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6.6. Using Autotools ​

Note

There are multiple build systems you could use create a library in Vala (Meson is the recommended one right now).

This page is remains here for legacy purposes.

It is possible to use Autotools to create a library written in Vala. A library is created by using C code generated by Vala compiler, linked and installed as any other library. Then you need tell which C files must be used to create the library and which of them must be distributable, allowing others to compile a tarball without Vala using standard Autotools commands: configure, make and make install.

6.6.1. Example ​

This example was taken from GXml recent additions. GXmlDom is a library aimed to have a GObject based libxml2 replacement; is written in Vala and originally used to use WAF to build.

  • valac can be used to generate C code and headers from Vala sources. At this time is possible to generate a GObjectIntrospection and the VAPI file from the vala sources too.
  • gxml.vala.stamp is used as the code sources for our library.

It's important to add --pkg switches in order to valac to success and set all CFLAGS and LIBS required by the C library to compile and link against.

shell
NULL =


AM_CPPFLAGS = \
        -DPACKAGE_LOCALE_DIR=\""$(prefix)/$(DATADIRNAME)/locale"\" \
        -DPACKAGE_SRC_DIR=\""$(srcdir)"\" \
        -DPACKAGE_DATA_DIR=\""$(datadir)"\"

BUILT_SOURCES = gxml.vala.stamp
CLEANFILES = gxml.vala.stamp

AM_CFLAGS =\
         -Wall\
         -g \
         $(GLIB_CFLAGS) \
         $(LIBXML_CFLAGS) \
         $(GIO_CFLAGS) \
         $(GEE_CFLAGS) \
         $(VALA_CFLAGS) \
         $(NULL)

lib_LTLIBRARIES = libgxml.la

VALAFLAGS = \
    $(top_srcdir)/vapi/config.vapi \
    --vapidir=$(top_srcdir)/vapi \
    --pkg libxml-2.0 \
    --pkg gee-1.0 \
    --pkg gobject-2.0 \
    --pkg gio-2.0 \
    $(NULL)

libgxml_la_VALASOURCES = \
        Attr.vala \
        BackedNode.vala \
        CDATASection.vala \
        CharacterData.vala \
        Comment.vala \
        Document.vala \
        DocumentFragment.vala \
        DocumentType.vala \
        DomError.vala \
        Element.vala \
        Entity.vala \
        EntityReference.vala \
        Implementation.vala \
        NamespaceAttr.vala \
        NodeList.vala \
        NodeType.vala \
        Notation.vala \
        ProcessingInstruction.vala \
        Text.vala \
        XNode.vala \
        $(NULL)

libgxml_la_SOURCES = \
        gxml.vala.stamp \
        $(libgxml_la_VALASOURCES:.vala=.c) \
        $(NULL)

# Generate C code and headers, including GObject Introspection GIR files and VAPI file
gxml-1.0.vapi gxml.vala.stamp GXml-1.0.gir: $(libgxml_la_VALASOURCES)
     $(VALA_COMPILER) $(VALAFLAGS) -C -H $(top_builddir)/gxml/gxml-dom.h --gir=GXmlDom-1.0.gir  --library gxmldom-1.0 $^
     @touch $@


# Library configuration
libgxml_la_LDFLAGS =

libgxml_la_LIBADD = \
        $(GLIB_LIBS) \
        $(LIBXML_LIBS) \
        $(GIO_LIBS) \
        $(GEE_LIBS) \
        $(VALA_LIBS) \
        $(NULL)

include_HEADERS = \
        gxml.h \
        $(NULL)

pkgconfigdir = $(libdir)/pkgconfig
pkgconfig_DATA = libgxml-1.0.pc

gxmlincludedir=$(includedir)/libgxml-1.0/gxml
gxmlinclude_HEADERS= gxml-dom.h

# GObject Introspection

if ENABLE_GI_SYSTEM_INSTALL
girdir = $(INTROSPECTION_GIRDIR)
typelibsdir = $(INTROSPECTION_TYPELIBDIR)
else
girdir = $(datadir)/gir-1.0
typelibsdir = $(libdir)/girepository-1.0
endif

# GIR files are generated automatically by Valac so is not necessary to scan source code to generate it
INTROSPECTION_GIRS =
INTROSPECTION_GIRS += GXmlDom-1.0.gir
INTROSPECTION_COMPILER_ARGS = \
    --includedir=. \
    --includedir=$(top_builddir)/gxml

GXmlDom-1.0.typelib: $(INTROSPECTION_GIRS)
        $(INTROSPECTION_COMPILER) $(INTROSPECTION_COMPILER_ARGS)  $< -o $@

gir_DATA = $(INTROSPECTION_GIRS)
typelibs_DATA = GXmlDom-1.0.typelib

vapidir = $(VALA_VAPIDIR)
vapi_DATA=gxmldom-1.0.vapi

CLEANFILES += $(INTROSPECTION_GIRS) $(typelibs_DATA) gxml-1.0.vapi

EXTRA_DIST = \
        libgxml-1.0.pc.in \
        $(libgxml_la_VALASOURCES) \
        $(typelibs_DATA) \
        $(INTROSPECTION_GIRS) \
        gxml.vala.stamp