"null" output file type

Hi All,

I'd like to register a pre-compile test which needs to run
before compiling 
our apps. This is to check for required libraries being
installed, paths set 
up, etc. The unit test output types are not suitable since
they takes built 
executables as a dependency, rather than being an allowable
dependency 
themselves.

My approach was to register a file type, say
CONFIGURE_CHECK, which would 
contain a shell script that ran and produced a file on
success (and no file 
and non-zero error code on failure):

lib my_library
    : pre_test.configure_check [ glob *.cpp ]
    ...
    ;

This fits well with the bjam file-based dependency design,
and I could then 
register a configure_check file type and users would only be
forced to 
re-check config on changes to the script.

Question is: how do I make *.configure_check files ignored
by the c++ 
compilation steps? Is there a modular way to do this? One
hack is to just 
output a .o (OBJ) file with no defined symbols, but I'd
rather not.

Any ideas?

Many thanks in advance,

-- 

Matthew Herrmann
matthew.herrmannzomojo.com
Vice President, Software Architecture
Zomojo Pty Ltd

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Hi Matthew,

> I'd like to register a pre-compile test which needs to
run before compiling
> our apps. This is to check for required libraries being
installed, paths
> set up, etc. The unit test output types are not
suitable since they takes
> built executables as a dependency, rather than being an
allowable
> dependency themselves.
>
> My approach was to register a file type, say
CONFIGURE_CHECK, which would
> contain a shell script that ran and produced a file on
success (and no file
> and non-zero error code on failure):
>
> lib my_library
>
>     : pre_test.configure_check [ glob *.cpp ]
>
>     ...
>     ;
>
> This fits well with the bjam file-based dependency
design, and I could then
> register a configure_check file type and users would
only be forced to
> re-check config on changes to the script.
>
> Question is: how do I make *.configure_check files
ignored by the c++
> compilation steps? Is there a modular way to do this?
One hack is to just
> output a .o (OBJ) file with no defined symbols, but
I'd rather not.

Well, don't put 'pre_test.configure_check' to sources:

  lib my_library
 
     : [ glob *.cpp ]
     : <dependency>pre_test.configure_check
     ;

Assuming your configure check does not puts files into
source directory, but 
only to build directory, this will have the right effect.

In fact, is there any reason why your configure check
creates .o files? I'm 
not 100% understand the approach you took.

- Volodya
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