Builds a C source file given a lex (.l) or yacc (.y) input file. The suffix specified by the $CFILESUFFIX construction variable (.c by default) is automatically added to the target if it is not already present. Example:

# builds foo.c
env.CFile(target = 'foo.c', source = 'foo.l')
# builds bar.c
env.CFile(target = 'bar', source = 'bar.y')

The Command "Builder" is actually a function that looks like a Builder, but takes a required third argument, which is the action to take to construct the target from the source, used for "one-off" builds where a full builder is not needed. Thus it does not follow the builder calling rules described at the start of this section. See instead the Command function description for the calling syntax and details.

Builds a C++ source file given a lex (.ll) or yacc (.yy) input file. The suffix specified by the $CXXFILESUFFIX construction variable (.cc by default) is automatically added to the target if it is not already present. Example:

# builds foo.cc
env.CXXFile(target = 'foo.cc', source = 'foo.ll')
# builds bar.cc
env.CXXFile(target = 'bar', source = 'bar.yy')

A pseudo-Builder, providing a Docbook toolchain for EPUB output.

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookEpub('manual.epub', 'manual.xml')

or simply

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookEpub('manual')

A pseudo-Builder, providing a Docbook toolchain for HTML output.

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookHtml('manual.html', 'manual.xml')

or simply

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookHtml('manual')

A pseudo-Builder, providing a Docbook toolchain for chunked HTML output. It supports the base.dir parameter. The chunkfast.xsl file (requires "EXSLT") is used as the default stylesheet. Basic syntax:

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookHtmlChunked('manual')

where manual.xml is the input file.

If you use the root.filename parameter in your own stylesheets you have to specify the new target name. This ensures that the dependencies get correct, especially for the cleanup via “scons -c”:

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookHtmlChunked('mymanual.html', 'manual', xsl='htmlchunk.xsl')

Some basic support for the base.dir is provided. You can add the base_dir keyword to your Builder call, and the given prefix gets prepended to all the created filenames:

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookHtmlChunked('manual', xsl='htmlchunk.xsl', base_dir='output/')

Make sure that you don't forget the trailing slash for the base folder, else your files get renamed only!

A pseudo-Builder, providing a Docbook toolchain for HTMLHELP output. Its basic syntax is:

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookHtmlhelp('manual')

where manual.xml is the input file.

If you use the root.filename parameter in your own stylesheets you have to specify the new target name. This ensures that the dependencies get correct, especially for the cleanup via “scons -c”:

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookHtmlhelp('mymanual.html', 'manual', xsl='htmlhelp.xsl')

Some basic support for the base.dir parameter is provided. You can add the base_dir keyword to your Builder call, and the given prefix gets prepended to all the created filenames:

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookHtmlhelp('manual', xsl='htmlhelp.xsl', base_dir='output/')

Make sure that you don't forget the trailing slash for the base folder, else your files get renamed only!

A pseudo-Builder, providing a Docbook toolchain for Man page output. Its basic syntax is:

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookMan('manual')

where manual.xml is the input file. Note, that you can specify a target name, but the actual output names are automatically set from the refname entries in your XML source.

A pseudo-Builder, providing a Docbook toolchain for PDF output.

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookPdf('manual.pdf', 'manual.xml')

or simply

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookPdf('manual')

A pseudo-Builder, providing a Docbook toolchain for HTML slides output.

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookSlidesHtml('manual')

If you use the titlefoil.html parameter in your own stylesheets you have to give the new target name. This ensures that the dependencies get correct, especially for the cleanup via “scons -c”:

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookSlidesHtml('mymanual.html','manual', xsl='slideshtml.xsl')

Some basic support for the base.dir parameter is provided. You can add the base_dir keyword to your Builder call, and the given prefix gets prepended to all the created filenames:

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookSlidesHtml('manual', xsl='slideshtml.xsl', base_dir='output/')

Make sure that you don't forget the trailing slash for the base folder, else your files get renamed only!

A pseudo-Builder, providing a Docbook toolchain for PDF slides output.

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookSlidesPdf('manual.pdf', 'manual.xml')

or simply

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookSlidesPdf('manual')

A pseudo-Builder, for resolving XIncludes in a separate processing step.

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookXInclude('manual_xincluded.xml', 'manual.xml')

A pseudo-Builder, applying a given XSL transformation to the input file.

env = Environment(tools=['docbook'])
env.DocbookXslt('manual_transformed.xml', 'manual.xml', xsl='transform.xslt')

Note, that this builder requires the xsl parameter to be set.

Builds a .dvi file from a .tex, .ltx or .latex input file. If the source file suffix is .tex, scons will examine the contents of the file; if the string \documentclass or \documentstyle is found, the file is assumed to be a LaTeX file and the target is built by invoking the $LATEXCOM command line; otherwise, the $TEXCOM command line is used. If the file is a LaTeX file, the DVI builder method will also examine the contents of the .aux file and invoke the $BIBTEX command line if the string bibdata is found, start $MAKEINDEX to generate an index if a .ind file is found and will examine the contents .log file and re-run the $LATEXCOM command if the log file says it is necessary.

The suffix .dvi (hard-coded within TeX itself) is automatically added to the target if it is not already present. Examples:

# builds from aaa.tex
env.DVI(target = 'aaa.dvi', source = 'aaa.tex')
# builds bbb.dvi
env.DVI(target = 'bbb', source = 'bbb.ltx')
# builds from ccc.latex
env.DVI(target = 'ccc.dvi', source = 'ccc.latex')

A Builder for explicitly calling the gs executable. Depending on the underlying OS, the different names gs, gsos2 and gswin32c are tried.

env = Environment(tools=['gs'])
env.Gs('cover.jpg','scons-scons.pdf',
       GSFLAGS='-dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=jpeg -dFirstPage=1 -dLastPage=1 -q') 
       )

Installs one or more source files or directories in the specified target, which must be a directory. The names of the specified source files or directories remain the same within the destination directory. The sources may be given as a string or as a node returned by a builder.

env.Install('/usr/local/bin', source = ['foo', 'bar'])

If the --install-sandbox command line option is given, the target directory will be prefixed by the directory path specified. This is useful to test installs without installing to a "live" location in the system.

See also FindInstalledFiles. For more thoughts on installation, see the User Guide (particularly the section on Command-Line Targets and the chapters on Installing Files and on Alias Targets).

Installs one or more source files or directories to specific names, allowing changing a file or directory name as part of the installation. It is an error if the target and source arguments list different numbers of files or directories.

env.InstallAs(target = '/usr/local/bin/foo',
              source = 'foo_debug')
env.InstallAs(target = ['../lib/libfoo.a', '../lib/libbar.a'],
              source = ['libFOO.a', 'libBAR.a'])

Installs a versioned shared library. The symlinks appropriate to the architecture will be generated based on symlinks of the source library.

env.InstallVersionedLib(target = '/usr/local/bin/foo',
              source = 'libxyz.1.5.2.so')

Builds a Java archive (.jar) file from the specified list of sources. Any directories in the source list will be searched for .class files). Any .java files in the source list will be compiled to .class files by calling the Java Builder.

If the $JARCHDIR value is set, the jar command will change to the specified directory using the -C option. If $JARCHDIR is not set explicitly, SCons will use the top of any subdirectory tree in which Java .class were built by the Java Builder.

If the contents any of the source files begin with the string Manifest-Version, the file is assumed to be a manifest and is passed to the jar command with the m option set.

env.Jar(target = 'foo.jar', source = 'classes')

env.Jar(target = 'bar.jar',
        source = ['bar1.java', 'bar2.java'])

Builds one or more Java class files. The sources may be any combination of explicit .java files, or directory trees which will be scanned for .java files.

SCons will parse each source .java file to find the classes (including inner classes) defined within that file, and from that figure out the target .class files that will be created. The class files will be placed underneath the specified target directory.

SCons will also search each Java file for the Java package name, which it assumes can be found on a line beginning with the string package in the first column; the resulting .class files will be placed in a directory reflecting the specified package name. For example, the file Foo.java defining a single public Foo class and containing a package name of sub.dir will generate a corresponding sub/dir/Foo.class class file.

Examples:

                env.Java(target = 'classes', source = 'src')
                env.Java(target = 'classes', source = ['src1', 'src2'])
                env.Java(target = 'classes', source = ['File1.java', 'File2.java'])
            

Java source files can use the native encoding for the underlying OS. Since SCons compiles in simple ASCII mode by default, the compiler will generate warnings about unmappable characters, which may lead to errors as the file is processed further. In this case, the user must specify the LANG environment variable to tell the compiler what encoding is used. For portibility, it's best if the encoding is hard-coded so that the compile will work if it is done on a system with a different encoding.

                env = Environment()
                env['ENV']['LANG'] = 'en_GB.UTF-8'
            

Builds C header and source files for implementing Java native methods. The target can be either a directory in which the header files will be written, or a header file name which will contain all of the definitions. The source can be the names of .class files, the names of .java files to be compiled into .class files by calling the Java builder method, or the objects returned from the Java builder method.

If the construction variable $JAVACLASSDIR is set, either in the environment or in the call to the JavaH builder method itself, then the value of the variable will be stripped from the beginning of any .class file names.

Examples:

# builds java_native.h
classes = env.Java(target = 'classdir', source = 'src')
env.JavaH(target = 'java_native.h', source = classes)

# builds include/package_foo.h and include/package_bar.h
env.JavaH(target = 'include',
          source = ['package/foo.class', 'package/bar.class'])

# builds export/foo.h and export/bar.h
env.JavaH(target = 'export',
          source = ['classes/foo.class', 'classes/bar.class'],
          JAVACLASSDIR = 'classes')

A synonym for the StaticLibrary builder method.

On most systems, this is the same as SharedLibrary. On Mac OS X (Darwin) platforms, this creates a loadable module bundle.

Builds an output file from an M4 input file. This uses a default $M4FLAGS value of -E, which considers all warnings to be fatal and stops on the first warning when using the GNU version of m4. Example:

env.M4(target = 'foo.c', source = 'foo.c.m4')

Builds an output file from a moc input file. Moc input files are either header files or cxx files. This builder is only available after using the tool 'qt'. See the $QTDIR variable for more information. Example:

env.Moc('foo.h') # generates moc_foo.cc
env.Moc('foo.cpp') # generates foo.moc

This builder belongs to msgfmt tool. The builder compiles PO files to MO files.

Example 1. Create pl.mo and en.mo by compiling pl.po and en.po:

  # ...
  env.MOFiles(['pl', 'en'])

Example 2. Compile files for languages defined in LINGUAS file:

  # ...
  env.MOFiles(LINGUAS_FILE = 1)

Example 3. Create pl.mo and en.mo by compiling pl.po and en.po plus files for languages defined in LINGUAS file:

  # ...
  env.MOFiles(['pl', 'en'], LINGUAS_FILE = 1)

Example 4. Compile files for languages defined in LINGUAS file (another version):

  # ...
  env['LINGUAS_FILE'] = 1
  env.MOFiles()

Builds a Microsoft Visual Studio project file, and by default builds a solution file as well.

This builds a Visual Studio project file, based on the version of Visual Studio that is configured (either the latest installed version, or the version specified by $MSVS_VERSION in the Environment constructor). For Visual Studio 6, it will generate a .dsp file. For Visual Studio 7, 8, and 9, it will generate a .vcproj file. For Visual Studio 10 and later, it will generate a .vcxproj file.

By default, this also generates a solution file for the specified project, a .dsw file for Visual Studio 6 or a .sln file for Visual Studio 7 and later. This behavior may be disabled by specifying auto_build_solution=0 when you call MSVSProject, in which case you presumably want to build the solution file(s) by calling the MSVSSolution Builder (see below).

The MSVSProject builder takes several lists of filenames to be placed into the project file. These are currently limited to srcs, incs, localincs, resources, and misc. These are pretty self-explanatory, but it should be noted that these lists are added to the $SOURCES construction variable as strings, NOT as SCons File Nodes. This is because they represent file names to be added to the project file, not the source files used to build the project file.

The above filename lists are all optional, although at least one must be specified for the resulting project file to be non-empty.

In addition to the above lists of values, the following values may be specified:

Note that because SCons always executes its build commands from the directory in which the SConstruct file is located, if you generate a project file in a different directory than the SConstruct directory, users will not be able to double-click on the file name in compilation error messages displayed in the Visual Studio console output window. This can be remedied by adding the Visual C/C++ /FC compiler option to the $CCFLAGS variable so that the compiler will print the full path name of any files that cause compilation errors.

Example usage:

barsrcs = ['bar.cpp']
barincs = ['bar.h']
barlocalincs = ['StdAfx.h']
barresources = ['bar.rc','resource.h']
barmisc = ['bar_readme.txt']

dll = env.SharedLibrary(target='bar.dll',
                        source=barsrcs)
buildtarget = [s for s in dll if str(s).endswith('dll')]
env.MSVSProject(target='Bar' + env['MSVSPROJECTSUFFIX'],
                srcs=barsrcs,
                incs=barincs,
                localincs=barlocalincs,
                resources=barresources,
                misc=barmisc,
                buildtarget=buildtarget,
                variant='Release')
      

Starting with version 2.4 of SCons it is also possible to specify the optional argument DebugSettings, which creates files for debugging under Visual Studio:

Currently, only Visual Studio v9.0 and Visual Studio version v11 are implemented, for other versions no file is generated. To generate the user file, you just need to add a DebugSettings dictionary to the environment with the right parameters for your MSVS version. If the dictionary is empty, or does not contain any good value, no file will be generated.

Following is a more contrived example, involving the setup of a project for variants and DebugSettings:

# Assuming you store your defaults in a file
vars = Variables('variables.py')
msvcver = vars.args.get('vc', '9')

# Check command args to force one Microsoft Visual Studio version
if msvcver == '9' or msvcver == '11':
  env = Environment(MSVC_VERSION=msvcver+'.0', MSVC_BATCH=False)
else:
  env = Environment()

AddOption('--userfile', action='store_true', dest='userfile', default=False,
          help="Create Visual Studio Project user file")

#
# 1. Configure your Debug Setting dictionary with options you want in the list
# of allowed options, for instance if you want to create a user file to launch
# a specific application for testing your dll with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 (v9):
#
V9DebugSettings = {
    'Command':'c:\\myapp\\using\\thisdll.exe',
    'WorkingDirectory': 'c:\\myapp\\using\\',
    'CommandArguments': '-p password',
#     'Attach':'false',
#     'DebuggerType':'3',
#     'Remote':'1',
#     'RemoteMachine': None,
#     'RemoteCommand': None,
#     'HttpUrl': None,
#     'PDBPath': None,
#     'SQLDebugging': None,
#     'Environment': '',
#     'EnvironmentMerge':'true',
#     'DebuggerFlavor': None,
#     'MPIRunCommand': None,
#     'MPIRunArguments': None,
#     'MPIRunWorkingDirectory': None,
#     'ApplicationCommand': None,
#     'ApplicationArguments': None,
#     'ShimCommand': None,
#     'MPIAcceptMode': None,
#     'MPIAcceptFilter': None,
}

#
# 2. Because there are a lot of different options depending on the Microsoft
# Visual Studio version, if you use more than one version you have to
# define a dictionary per version, for instance if you want to create a user
# file to launch a specific application for testing your dll with Microsoft
# Visual Studio 2012 (v11):
#
V10DebugSettings = {
    'LocalDebuggerCommand': 'c:\\myapp\\using\\thisdll.exe',
    'LocalDebuggerWorkingDirectory': 'c:\\myapp\\using\\',
    'LocalDebuggerCommandArguments': '-p password',
#     'LocalDebuggerEnvironment': None,
#     'DebuggerFlavor': 'WindowsLocalDebugger',
#     'LocalDebuggerAttach': None,
#     'LocalDebuggerDebuggerType': None,
#     'LocalDebuggerMergeEnvironment': None,
#     'LocalDebuggerSQLDebugging': None,
#     'RemoteDebuggerCommand': None,
#     'RemoteDebuggerCommandArguments': None,
#     'RemoteDebuggerWorkingDirectory': None,
#     'RemoteDebuggerServerName': None,
#     'RemoteDebuggerConnection': None,
#     'RemoteDebuggerDebuggerType': None,
#     'RemoteDebuggerAttach': None,
#     'RemoteDebuggerSQLDebugging': None,
#     'DeploymentDirectory': None,
#     'AdditionalFiles': None,
#     'RemoteDebuggerDeployDebugCppRuntime': None,
#     'WebBrowserDebuggerHttpUrl': None,
#     'WebBrowserDebuggerDebuggerType': None,
#     'WebServiceDebuggerHttpUrl': None,
#     'WebServiceDebuggerDebuggerType': None,
#     'WebServiceDebuggerSQLDebugging': None,
}

#
# 3. Select the dictionary you want depending on the version of visual Studio
# Files you want to generate.
#
if not env.GetOption('userfile'):
    dbgSettings = None
elif env.get('MSVC_VERSION', None) == '9.0':
    dbgSettings = V9DebugSettings
elif env.get('MSVC_VERSION', None) == '11.0':
    dbgSettings = V10DebugSettings
else:
    dbgSettings = None

#
# 4. Add the dictionary to the DebugSettings keyword.
#
barsrcs = ['bar.cpp', 'dllmain.cpp', 'stdafx.cpp']
barincs = ['targetver.h']
barlocalincs = ['StdAfx.h']
barresources = ['bar.rc','resource.h']
barmisc = ['ReadMe.txt']

dll = env.SharedLibrary(target='bar.dll',
                        source=barsrcs)

env.MSVSProject(target='Bar' + env['MSVSPROJECTSUFFIX'],
                srcs=barsrcs,
                incs=barincs,
                localincs=barlocalincs,
                resources=barresources,
                misc=barmisc,
                buildtarget=[dll[0]] * 2,
                variant=('Debug|Win32', 'Release|Win32'),
                cmdargs='vc=%s' %  msvcver,
                DebugSettings=(dbgSettings, {}))
      

Builds a Microsoft Visual Studio solution file.

This builds a Visual Studio solution file, based on the version of Visual Studio that is configured (either the latest installed version, or the version specified by $MSVS_VERSION in the construction environment). For Visual Studio 6, it will generate a .dsw file. For Visual Studio 7 (.NET), it will generate a .sln file.

The following values must be specified:

Example Usage:

env.MSVSSolution(target='Bar' + env['MSVSSOLUTIONSUFFIX'], projects=['bar' + env['MSVSPROJECTSUFFIX']], variant='Release')
      

A synonym for the StaticObject builder method.

Builds a Binary Package of the given source files.

env.Package(source = FindInstalledFiles())

Builds software distribution packages. Packages consist of files to install and packaging information. The former may be specified with the source parameter and may be left out, in which case the FindInstalledFiles function will collect all files that have an Install or InstallAs Builder attached. If the target is not specified it will be deduced from additional information given to this Builder.

The packaging information is specified with the help of construction variables documented below. This information is called a tag to stress that some of them can also be attached to files with the Tag function. The mandatory ones will complain if they were not specified. They vary depending on chosen target packager.

The target packager may be selected with the "PACKAGETYPE" command line option or with the $PACKAGETYPE construction variable. Currently the following packagers available:

* msi - Microsoft Installer * rpm - RPM Package Manger * ipkg - Itsy Package Management System * tarbz2 - bzip2 compressed tar * targz - gzip compressed tar * tarxz - xz compressed tar * zip - zip file * src_tarbz2 - bzip2 compressed tar source * src_targz - gzip compressed tar source * src_tarxz - xz compressed tar source * src_zip - zip file source

An updated list is always available under the "package_type" option when running "scons --help" on a project that has packaging activated.

env = Environment(tools=['default', 'packaging'])
env.Install('/bin/', 'my_program')
env.Package( NAME           = 'foo',
             VERSION        = '1.2.3',
             PACKAGEVERSION = 0,
             PACKAGETYPE    = 'rpm',
             LICENSE        = 'gpl',
             SUMMARY        = 'balalalalal',
             DESCRIPTION    = 'this should be really really long',
             X_RPM_GROUP    = 'Application/fu',
             SOURCE_URL     = 'http://foo.org/foo-1.2.3.tar.gz'
        )

Builds a Microsoft Visual C++ precompiled header. Calling this builder method returns a list of two targets: the PCH as the first element, and the object file as the second element. Normally the object file is ignored. This builder method is only provided when Microsoft Visual C++ is being used as the compiler. The PCH builder method is generally used in conjunction with the PCH construction variable to force object files to use the precompiled header:

env['PCH'] = env.PCH('StdAfx.cpp')[0]

Builds a .pdf file from a .dvi input file (or, by extension, a .tex, .ltx, or .latex input file). The suffix specified by the $PDFSUFFIX construction variable (.pdf by default) is added automatically to the target if it is not already present. Example:

# builds from aaa.tex
env.PDF(target = 'aaa.pdf', source = 'aaa.tex')
# builds bbb.pdf from bbb.dvi
env.PDF(target = 'bbb', source = 'bbb.dvi')

This builder belongs to msginit tool. The builder initializes missing PO file(s) if $POAUTOINIT is set. If $POAUTOINIT is not set (default), POInit prints instruction for user (that is supposed to be a translator), telling how the PO file should be initialized. In normal projects you should not use POInit and use POUpdate instead. POUpdate chooses intelligently between msgmerge(1) and msginit(1). POInit always uses msginit(1) and should be regarded as builder for special purposes or for temporary use (e.g. for quick, one time initialization of a bunch of PO files) or for tests.

Target nodes defined through POInit are not built by default (they're Ignored from '.' node) but are added to special Alias ('po-create' by default). The alias name may be changed through the $POCREATE_ALIAS construction variable. All PO files defined through POInit may be easily initialized by scons po-create.

Example 1. Initialize en.po and pl.po from messages.pot:

  # ...
  env.POInit(['en', 'pl']) # messages.pot --> [en.po, pl.po] 

Example 2. Initialize en.po and pl.po from foo.pot:

  # ...
  env.POInit(['en', 'pl'], ['foo']) # foo.pot --> [en.po, pl.po] 

Example 3. Initialize en.po and pl.po from foo.pot but using $POTDOMAIN construction variable:

  # ...
  env.POInit(['en', 'pl'], POTDOMAIN='foo') # foo.pot --> [en.po, pl.po] 

Example 4. Initialize PO files for languages defined in LINGUAS file. The files will be initialized from template messages.pot:

  # ...
  env.POInit(LINGUAS_FILE = 1) # needs 'LINGUAS' file

Example 5. Initialize en.po and pl.pl PO files plus files for languages defined in LINGUAS file. The files will be initialized from template messages.pot:

  # ...
  env.POInit(['en', 'pl'], LINGUAS_FILE = 1)

Example 6. You may preconfigure your environment first, and then initialize PO files:

  # ...
  env['POAUTOINIT'] = 1
  env['LINGUAS_FILE'] = 1
  env['POTDOMAIN'] = 'foo'
  env.POInit()

which has same efect as:

  # ...
  env.POInit(POAUTOINIT = 1, LINGUAS_FILE = 1, POTDOMAIN = 'foo')

Builds a .ps file from a .dvi input file (or, by extension, a .tex, .ltx, or .latex input file). The suffix specified by the $PSSUFFIX construction variable (.ps by default) is added automatically to the target if it is not already present. Example:

# builds from aaa.tex
env.PostScript(target = 'aaa.ps', source = 'aaa.tex')
# builds bbb.ps from bbb.dvi
env.PostScript(target = 'bbb', source = 'bbb.dvi')

The builder belongs to xgettext tool. The builder updates target POT file if exists or creates one if it doesn't. The node is not built by default (i.e. it is Ignored from '.'), but only on demand (i.e. when given POT file is required or when special alias is invoked). This builder adds its targe node (messages.pot, say) to a special alias (pot-update by default, see $POTUPDATE_ALIAS) so you can update/create them easily with scons pot-update. The file is not written until there is no real change in internationalized messages (or in comments that enter POT file).

Example 1. Let's create po/ directory and place following SConstruct script there:

  # SConstruct in 'po/' subdir
  env = Environment( tools = ['default', 'xgettext'] )
  env.POTUpdate(['foo'], ['../a.cpp', '../b.cpp'])
  env.POTUpdate(['bar'], ['../c.cpp', '../d.cpp'])

Then invoke scons few times:

  user@host:$ scons             # Does not create foo.pot nor bar.pot
  user@host:$ scons foo.pot     # Updates or creates foo.pot
  user@host:$ scons pot-update  # Updates or creates foo.pot and bar.pot
  user@host:$ scons -c          # Does not clean foo.pot nor bar.pot.

the results shall be as the comments above say.

Example 2. The POTUpdate builder may be used with no target specified, in which case default target messages.pot will be used. The default target may also be overridden by setting $POTDOMAIN construction variable or providing it as an override to POTUpdate builder:

    
  # SConstruct script
  env = Environment( tools = ['default', 'xgettext'] )
  env['POTDOMAIN'] = "foo"
  env.POTUpdate(source = ["a.cpp", "b.cpp"]) # Creates foo.pot ...
  env.POTUpdate(POTDOMAIN = "bar", source = ["c.cpp", "d.cpp"]) # and bar.pot

Example 3. The sources may be specified within separate file, for example POTFILES.in:

      
  # POTFILES.in in 'po/' subdirectory
  ../a.cpp
  ../b.cpp
  # end of file

The name of the file (POTFILES.in) containing the list of sources is provided via $XGETTEXTFROM:

      
  # SConstruct file in 'po/' subdirectory
  env = Environment( tools = ['default', 'xgettext'] )
  env.POTUpdate(XGETTEXTFROM = 'POTFILES.in')

Example 4. You may use $XGETTEXTPATH to define source search path. Assume, for example, that you have files a.cpp, b.cpp, po/SConstruct, po/POTFILES.in. Then your POT-related files could look as below:

  # POTFILES.in in 'po/' subdirectory
  a.cpp
  b.cpp
  # end of file

  # SConstruct file in 'po/' subdirectory
  env = Environment( tools = ['default', 'xgettext'] )
  env.POTUpdate(XGETTEXTFROM = 'POTFILES.in', XGETTEXTPATH='../')

Example 5. Multiple search directories may be defined within a list, i.e. XGETTEXTPATH = ['dir1', 'dir2', ...]. The order in the list determines the search order of source files. The path to the first file found is used.

Let's create 0/1/po/SConstruct script:

  # SConstruct file in '0/1/po/' subdirectory
  env = Environment( tools = ['default', 'xgettext'] )
  env.POTUpdate(XGETTEXTFROM = 'POTFILES.in', XGETTEXTPATH=['../', '../../'])

and 0/1/po/POTFILES.in:

  # POTFILES.in in '0/1/po/' subdirectory
  a.cpp
  # end of file

Write two *.cpp files, the first one is 0/a.cpp:

  /* 0/a.cpp */
  gettext("Hello from ../../a.cpp")

and the second is 0/1/a.cpp:

  /* 0/1/a.cpp */
  gettext("Hello from ../a.cpp")

then run scons. You'll obtain 0/1/po/messages.pot with the message "Hello from ../a.cpp". When you reverse order in $XGETTEXTFOM, i.e. when you write SConscript as

  # SConstruct file in '0/1/po/' subdirectory
  env = Environment( tools = ['default', 'xgettext'] )
  env.POTUpdate(XGETTEXTFROM = 'POTFILES.in', XGETTEXTPATH=['../../', '../'])

then the messages.pot will contain msgid "Hello from ../../a.cpp" line and not msgid "Hello from ../a.cpp".

The builder belongs to msgmerge tool. The builder updates PO files with msgmerge(1), or initializes missing PO files as described in documentation of msginit tool and POInit builder (see also $POAUTOINIT). Note, that POUpdate does not add its targets to po-create alias as POInit does.

Target nodes defined through POUpdate are not built by default (they're Ignored from '.' node). Instead, they are added automatically to special Alias ('po-update' by default). The alias name may be changed through the $POUPDATE_ALIAS construction variable. You can easily update PO files in your project by scons po-update.

Example 1. Update en.po and pl.po from messages.pot template (see also $POTDOMAIN), assuming that the later one exists or there is rule to build it (see POTUpdate):

  # ...
  env.POUpdate(['en','pl']) # messages.pot --> [en.po, pl.po]

Example 2. Update en.po and pl.po from foo.pot template:

  # ...
  env.POUpdate(['en', 'pl'], ['foo']) # foo.pot -->  [en.po, pl.pl]

Example 3. Update en.po and pl.po from foo.pot (another version):

  # ...
  env.POUpdate(['en', 'pl'], POTDOMAIN='foo') # foo.pot -- > [en.po, pl.pl]

Example 4. Update files for languages defined in LINGUAS file. The files are updated from messages.pot template:

  # ...
  env.POUpdate(LINGUAS_FILE = 1) # needs 'LINGUAS' file

Example 5. Same as above, but update from foo.pot template:

  # ...
  env.POUpdate(LINGUAS_FILE = 1, source = ['foo'])

Example 6. Update en.po and pl.po plus files for languages defined in LINGUAS file. The files are updated from messages.pot template:

  # produce 'en.po', 'pl.po' + files defined in 'LINGUAS':
  env.POUpdate(['en', 'pl' ], LINGUAS_FILE = 1) 

Example 7. Use $POAUTOINIT to automatically initialize PO file if it doesn't exist:

  # ...
  env.POUpdate(LINGUAS_FILE = 1, POAUTOINIT = 1)

Example 8. Update PO files for languages defined in LINGUAS file. The files are updated from foo.pot template. All necessary settings are pre-configured via environment.

  # ...
  env['POAUTOINIT'] = 1
  env['LINGUAS_FILE'] = 1
  env['POTDOMAIN'] = 'foo'
  env.POUpdate()

Builds an executable given one or more object files or C, C++, D, or Fortran source files. If any C, C++, D or Fortran source files are specified, then they will be automatically compiled to object files using the Object builder method; see that builder method's description for a list of legal source file suffixes and how they are interpreted. The target executable file prefix (specified by the $PROGPREFIX construction variable; nothing by default) and suffix (specified by the $PROGSUFFIX construction variable; by default, .exe on Windows systems, nothing on POSIX systems) are automatically added to the target if not already present. Example:

env.Program(target = 'foo', source = ['foo.o', 'bar.c', 'baz.f'])

Builds an executable from D sources without first creating individual objects for each file.

D sources can be compiled file-by-file as C and C++ source are, and D is integrated into the scons Object and Program builders for this model of build. D codes can though do whole source meta-programming (some of the testing frameworks do this). For this it is imperative that all sources are compiled and linked in a single call to the D compiler. This builder serves that purpose.

    env.ProgramAllAtOnce('executable', ['mod_a.d, mod_b.d', 'mod_c.d'])
  

This command will compile the modules mod_a, mod_b, and mod_c in a single compilation process without first creating object files for the modules. Some of the D compilers will create executable.o others will not.

Builds a Microsoft Visual C++ resource file. This builder method is only provided when Microsoft Visual C++ or MinGW is being used as the compiler. The .res (or .o for MinGW) suffix is added to the target name if no other suffix is given. The source file is scanned for implicit dependencies as though it were a C file. Example:

env.RES('resource.rc')

Builds stub and skeleton class files for remote objects from Java .class files. The target is a directory relative to which the stub and skeleton class files will be written. The source can be the names of .class files, or the objects return from the Java builder method.

If the construction variable $JAVACLASSDIR is set, either in the environment or in the call to the RMIC builder method itself, then the value of the variable will be stripped from the beginning of any .class file names.

classes = env.Java(target = 'classdir', source = 'src')
env.RMIC(target = 'outdir1', source = classes)

env.RMIC(target = 'outdir2',
         source = ['package/foo.class', 'package/bar.class'])

env.RMIC(target = 'outdir3',
         source = ['classes/foo.class', 'classes/bar.class'],
         JAVACLASSDIR = 'classes')

Generates an RPC client stub (_clnt.c) file from a specified RPC (.x) source file. Because rpcgen only builds output files in the local directory, the command will be executed in the source file's directory by default.

# Builds src/rpcif_clnt.c
env.RPCGenClient('src/rpcif.x')

Generates an RPC header (.h) file from a specified RPC (.x) source file. Because rpcgen only builds output files in the local directory, the command will be executed in the source file's directory by default.

# Builds src/rpcif.h
env.RPCGenHeader('src/rpcif.x')

Generates an RPC server-skeleton (_svc.c) file from a specified RPC (.x) source file. Because rpcgen only builds output files in the local directory, the command will be executed in the source file's directory by default.

# Builds src/rpcif_svc.c
env.RPCGenClient('src/rpcif.x')

Generates an RPC XDR routine (_xdr.c) file from a specified RPC (.x) source file. Because rpcgen only builds output files in the local directory, the command will be executed in the source file's directory by default.

# Builds src/rpcif_xdr.c
env.RPCGenClient('src/rpcif.x')

Builds a shared library (.so on a POSIX system, .dll on Windows) given one or more object files or C, C++, D or Fortran source files. If any source files are given, then they will be automatically compiled to object files. The static library prefix and suffix (if any) are automatically added to the target. The target library file prefix (specified by the $SHLIBPREFIX construction variable; by default, lib on POSIX systems, nothing on Windows systems) and suffix (specified by the $SHLIBSUFFIX construction variable; by default, .dll on Windows systems, .so on POSIX systems) are automatically added to the target if not already present. Example:

env.SharedLibrary(target = 'bar', source = ['bar.c', 'foo.o'])

On Windows systems, the SharedLibrary builder method will always build an import (.lib) library in addition to the shared (.dll) library, adding a .lib library with the same basename if there is not already a .lib file explicitly listed in the targets.

On Cygwin systems, the SharedLibrary builder method will always build an import (.dll.a) library in addition to the shared (.dll) library, adding a .dll.a library with the same basename if there is not already a .dll.a file explicitly listed in the targets.

Any object files listed in the source must have been built for a shared library (that is, using the SharedObject builder method). scons will raise an error if there is any mismatch.

On some platforms, there is a distinction between a shared library (loaded automatically by the system to resolve external references) and a loadable module (explicitly loaded by user action). For maximum portability, use the LoadableModule builder for the latter.

When the $SHLIBVERSION construction variable is defined a versioned shared library is created. This modifies the $SHLINKFLAGS as required, adds the version number to the library name, and creates the symlinks that are needed.

env.SharedLibrary(target = 'bar', source = ['bar.c', 'foo.o'], SHLIBVERSION='1.5.2')

On a POSIX system, versions with a single token create exactly one symlink: libbar.so.6 would have symlinks libbar.so only. On a POSIX system, versions with two or more tokens create exactly two symlinks: libbar.so.2.3.1 would have symlinks libbar.so and libbar.so.2; on a Darwin (OSX) system the library would be libbar.2.3.1.dylib and the link would be libbar.dylib.

On Windows systems, specifying register=1 will cause the .dll to be registered after it is built using REGSVR32. The command that is run ("regsvr32" by default) is determined by $REGSVR construction variable, and the flags passed are determined by $REGSVRFLAGS. By default, $REGSVRFLAGS includes the /s option, to prevent dialogs from popping up and requiring user attention when it is run. If you change $REGSVRFLAGS, be sure to include the /s option. For example,

env.SharedLibrary(target = 'bar',
                  source = ['bar.cxx', 'foo.obj'],
                  register=1)

will register bar.dll as a COM object when it is done linking it.

Builds an object file for inclusion in a shared library. Source files must have one of the same set of extensions specified above for the StaticObject builder method. On some platforms building a shared object requires additional compiler option (e.g. -fPIC for gcc) in addition to those needed to build a normal (static) object, but on some platforms there is no difference between a shared object and a normal (static) one. When there is a difference, SCons will only allow shared objects to be linked into a shared library, and will use a different suffix for shared objects. On platforms where there is no difference, SCons will allow both normal (static) and shared objects to be linked into a shared library, and will use the same suffix for shared and normal (static) objects. The target object file prefix (specified by the $SHOBJPREFIX construction variable; by default, the same as $OBJPREFIX) and suffix (specified by the $SHOBJSUFFIX construction variable) are automatically added to the target if not already present. Examples:

env.SharedObject(target = 'ddd', source = 'ddd.c')
env.SharedObject(target = 'eee.o', source = 'eee.cpp')
env.SharedObject(target = 'fff.obj', source = 'fff.for')

Note that the source files will be scanned according to the suffix mappings in the SourceFileScanner object. See the section "Scanner Objects," below, for more information.

Builds a static library given one or more object files or C, C++, D or Fortran source files. If any source files are given, then they will be automatically compiled to object files. The static library prefix and suffix (if any) are automatically added to the target. The target library file prefix (specified by the $LIBPREFIX construction variable; by default, lib on POSIX systems, nothing on Windows systems) and suffix (specified by the $LIBSUFFIX construction variable; by default, .lib on Windows systems, .a on POSIX systems) are automatically added to the target if not already present. Example:

env.StaticLibrary(target = 'bar', source = ['bar.c', 'foo.o'])

Any object files listed in the source must have been built for a static library (that is, using the StaticObject builder method). scons will raise an error if there is any mismatch.

Builds a static object file from one or more C, C++, D, or Fortran source files. Source files must have one of the following extensions:

  .asm    assembly language file
  .ASM    assembly language file
  .c      C file
  .C      Windows:  C file
          POSIX:  C++ file
  .cc     C++ file
  .cpp    C++ file
  .cxx    C++ file
  .cxx    C++ file
  .c++    C++ file
  .C++    C++ file
  .d      D file
  .f      Fortran file
  .F      Windows:  Fortran file
          POSIX:  Fortran file + C pre-processor
  .for    Fortran file
  .FOR    Fortran file
  .fpp    Fortran file + C pre-processor
  .FPP    Fortran file + C pre-processor
  .m      Object C file
  .mm     Object C++ file
  .s      assembly language file
  .S      Windows:  assembly language file
          ARM: CodeSourcery Sourcery Lite
  .sx     assembly language file + C pre-processor
          POSIX:  assembly language file + C pre-processor
  .spp    assembly language file + C pre-processor
  .SPP    assembly language file + C pre-processor

The target object file prefix (specified by the $OBJPREFIX construction variable; nothing by default) and suffix (specified by the $OBJSUFFIX construction variable; .obj on Windows systems, .o on POSIX systems) are automatically added to the target if not already present. Examples:

env.StaticObject(target = 'aaa', source = 'aaa.c')
env.StaticObject(target = 'bbb.o', source = 'bbb.c++')
env.StaticObject(target = 'ccc.obj', source = 'ccc.f')

Note that the source files will be scanned according to the suffix mappings in SourceFileScanner object. See the section "Scanner Objects," below, for more information.

The Substfile builder creates a single text file from another file or set of files by concatenating them with $LINESEPARATOR and replacing text using the $SUBST_DICT construction variable. Nested lists of source files are flattened. See also Textfile.

If a single source file is present with an .in suffix, the suffix is stripped and the remainder is used as the default target name.

The prefix and suffix specified by the $SUBSTFILEPREFIX and $SUBSTFILESUFFIX construction variables (the null string by default in both cases) are automatically added to the target if they are not already present.

If a construction variable named $SUBST_DICT is present, it may be either a Python dictionary or a sequence of (key,value) tuples. If it is a dictionary it is converted into a list of tuples in an arbitrary order, so if one key is a prefix of another key or if one substitution could be further expanded by another subsitition, it is unpredictable whether the expansion will occur.

Any occurrences of a key in the source are replaced by the corresponding value, which may be a Python callable function or a string. If the value is a callable, it is called with no arguments to get a string. Strings are subst-expanded and the result replaces the key.

env = Environment(tools=['default'])

env['prefix'] = '/usr/bin'
script_dict = {'@prefix@': '/bin', '@exec_prefix@': '$prefix'}
env.Substfile('script.in', SUBST_DICT = script_dict)

conf_dict = {'%VERSION%': '1.2.3', '%BASE%': 'MyProg'}
env.Substfile('config.h.in', conf_dict, SUBST_DICT = conf_dict)

# UNPREDICTABLE - one key is a prefix of another
bad_foo = {'$foo': '$foo', '$foobar': '$foobar'}
env.Substfile('foo.in', SUBST_DICT = bad_foo)

# PREDICTABLE - keys are applied longest first
good_foo = [('$foobar', '$foobar'), ('$foo', '$foo')]
env.Substfile('foo.in', SUBST_DICT = good_foo)

# UNPREDICTABLE - one substitution could be futher expanded
bad_bar = {'@bar@': '@soap@', '@soap@': 'lye'}
env.Substfile('bar.in', SUBST_DICT = bad_bar)

# PREDICTABLE - substitutions are expanded in order
good_bar = (('@bar@', '@soap@'), ('@soap@', 'lye'))
env.Substfile('bar.in', SUBST_DICT = good_bar)

# the SUBST_DICT may be in common (and not an override)
substutions = {}
subst = Environment(tools=['textfile'], SUBST_DICT=substitutions)
substitutions['@foo@'] = 'foo'
subst['SUBST_DICT']['@bar@'] = 'bar'
subst.Substfile('pgm1.c', [Value('#include "@foo@.h"'),
                           Value('#include "@bar@.h"'),
                           "common.in",
                           "pgm1.in"
                          ])
subst.Substfile('pgm2.c', [Value('#include "@foo@.h"'),
                           Value('#include "@bar@.h"'),
                           "common.in",
                           "pgm2.in"
                          ])

Builds a tar archive of the specified files and/or directories. Unlike most builder methods, the Tar builder method may be called multiple times for a given target; each additional call adds to the list of entries that will be built into the archive. Any source directories will be scanned for changes to any on-disk files, regardless of whether or not scons knows about them from other Builder or function calls.

env.Tar('src.tar', 'src')

# Create the stuff.tar file.
env.Tar('stuff', ['subdir1', 'subdir2'])
# Also add "another" to the stuff.tar file.
env.Tar('stuff', 'another')

# Set TARFLAGS to create a gzip-filtered archive.
env = Environment(TARFLAGS = '-c -z')
env.Tar('foo.tar.gz', 'foo')

# Also set the suffix to .tgz.
env = Environment(TARFLAGS = '-c -z',
                  TARSUFFIX = '.tgz')
env.Tar('foo')

The Textfile builder generates a single text file. The source strings constitute the lines; nested lists of sources are flattened. $LINESEPARATOR is used to separate the strings.

If present, the $SUBST_DICT construction variable is used to modify the strings before they are written; see the Substfile description for details.

The prefix and suffix specified by the $TEXTFILEPREFIX and $TEXTFILESUFFIX construction variables (the null string and .txt by default, respectively) are automatically added to the target if they are not already present. Examples:

# builds/writes foo.txt
env.Textfile(target = 'foo.txt', source = ['Goethe', 42, 'Schiller'])

# builds/writes bar.txt
env.Textfile(target = 'bar',
             source = ['lalala', 'tanteratei'],
             LINESEPARATOR='|*')

# nested lists are flattened automatically
env.Textfile(target = 'blob',
             source = ['lalala', ['Goethe', 42 'Schiller'], 'tanteratei'])

# files may be used as input by wraping them in File()
env.Textfile(target = 'concat',  # concatenate files with a marker between
             source = [File('concat1'), File('concat2')],
             LINESEPARATOR = '====================\n')

Results are:
foo.txt
  ....8<----
  Goethe
  42
  Schiller
  ....8<---- (no linefeed at the end)

bar.txt:
  ....8<----
  lalala|*tanteratei
  ....8<---- (no linefeed at the end)

blob.txt
  ....8<----
  lalala
  Goethe
  42
  Schiller
  tanteratei
  ....8<---- (no linefeed at the end)

This pseudo-builder belongs to gettext toolset. The builder extracts internationalized messages from source files, updates POT template (if necessary) and then updates PO translations (if necessary). If $POAUTOINIT is set, missing PO files will be automatically created (i.e. without translator person intervention). The variables $LINGUAS_FILE and $POTDOMAIN are taken into acount too. All other construction variables used by POTUpdate, and POUpdate work here too.

Example 1. The simplest way is to specify input files and output languages inline in a SCons script when invoking Translate

# SConscript in 'po/' directory
env = Environment( tools = ["default", "gettext"] )
env['POAUTOINIT'] = 1
env.Translate(['en','pl'], ['../a.cpp','../b.cpp']) 

Example 2. If you wish, you may also stick to conventional style known from autotools, i.e. using POTFILES.in and LINGUAS files

# LINGUAS
en pl 
#end

# POTFILES.in
a.cpp
b.cpp
# end

# SConscript
env = Environment( tools = ["default", "gettext"] )
env['POAUTOINIT'] = 1
env['XGETTEXTPATH'] = ['../']
env.Translate(LINGUAS_FILE = 1, XGETTEXTFROM = 'POTFILES.in') 

The last approach is perhaps the recommended one. It allows easily split internationalization/localization onto separate SCons scripts, where a script in source tree is responsible for translations (from sources to PO files) and script(s) under variant directories are responsible for compilation of PO to MO files to and for installation of MO files. The "gluing factor" synchronizing these two scripts is then the content of LINGUAS file. Note, that the updated POT and PO files are usually going to be committed back to the repository, so they must be updated within the source directory (and not in variant directories). Additionaly, the file listing of po/ directory contains LINGUAS file, so the source tree looks familiar to translators, and they may work with the project in their usual way.

Example 3. Let's prepare a development tree as below

 project/
  + SConstruct
  + build/        
  + src/
      + po/
          + SConscript
          + SConscript.i18n
          + POTFILES.in
          + LINGUAS

with build being variant directory. Write the top-level SConstruct script as follows

  # SConstruct
  env = Environment( tools = ["default", "gettext"] )
  VariantDir('build', 'src', duplicate = 0)
  env['POAUTOINIT'] = 1
  SConscript('src/po/SConscript.i18n', exports = 'env')
  SConscript('build/po/SConscript', exports = 'env')

the src/po/SConscript.i18n as

  # src/po/SConscript.i18n
  Import('env')
  env.Translate(LINGUAS_FILE=1, XGETTEXTFROM='POTFILES.in', XGETTEXTPATH=['../'])

and the src/po/SConscript

  # src/po/SConscript
  Import('env')
  env.MOFiles(LINGUAS_FILE = 1)

Such setup produces POT and PO files under source tree in src/po/ and binary MO files under variant tree in build/po/. This way the POT and PO files are separated from other output files, which must not be committed back to source repositories (e.g. MO files).

Builds a Windows type library (.tlb) file from an input IDL file (.idl). In addition, it will build the associated interface stub and proxy source files, naming them according to the base name of the .idl file. For example,

env.TypeLibrary(source="foo.idl")

Will create foo.tlb, foo.h, foo_i.c, foo_p.c and foo_data.c files.

Builds a header file, an implementation file and a moc file from an ui file. and returns the corresponding nodes in the above order. This builder is only available after using the tool 'qt'. Note: you can specify .ui files directly as source files to the Program, Library and SharedLibrary builders without using this builder. Using this builder lets you override the standard naming conventions (be careful: prefixes are always prepended to names of built files; if you don't want prefixes, you may set them to ``). See the $QTDIR variable for more information. Example:

env.Uic('foo.ui') # -> ['foo.h', 'uic_foo.cc', 'moc_foo.cc']
env.Uic(target = Split('include/foo.h gen/uicfoo.cc gen/mocfoo.cc'),
        source = 'foo.ui') # -> ['include/foo.h', 'gen/uicfoo.cc', 'gen/mocfoo.cc']

Builds a zip archive of the specified files and/or directories. Unlike most builder methods, the Zip builder method may be called multiple times for a given target; each additional call adds to the list of entries that will be built into the archive. Any source directories will be scanned for changes to any on-disk files, regardless of whether or not scons knows about them from other Builder or function calls.

env.Zip('src.zip', 'src')

# Create the stuff.zip file.
env.Zip('stuff', ['subdir1', 'subdir2'])
# Also add "another" to the stuff.tar file.
env.Zip('stuff', 'another')