In main(),

o   argc represents the number of elements in argv;

o   argv contains the arguments, with element 0 being equal to the name of the .bim file;

o   envp contains the `environment’ variables. The function listlen can be used to determine the number of its elements. Elements in envp have the form variable=value. Alternatively, the function getenv can be used to retrieve a specific environment variable immediately. Example:
        void main(int argc, list argv)
        {
            list toCompile;
            int idx;
            if (argc == 1)
                usage(element(0, argv));
            if (toCompile = altered("*.cc"))
            {
                for (idx = length(toCompile); idx--; )
                    compile(element(idx, toCompile));
                if (getenv("dryrun")[0] == "0")
                    linking(element(2, argv));
            }
        }

Having initialized all global variables in order of their definitions main is called by icmake’s run-time support system to perform additional tasks.

Additionally defined user functions

Additional functions may be defined. Once defined, these functions can be called. Forward referencing of either variables or functions is not supported, but recursively calling functions is. As function declarations are not supported indirect recursion is not supported either.

User-defined functions must have the following elements:

o   The function’s return type, which must be one of void, int, string or list. There is no default type.

o   The function’s name, e.g., compile.

o   A parameter list, defining zero or more comma-separated parameters. The parameters themselves consist of a type name (int, string, or list) followed by the parameter’s identifier. E.g., (string outfile, string source).

o   A body surrounded by a pair of curly braces ({ and }).

Function bodies may contain (optionally initialized) variable definitions. Variable definitions start with a type name, followed by one or more comma separated (optionally initialized) variable identifiers. If a variable is not explicitly initialized it is initialized by default. By default an int variable is initialized to 0, a string is initialized to an empty string ("") and a list is initialized to a list of zero elements.

In addition to variable definitions, bodies may contain zero or more statements (cf. section FLOW CONTROL). Note that variables may be defined (and optionally initialized) anywhere inside functions, and also in if, for and while statements.

The behavior of icmake-scripts using non-void functions that do not return values is not defined.

FILES

The mentioned paths are sugestive only and may vary over different icmake-installations:

o   /usr/bin/icmake: the main icmake program;

o   /usr/bin/icmun: the icmake unassembler;

o   /usr/lib/icmake/icm-dep: the support program handling class- and precompiled header dependencies;

o   /usr/lib/icmake/icm-pp: the preprocessor called by icmake;

o   /usr/lib/icmake/icm-comp: the compiler called by icmake;

o   /usr/lib/icmake/icm-exec: the byte-code interpreter called by icmake;

EXAMPLES

The distribution (usually in /usr/share/doc/icmake) contains a directory examples containing various examples of icmake script. Note in particular the examples/icmbuild subdirectory containing a general script for C++ and C program maintenance.

SEE ALSO
icmbuild(1), icmconf(7), icmstart(1), icmstart.rc(7), make(1)

BUGS
Standard comment starting on lines containing preprocessor directives may not extend over multiple lines.

Path names containing blanks are not supported.

COPYRIGHT
This is free software, distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

AUTHOR
Frank B. Brokken (f.b.brokken@rug.nl).