The FreeBSD ports framework supports parallel building using multiple make sub-processes, which allows SMP systems to utilize all of their available CPU power, allowing port builds to be faster and more effective.
This is achieved by passing -jX flag to make(1) running on vendor code. Unfortunately, not all ports handle parallel building well. Therefore it is required to explicitly enable this feature by adding MAKE_JOBS_SAFE=yes somewhere below the dependency declaration section of the Makefile.
Another option for controlling this feature from the maintainer's point of view is the MAKE_JOBS_UNSAFE=yes variable. It is used when a port is known to be broken with -jX and a user forces the use of multi processor compilations for all ports in /etc/make.conf with the FORCE_MAKE_JOBS=yes variable.
If your port uses GNU make, set USE_GMAKE=yes.
Table 6-1. Variables for Ports Related to gmake
Variable | Means |
---|---|
USE_GMAKE | The port requires gmake to build. |
GMAKE | The full path for gmake if it is not in the PATH. |
If your port is an X application that creates Makefile
files from Imakefile files using imake, then set USE_IMAKE=yes.
This will cause the configure stage to automatically do an xmkmf -a. If the -a
flag is a
problem for your port, set XMKMF=xmkmf. If the port
uses imake but does not understand the install.man target, NO_INSTALL_MANPAGES=yes should be set.
If your port's source Makefile has something else than all as the main build target, set ALL_TARGET accordingly. Same goes for install and INSTALL_TARGET.
If your port uses the configure script to generate Makefile files from Makefile.in files, set GNU_CONFIGURE=yes. If you want to give extra arguments to the configure script (the default argument is --prefix=${PREFIX} --infodir=${PREFIX}/${INFO_PATH} --mandir=${MANPREFIX}/man --build=${CONFIGURE_TARGET}), set those extra arguments in CONFIGURE_ARGS. Extra environment variables can be passed using CONFIGURE_ENV variable.
Table 6-2. Variables for Ports That Use configure
Variable | Means |
---|---|
GNU_CONFIGURE | The port uses configure script to prepare build. |
HAS_CONFIGURE | Same as GNU_CONFIGURE, except default configure target is not added to CONFIGURE_ARGS. |
CONFIGURE_ARGS | Additional arguments passed to configure script. |
CONFIGURE_ENV | Additional environment variables to be set for configure script run. |
CONFIGURE_TARGET | Override default configure target. Default value is ${MACHINE_ARCH}-portbld-freebsd${OSREL}. |
For ports that use CMake, define USES= cmake, or USES= cmake:outsource to build in a separate directory (see below).
Table 6-3. Variables for Ports That Use cmake
Variable | Means |
---|---|
CMAKE_ARGS | Port specific CMake flags to be passed to the cmake binary. |
CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE | Type of build (CMake predefined build profiles). Default is Release, or Debug if WITH_DEBUG is set. |
CMAKE_ENV | Environment variables to be set for cmake binary. Default is ${CONFIGURE_ENV}. |
CMAKE_SOURCE_PATH | Path to the source directory. Default is ${WRKSRC}. |
CMake supports the following build profiles: Debug, Release, RelWithDebInfo and MinSizeRel. Debug and Release profiles respect system *FLAGS, RelWithDebInfo and MinSizeRel will set CFLAGS to -O2 -g and -Os -DNDEBUG correspondingly. The lower-cased value of CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE is exported to the PLIST_SUB and should be used if port installs *.cmake files depending on the build type (see deskutils/strigi for an example). Please note that some projects may define their own build profiles and/or force particular build type by setting CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE in CMakeLists.txt files. In order to make a port for such a project respect CFLAGS and WITH_DEBUG, the CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE definitions must be removed from those files.
Most CMake-based projects support an out-of-source method of building. The out-of-source build for a port can be requested by using the :outsource suffix. When enabled, CONFIGURE_WRKSRC, BUILD_WRKSRC and INSTALL_WRKSRC will be set to ${WRKDIR}/.build and this directory will be used to keep all files generated during configuration and build stages, leaving the source directory intact.
Example 6-1. USES= cmake Example
The following snippet demonstrates the use of CMake for a port. CMAKE_SOURCE_PATH is not usually required, but can be set when the sources are not located in the top directory, or if only a subset of the project is intended to be built by the port.
USES= cmake:outsource CMAKE_SOURCE_PATH= ${WRKSRC}/subproject
If your port uses SCons, define USE_SCONS=yes.
Table 6-4. Variables for Ports That Use scons
Variable | Means |
---|---|
SCONS_ARGS | Port specific SCons flags passed to the SCons environment. |
SCONS_BUILDENV | Variables to be set in system environment. |
SCONS_ENV | Variables to be set in SCons environment. |
SCONS_TARGET | Last argument passed to SCons, similar to MAKE_TARGET. |
To make third party SConstruct respect everything that is passed to SCons in SCONS_ENV (that is, most importantly, CC/CXX/CFLAGS/CXXFLAGS), patch the SConstruct so build Environment is constructed like this:
env = Environment(**ARGUMENTS)
It may be then modified with env.Append and env.Replace.