Premake

I've just checked a new feature into the development repository: usages. Usages allow you to specify the settings that are required to link your project (as opposed to building it). For more information, check out the description of the original ... [More] patch, which provides a little background and shows how to use it. This is a great and much needed feature; many thanks to Korval for the original patch, and radman for getting it working against the latest code. Now it needs testing. Grab the latest code from the development repository on BitBucket, try it out on your projects, and let me know what kinds of problems you run into. In the meantime I'll get started on unit tests and some proper documentation. I'd like to get this out as part of the upcoming 4.2.2 release (and soon!). Thanks! [Less]

While I'm on the subject of big changes... In the near future I am going to move Premake development from SourceForge to BitBucket, and in the process from Subversion to Mercurial. My main motivation is to make it easier for people to hack on and ... [More] contribute to Premake (I've started under-the-hood documentation as well). I want to remove myself as the bottleneck. Social coding is a brilliant idea, and I would like Premake to benefit from these new community features. Moving to a DVCS also has the nice bonus of making it easier to work on parallel branches of development. Merging is orders of magnitude better than Subversion. Which means I'll be spending less time applying the same bug fixes to multiple branches, and more time actually developing. Always good. I chose BitBucket over GitHib because of Mercurial. I chose Mercurial over git because Mercurial is a little easier to get set up, has a little better Windows support, has a little better documentation, and is a little easier to learn. Git is a little more powerful, but not in any way that will really benefit this project. Otherwise, both products and both sites are so close that you might as well flip a coin. For those of you not familiar with Mercurial, here is an easy and excellent introduction from Joel Spolsky. Your thoughts on the switch are welcome. I'd like to know what everyone thinks (although I'm pretty sure this is the way I'm going to go). Oh, and for now at least, file hosting and issue tracking will remain on SourceForge, and forums and documentation will remain here at Industrious One. [Less]

It has come to my attention (some time ago, actually) that the GPL license I chose for Premake years ago is not really serving its best interests now. I've been in contact with several groups that would like to participate in the project but either ... [More] can't or won't because of the "viral" nature of the license. At least one company would like to include Premake as part of the tool chain they release to their customers; we lost a golden opportunity to increase adoption there. And quite honestly, I'm not sure how far the license spreads—does it include your build scripts? I would like to switch the project to the MIT license, the same one used by Lua. Use Premake however you want, just give attribution. I am not at all concerned with forking, as people have tried and always come back. Nor am I concerned with people making a profit from it; lord knows I would if I could figure out how. Premake 4.0 was a complete rewrite to a completely different architecture, so there are no contributions that predate that release. Folks who have contributed code since then (not many of you) who aren't willing to relicense can contact me and I will remove or rewrite your contribution. So what say you? Like it? Hate it? Think a different license is better (be sure to state why)? Dual license? I'd like to make this change for Premake 4.3, if possible. Feel free to contact me privately. [Less]

A bug in the new file pattern matching introduced in 4.2 has been causing people trouble, so here's an update to get it fixed. Download 4.2.1 now The final change log:* Feature 2944697: Add flag to disable Minimal Rebuild in Visual Studio * Patch ... [More] 2928029: Add EnableSSE, EnableSSE2 flags * Patch 2936443: Expose configuration terms to scripts (Laurent Humbertclaude) * Bug 2928775: Error loading external Lua module with require() * Bug 2942438: Wrong runtime library linked * Bug 2931722: pchheader handling not consistent between tools * Bug 2958829: Files pattern matching including too many files * Bug 2953594: includedirs / libdirs converting absolute paths to relative * Bug 2936188: Improve handling for invalid values in lists Enjoy! [Less]

As you might have noticed on the main site, I quit my job last week and will be making a go of it as an independent software shop. In the short term, this doesn't help Premake any. By necessity, I am going to be focused on getting my shop online and ... [More] building up income. In the long term, the news is much better. As it stands now, on a good week I can log 6-8 hours of nights and weekends work. That's not very much, and it gets split between Premake, the website, and all of the other little projects I've got going on. Once I roll off, that jumps to 40-plus hours and the opportunity to knock off big chunks of work at a time. I'd like to assure everyone that, while it is not my immediate priority, I've put in a lot of hard work getting Premake where it is today and I don't intend to see it falter now. It is an integral part of my own projects. So I will be trying to, at the very least, get together enough bug fixes and apply enough patches for a series of 4.2.x releases. I have also started working on documentation to help people who would like to contribute get a jump start, so hopefully we'll see more feature patches coming in. And Visual Studio 2010 support is still top of my list for new features. So: expect to see a drop-off while I do the ramp up work for the business. I will still be around to answer questions, and in the long run I will be around even more. And if you ever considered donating to Premake, now would be a great time. [Less]

At long last: 4.2! Many, many thanks to everyone who assisted by using the early releases, providing feedback, reporting bugs, and contributing patches. This release, and every release, is better because of your help. Download 4.2 now The final ... [More] change log: * Feature 1526976: Add support for Apple Xcode 3 * Feature 2900623: Add targetsuffix and implibsuffix properties * Feature 2839002: Add gcc switch to improve header dependency generation (Johannes Spohr) * Feature 2832906: Global variable (_SCRIPT) for current script path * Feature 2905303: Enable better folder matching in file lists * Feature 2919629: Add help target for makefiles * Feature 2820644: Add Xbox360 deployment and image options * Bug 2909463: Fix Xcode handling of Obj-C++ .mm files * Bug 2903430: Using relative instead of absolute paths with $() macro * Bug 2910691: Duplicate build options * Bug 2910639: Nil reference on dylib project dependency * Bug 2872066: Two test failures in 4.1.2 * Bug 2912756: dylibs missing lib prefix * Bug 2910202: Code::Blocks building C files as C++ * Bug 2926917: Use target name for Visual Studio PDB file * Bug 2927604: Unable to build Premake with Visual Studio * Added project kind to list of configuration filters * Clean action now removes MonoDevelop .pidb files correctly * added os.executef() Enjoy! [Less]

A tertiary release in the 4.2 series, now feature complete! Download 4.2-rc1 now The changes so far: Feature 1526976: Add support for Apple Xcode 3 Feature 2900623: Add targetsuffix and implibsuffix properties Feature 2839002: Add gcc switch ... [More] to improve header dependency generation (Johannes Spohr) Feature 2832906: Global variable (_SCRIPT) for current script path Feature 2905303: Enable better folder matching in file lists Feature 2919629: Add help target for makefiles Feature 2820644: Add Xbox360 deployment and image options Bug 2909463: Fix Xcode handling of Obj-C++ .mm files Bug 2903430: Using relative instead of absolute paths with $() macro Bug 2910691: Duplicate build options Bug 2910639: Nil reference on dylib project dependency Bug 2872066: Two test failures in 4.1.2 Bug 2912756: dylibs missing lib prefix Bug 2910202: Code::Blocks building C files as C++ Added project kind to list of configuration filters Clean action now removes MonoDevelop .pidb files correctly added os.executef() Enjoy, and be sure to send in those bug reports! [Less]

A big thank you to everyone who participated in the Support an Open Source Developer campaign last week. Your generosity is very much appreciated, and will be put to good use. Thank you all again for a great 2009, and here's hoping for an even better 2010! Again, many thanks!

The end of the year is coming up fast, and what a year it's been! From the new syntax introduced in 4.0 last February, to the platform features added in 4.1 over the summer, and now the spiffy new Xcode action. Not to mention all the other features ... [More] and fixes! If you've found Premake to be valuable to you this year, please consider throwing some change in the hat. I'll use the funds to keep the site running, and toward purchasing Visual Studio 2010 next year (and adding it to Premake, of course). If there is anything left over, well then I'll raise a glass at our favorite pub to you, the fine (and good looking!) Premake community. The suggested donation is $5. Payments are handled through PayPal, but you don't need an account if you use a credit card. I never see your card details. Whether you donate or not, I thank you all deeply and sincerely for being a part of the Premake community and helping make this the best year yet. Here's to an even better 2010! The full change log for the year: 4.2 (in progress) Feature 1526976: Add support for Apple Xcode 3 Feature 2900623: Add targetsuffix and implibsuffix properties Added project kind to list of configuration filters Clean action now removes MonoDevelop .pidb files correctly Added os.executef() Bug 2909463: Fix Xcode handling of Obj-C++ .mm files Bug 2903430: Using relative instead of absolute paths with $() macro Bug 2910691: Duplicate build options Bug 2910639: Nil reference on dylib project dependency Bug 2872066: Two test failures in 4.1.2 4.1.2 Fixed ManagedExtension setting for Visual Studio Fixed os.match() bug for large result sets (David Raulo) Patch 2840052: Order problem of static link Patch 2802722: Floating Point Model Flags (Suigintou) Patch 2865333: Support for ObjC and ObjC++ sources (Johannes Spohr) Patch 2832852: Fix descriptions in cmd help (Sebastian Schuberth) Patch 2832848: Show default script name in help (Sebastian Schuberth) 4.1.1 Use libtool instead of ar for Mac OS X Universal static libraries Fixed Xbox 360 linker settings in Visual Studio Remove platform-specific intermediate objects on clean Bug 2819232: Buildoptions not used when creating Makefile for C# Bug 2813297: OS X universal config should be "univ" (William Burnson) Bug 2814179: Xbox 360 precompiled headers not working 4.1 Added support for cross-compiling target platforms Added Xbox 360 support to Visual Studio 2005/2008 Added Mac OS X universal binary support Added Playstation 3 support Added precompiled header support for GCC Support links and libdirs for Visual Studio static libraries Fail gracefully when list is assigned to string field Changed GCC flags to -fno-exceptions and -fno-rtti Improved performance of configuration building step Fixed crash when configuration is missing a kind Patch 2031626: Support for additional manifest files (Colin Graf) Patch 2558089: workaround for --as-needed/correct link order (idl0r) Patch 2609028: verbose linking in makefile (kaidokert) Bug 2564404: FatalWarnings has no effect with gmake target Bug 2550759: pchheader option has wrong type Bug 1900333: Parentheses in build path Bug 2790865: SharedLib on OSX fixes (Ash Berlin) Bug 2790882: Trailing slash in path.getabsolute (Ash Berlin) Bug 2805763: GCC PCH breaks on path Bug 2709641: Location field does not propagate to projects Bug 2675518: Dependencies wrong on config links Bug 2152526: Code::Blocks doesn't build PCH correctly on GCC Removed additional MonoDevelop files in clean action Fixed naming of system libraries in Visual Studio link step Set OS to Windows when generating for Visual Studio Bug 2801257: Linker error LNK1112 when cross-compiling for x64 4.0 A new, more readable and extensible syntax for projects More robust syntax validation A new command-line format, with better argument validation Improved path handling across all project settings Upgraded to Lua 5.1.4 Many, many bug fixes Set Mac OS X linker flags for Code::Blocks Bug 2533504: Files above project root not added to project Embed scripts instead of bytecodes to avoid portability issues solution() and project() now only set the active object when called with a name; remains unchanged otherwise Bug: GCC Windows release builds of Premake4 crash on script errors Patched Lua to load precompiled bytecodes on PPC architectures. Display paths of generated files Enabled use of absolute Windows paths to different drive letter Bug: Post-build commands run before build on Code::Blocks Removed FatalWarnings build flag Fixed GCC 4.2 warnings (Ryan Pusztai) Enable Windows linking to shared libraries even with NoImportLib flag set (just in case) Fixed handling of paths in links Added "ToolsVersion" attribute to VS2005 and VS2008 C# projects Fixed separator between library dependencies in C++ makefiles Added missing os.copyfile() function Bug: Sometimes takes a long time to complete on Linux Enabled Lua popen support on Linux and Mac OS X Once again, thank you! [Less]

Second in a series, chock full of bug fixing goodness! Get 4.2-beta2 from SourceForge Special thanks to Johannes, Liam, Ash, Ryan, and the all the others who submitted bug reports and feedback. Much appreciated! The changes so far: * Feature ... [More] 1526976: Add support for Apple Xcode 3 * clean now removes MonoDevelop .pidb files correctly * added os.executef() * Added project kind to list of configuration filters * Bug 2909463: Fix Xcode handling of Obj-C++ .mm files * Bug 2903430: Using relative instead of absolute paths with $() macro * Bug 2910691: Duplicate build options * Bug 2910639: Nil reference on dylib project dependency * Bug 2872066: Two test failures in 4.1.2 Enjoy, and be sure to send in those bug reports! [Less]