[fpc-pascal] Alternative to Makefiles for fpGUI

[Michael Van Canneyt]

On Fri, 10 Aug 2007, Graeme Geldenhuys wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I heard somewhere in a list that Makefile's are on the way out (for
> FPC) and a alternative is in the pipeline.  Can anybody shed some
> light on this and if the alternative is usable yet?
> 
> I want FPC developers without Lazarus to be able to compile fpGUI.
> Before, I tried to use Makefiles, but my knowledge of them was
> limited, so it never really worked.
> 
> Any thoughts on a Makefile tutorial or on that alternative app/method?

The upcoming 2.2 will contain the basics for a package system. 
Look at all directories in the fpc source dirs. You'll find there
a fpmake.pp or fpmake.inc.

The idea is that you do a 

fppkg <packagename>

this will look in a database for the package, extract it, 
and the compile fpmake.pp and run it. The fpmake contains
all configuration to make and zip the package.

You could download a package manually, compile fpmake.pp and
run
./fpmake --build
or 
./fpmake --install
which would install the file.

The fpmake.pp file is very simple, just look at the examples,
they are scattered all over the place.

The idea is that the release after 2.2 will use this system.

Michael.