Quick Compilation Question

I have a directory structure somewhat like the whats below with many more levels and many more source and header files. In all the source files, the headers are included with "String.h" regardless of the current files location (so that would be the include used in say Prime.c). I am currently using the -I option with all of the directories to get it to find the headers. Is there some easier way, for example some recursive -I option that I could just say -I src?

proj
---Makefile
---src
------Makefile
------util
---------Makefile
---------Threads.c
---------Threads.h
---------String.c
---------String.h
------math
---------Makefile
---------Prime.c
---------Prime.h
---------Matrix.c
---------Matrix.h
---bin
---lib

Thanks!
chacham15

The -I option to the compiler needs to be exactly the directory that you want to include files from. So you would need to specify -I src/util to include String.h - and there's no getting away from that. You may of course use the outer makefile to set variables that are later on used in the sub-makefiles, so that there's only one place where you set all include directories.

As a side note: it is bad practice to have header files that are different from standard header files ONLY by the case of the name. In Linux/Unix that works OK, but if you decide to move to Windows, String.h and string.h are the same file - we have had some experiences with going the other way, and sometimes you find code that includes "ABC.H", but the file itself is called "abc.h" - which works fine in Windows, but not in Linux.

--
Mats

>The -I option to the compiler needs to be exactly the directory that you want to include files from

Yes, I know. That is why I was hoping that there would be some other option that would tell gcc to recursively scan the directory for the headerfiles.

>So you would need to specify -I src/util to include String.h - and there's no getting away from that.

Yes, thats what I am currently doing. But I HATE the long compile lines that say gcc -c -I../../../src/Util -I../../../src/Util/IO -I../../../src/Util/Objs, etc. Is there any way to hide that? Can the headers can be added to the default search path? If so, how? The only problem I have with that is that my other projects might then run into naming conflicts.

>You may of course use the outer makefile to set variables that are later on used in the sub-makefiles, so that there's only one place where you set all include directories.

This will still have long compile lines which I hate.

> As a side note: ...

Yes, I know, that was just a bad example.

Thanks,
chacham15

If you don't want to see the lines, use "make -s all".

what I want to see is something like:

gcc -c -I ../../src str.c
gcc -c -I ../../src bmp.c
gcc -c -I ../../src hashtable.c
gcc -c -I ../../src linkedlist.c
gcc -c -I ../../src threads.c
gcc -c -I ../../src prime.c
Warning: line 102....blah blah
gcc -c -I ../../src matrix.c
gcc -c -I ../../src regex.c
gcc -c -I ../../src file.c

Here its easy to see what is compiling and also easy to see that prime.c has a warning and when the line wraps because the include list is long that becomes difficult (and no, i dont want to make warnings into errors)

Thanks,
chacham15

gcc's warnings include the filename, so I don't see how not seeing the compile command hurts here.

Or, there's always redirection (I don't remember whether the output comes out on 1 or 2, but you could try that too).

Yes, but they are often hard to find. Compare finding the warning in this set with the one after it.

gcc -c -I ../../src str.c
gcc -c -I ../../src bmp.c
gcc -c -I ../../src hashtable.c
gcc -c -I ../../src linkedlist.c
gcc -c -I ../../src threads.c
gcc -c -I ../../src prime.c
Warning: line 102....blah blah
gcc -c -I ../../src matrix.c
gcc -c -I ../../src regex.c
gcc -c -I ../../src file.c

All Im doing is adding the following includes into the command:

-I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src
/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src
/Tab/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src
/ComeHither/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src
/Never/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf

And this is what you get:

gcc -c -I ../../src -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src
/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src
/Tab/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src
/ComeHither/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src
/Never/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf str.c
gcc -c -I ../../src -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src
/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src
/Tab/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src
/ComeHither/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src
/Never/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf bmp.c
gcc -c -I ../../src -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src
/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src
/Tab/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src
/ComeHither/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src
/Never/Wfgdiancdjkolghnff hashtable.c
gcc -c -I ../../src -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src
/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src
/Tab/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src
/ComeHither/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src
/Never/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf linkedlist.c
gcc -c -I ../../src -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src
/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src
/Tab/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src
/ComeHither/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src
/Never/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf threads.c
gcc -c -I ../../src -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src
/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src
/Tab/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src
/ComeHither/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src
/Never/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf prime.c
Warning: line 102....blah blah
gcc -c -I ../../src -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src
/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src
/Tab/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src
/ComeHither/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src
/Never/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf matrix.c
gcc -c -I ../../src -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src
/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src
/Tab/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src
/ComeHither/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src
/Never/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf regex.c
gcc -c -I ../../src -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src
/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src/Util/Whatever -I ../../src
/Tab/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src/Util/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf -I ../../src
/ComeHither/Whatever -I ../../src/Util/FDGegdwyufsa -I ../../src/Util/DGE34et4g -I ../../src
/Never/Wfgdiancdjkolghnf file.c

Isnt it a lot easier to miss? Especially since the screen will scroll faster!

Thanks,
chacham15

Oh, I want to see the compile command because that way, Im sure that the file has been recompiled. I dont completely trust that the makefile is without flaws yet.

To be honest, if it were me I'd do -I ../../../src, and then do #include "util/Threads.h".

Yes, that does work, but then its a pain to move a file..which happens surprisingly often. Any other ideas?

Thanks,
chacham15

Is this one of those thedailywtf-style things where it's just a contest to see how many things we can come up with? Why are we moving things, anyway? If they belong to the project, then once you've figured out where to put them, why wouldn't they stay? (Wouldn't this come under your company's coding convention, somehow?) If they don't belong to the project, then they should be in /usr or /usr/local or /var or somewhere and we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Edit: And hey, let's go for the gusto: Put symlinks to all the header files in src, and let the OS follow them wherever they may lead.