meson - Man Page
a high productivity build system
Examples (TL;DR)
- Generate a C project with a given name and version:
meson init --language=c --name=myproject --version=0.1 - Configure the
builddirwith default values:meson setup build_dir - Build the project:
meson compile -C path/to/build_dir - Run all tests in the project:
meson test - Show the help:
meson --help - Display version:
meson --version
Description
Meson is a build system designed to optimize programmer productivity. It aims to do this by providing simple, out-of-the-box support for modern software development tools and practices, such as unit tests, coverage reports, Valgrind, Ccache and the like.
The main Meson executable provides many subcommands to access all the functionality.
The setup command
Using Meson is simple and follows the common two-phase process of most build systems. First you run Meson to configure your build:
meson setup [ options ] [ build directory ] [ source directory ]
Note that the build directory must be different from the source directory. Meson does not support building inside the source directory and attempting to do that leads to an error.
After a successful configuration step you can build the source by running the actual build command in the build directory. The default backend of Meson is Ninja, which can be invoked like this.
ninja [ target ]
You only need to run the Meson command once: when you first configure your build dir. After that you just run the build command. Meson will autodetect changes in your source tree and regenerate all files needed to build the project.
The setup command is the default operation. If no actual command is specified, Meson will assume you meant to do a setup. That means that you can set up a build directory without the setup command like this:
meson [ options ] [ build directory ] [ source directory ]
options
- --version
print version number
- --help
print command line help
The configure command
meson configure provides a way to configure a Meson project from the command line. Its usage is simple:
meson configure [ build directory ] [ options to set ]
If build directory is omitted, the current directory is used instead.
If no parameters are set, meson configure will print the value of all build options to the console.
To set values, use the -D command line argument like this.
meson configure -Dopt1=value1 -Dopt2=value2
The dist command
meson dist generates a release archive.
meson dist [ options ]
options
- -h, --help
show this help message and exit
- -C WD
directory to cd into before running
- --allow-dirty
Allow even when repository contains uncommitted changes.
- --formats FORMATS
Comma separated list of archive types to create. Supports xztar (default), gztar, and zip.
- --include-subprojects
Include source code of subprojects that have been used for the build.
- --no-tests
Do not build and test generated packages.
The install command
meson install installs the project.
meson install [ options ]
options
- -h, --help
show this help message and exit
- -C WD
directory to cd into before running
- --no-rebuild
Do not rebuild before installing.
- --only-changed
Only overwrite files that are older than the copied file.
- --quiet
Do not print every file that was installed.
- --destdir DESTDIR
Sets or overrides DESTDIR environment. (Since 0.57.0)
- --dry-run, -n
Doesn't actually install, but print logs. (Since 0.57.0)
- --skip-subprojects [SKIP_SUBPROJECTS]
Do not install files from given subprojects. (Since 0.58.0)
- --tags TAGS
Install only targets having one of the given tags. (Since 0.60.0)
- --strip
Strip targets even if strip option was not set during configure. (Since 0.62.0)
The introspect command
Meson introspect is a command designed to make it simple to integrate with other tools, such as IDEs. The output of this command is in JSON.
meson introspect [ build directory ] [ option ]
If build directory is omitted, the current directory is used instead.
options
- --targets
print all top level targets (executables, libraries, etc)
- --target-files
print the source files of the given target
- --buildsystem-files
print all files that make up the build system (meson.build, meson.options, meson_options.txt etc)
- --tests
print all unit tests
- --help
print command line help
The init command
meson init creates a new project
meson init [ options ] [ sourcefile... ]
positional arguments
- sourcefile...
source files. default: all recognized files in current directory
options
- -h, --help
show this help message and exit
- -C WD
directory to cd into before running
- -n NAME, --name NAME
project name. default: name of current directory
- -e EXECUTABLE, --executable EXECUTABLE
executable name. default: project name
- -d DEPS, --deps DEPS
dependencies, comma-separated
- -l {c,cpp,cs,cuda,d,fortran,java,objc,objcpp,rust,vala}, --language {c,cpp,cs,cuda,d,fortran,java,objc,objcpp,rust,vala}
project language. default: autodetected based on source files
- -b, --build
build after generation
- --builddir BUILDDIR
directory for build
- -f, --force
force overwrite of existing files and directories.
- --type {executable,library}
project type. default: executable based project
- --version VERSION
project version. default: 0.1
The test command
meson test is a helper tool for running test suites of projects using Meson. The default way of running tests is to invoke the default build command:
ninja [ test ]
meson test provides a richer set of tools for invoking tests.
meson test automatically rebuilds the necessary targets to run tests when used with the Ninja backend. Upon build failure, meson test will return an exit code of 125. This return code tells git bisect run to skip the current commit. Thus bisecting using git can be done conveniently like this.
git bisect run meson test -C build_dir
options
- --repeat
run tests as many times as specified
- --gdb
run tests under gdb
- --list
list all available tests
- --wrapper
invoke all tests via the given wrapper (e.g. valgrind)
- -C
Change into the given directory before running tests (must be root of build directory).
- --suite
run tests in this suite
- --no-suite
do not run tests in this suite
- --no-stdsplit
do not split stderr and stdout in test logs
- --benchmark
run benchmarks instead of tests
- --logbase
base of file name to use for writing test logs
- --num-processes
how many parallel processes to use to run tests
- --verbose
do not redirect stdout and stderr
- -t
a multiplier to use for test timeout values (usually something like 100 for Valgrind)
- --setup
use the specified test setup
The wrap command
Wraptool is a helper utility to manage source dependencies using the online wrapdb service.
meson wrap < command > [ options ]
You should run this command in the top level source directory of your project.
Commands
- list
list all available projects
- search
search projects by name
- install
install a project with the given name
- update
update the specified project to latest available version
- info
show available versions of the specified project
- status
show installed and available versions of currently used subprojects
The subprojects command
meson subprojects is used to manage subprojects.
meson subprojects [ options ] [ command ]
options
- -h, --help
show this help message and exit
commands
- update
Update all subprojects from wrap files
- checkout
Checkout a branch (git only)
- download
Ensure subprojects are fetched, even if not in use. Already downloaded subprojects are not modified. This can be used to pre-fetch all subprojects and avoid downloads during configure.
- foreach
Execute a command in each subproject directory.
- purge
Remove all wrap-based subproject artifacts
- packagefiles
Manage the packagefiles overlay
The rewrite command
meson rewrite modifies the project definition.
meson rewrite [ options ] [ command ]
options
- -h, --help
show this help message and exit
- -s SRCDIR, --sourcedir SRCDIR
Path to source directory.
- -V, --verbose
Enable verbose output
- -S, --skip-errors
Skip errors instead of aborting
commands
- target (tgt)
Modify a target
- kwargs
Modify keyword arguments
- default-options (def)
Modify the project default options
- command (cmd)
Execute a JSON array of commands
The compile command
meson compile builds the project.
meson compile [ options ] [ TARGET... ]
positional arguments
- TARGET
Targets to build. Target has the following format: [PATH_TO_TARGET/]TARGET_NAME.TARGET_SUFFIX[:TARGET_TYPE].
options
- -h, --help
show this help message and exit
- --clean
Clean the build directory.
- -C WD
directory to cd into before running
- -j JOBS, --jobs JOBS
The number of worker jobs to run (if supported). If the value is less than 1 the build program will guess.
- -l LOAD_AVERAGE, --load-average LOAD_AVERAGE
The system load average to try to maintain (if supported).
- -v, --verbose
Show more verbose output.
- --ninja-args NINJA_ARGS
Arguments to pass to `ninja` (applied only on `ninja` backend).
- --vs-args VS_ARGS
Arguments to pass to `msbuild` (applied only on `vs` backend).
- --xcode-args XCODE_ARGS
Arguments to pass to `xcodebuild` (applied only on `xcode` backend).
The devenv command
meson devenv runs commands in the developer environment.
meson devenv [ options ] [ command ]
positional arguments
- command
Command to run in developer environment (default: interactive shell)
options
- -h, --help
show this help message and exit
- -C BUILDDIR
Path to build directory
- --workdir WORKDIR, -w WORKDIR
Directory to cd into before running (default: builddir, Since 1.0.0)
- --dump [DUMP]
Only print required environment (Since 0.62.0) Takes an optional file path (Since 1.1.0)
- --dump-format {sh,export,vscode}
Format used with --dump (Since 1.1.0)
The env2mfile command
meson env2mfile converts the current environment to a cross or native file.
meson env2mfile [ options ]
options
- -h, --help
show this help message and exit
- --debarch DEBARCH
The dpkg architecture to generate.
- --gccsuffix GCCSUFFIX
A particular gcc version suffix if necessary.
- -o OUTFILE
The output file.
- --cross
Generate a cross compilation file.
- --native
Generate a native compilation file.
- --system SYSTEM
Define system for cross compilation.
- --subsystem SUBSYSTEM
Define subsystem for cross compilation.
- --kernel KERNEL
Define kernel for cross compilation.
- --cpu CPU
Define cpu for cross compilation.
- --cpu-family CPU_FAMILY
Define cpu family for cross compilation.
- --endian {big,little}
Define endianness for cross compilation.
The format command
meson format formats a meson source file.
meson format [ options ] [ sources... ]
positional arguments
- sources...
meson source files
options
- -h, --help
show this help message and exit
- -q, --check-only
exit with 1 if files would be modified by meson format
- -i, --inplace
format files in-place
- -r, --recursive
recurse subdirs (requires --check-only or --inplace option)
- -c meson.format, --configuration meson.format
read configuration from meson.format
- -e, --editor-config
try to read configuration from .editorconfig
- -o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
output file (implies having exactly one input)
Exit Status
- 0
Successful.
- 1
Usage error, or an error parsing or executing meson.build.
- 2
Internal error.
- 125
meson test could not rebuild the required targets.