Craft
Craft is an open source meta build system and package manager. It manages dependencies and builds libraries and applications from source, on Windows, Mac, Linux and FreeBSD.
Setting up Craft
Common Craft commands
Installing a package and its dependencies
craft packagename
Updating an installed package: Once you have packagename built, type:
craft -i packagename
Uninstalling an installed package:
craft --unmerge packagename
Searching for a package
craft --search packagename
Switching to the source directory of a package:
cs packagename
Switching to the build directory of a package:
cb packagename
Just compiling the package (i.e. if you just modified the source code and want to test-compile):
craft --compile packagename
Create an installer (or .dmg bundle, ...) for a specific package. The option Packager/PackageType in CraftSettings.ini controls which type of package is created:
craft --package kdevelop
When developing on a specific application, you may want to develop on its library as well. To install the library, run:
craft --ignoreInstalled --no-cache <somelib>
For the application to run with changes to the source of the library, run the following:
craft --compile --install --qmerge <somelib>
Updating Craft itself:
craft craft
Updating the blueprints:
craft -i craft-blueprints-kde
Adding new blueprints
Blueprints are stored in separate repositories. At the moment there are these repositories:
- https://cgit.kde.org/craft-blueprints-kde.git/tree/ (enabled by default)
To navigate to this repository on your local file system, type in:
cs craft-blueprints-kde
Open a file browser in that folder and start adding new recipes by copying from existing ones. Note that the name of the package folder needs to match the blueprint name -- an example would be "kdegraphics-mobipocket\kdegraphics-mobipocket.py"
Advanced tips
Hardcode versions of packages
To build a non default version (or to build from master)
craft --set version=some_version packagename
Here, replace some_version with the branch name of the source git repository of the package (like master) or version number (for eg: 0.57.0, 0.58.0).
Alternatively ,edit $CraftRoot/etc/BlueprintSettings.ini and add:
[category/packagename] version = branch
Examples
For example, to install master branch of khtml, the line to be appended should look like:
[frameworks/khtml] version = master
To change the version of all packages of a category, like libs/qt5 add
[libs/qt5] version = 5.9.3
Using Craft with Qt Creator
Windows
To compile from within Qt Creator, I need to set up a kit. This is an example for mingw64.
- Add a cmake if none is set: C:\CraftRoot\dev-utils\cmake\bin\cmake.exe
- Add a debugger: C:\CraftRoot\mingw64\bin\gdb.exe
- Add a C++ compiler and a C compiler. Both: C:\CraftRoot\mingw64\bin\gcc.exe
- Ensure that the ABI is correctly set
- Add a Qt: C:\CraftRoot\bin\qmake.exe
- Add a kit with all of the above
- Use the kit on a project
- Setup cmake configuration (all case):
- Extend CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH, add the Craft prefix path (ie: CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH:STRING=%{Qt:QT_INSTALL_PREFIX};C:\CraftRoot)
- Edit Build Environment settings under Projects pane and modify PATH variable to include C:\CraftRoot\bin and C:\CraftRoot\mingw64\bin
MacOS
To be able to use Craft libs in your cmake project from QtCreator follow these steps:
- If the QtVersion used by Craft is not already registered in QtC, then create a new QtVersion by pointing it to the qmake used by Craft
- Create a new kit by duplicating an existing one or creating a new one from scratch
- Setup properties of the kit (for from scratch kit):
- Set cmake binary to the one used by Craft
- Set debugger binary to the one used by Craft
- Set C++ and C compiler to the one used by Craft
- Select the correct QtVersion
- Ensure abi is correct
- Setup cmake configuration (all case):
- Extend CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH, add the Craft prefix path (ie: CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH:STRING=%{Qt:QT_INSTALL_PREFIX};/Volumes/Projects/Developers/Craft)
- Apply, and now use this Kit for your cmake project
Troubleshooting
If a package fails to build, you'll be greeted with something like:
... craft warning: while running make cmd: jom craft warning: Action: compile for libs/qt5/qtbase FAILED *** Craft all failed: all of libs/qtbase failed after 0:07:25 *** craft error: fatal error: package libs/qtbase all failed
In order to figure out what failed, grep the command line output above for errors.
Or have a look at the log file located in $HOME/.craft (%USERPROFILE%\.craft on Windows) which will contain much more details.
Search for "error", or "error:" in the file.
News
Getting in Touch
- IRC: #kde-craft on freenode (join via web chat: http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=kde-craft)
- Mailing list: [email protected] (subscribe, archives)