I recently got Macaroni compiled in Ubuntu and passing all the unit tests. The integration tests weren't so lucky, perhaps due to configuration issues in how I'm using Boost Build. Despite that, I've released the Ubuntu build on Macaroni's homepage. Here's a little tutorial on how to use it in Ubuntu, which I'm writing as I run Macaroni for the first time in a fresh virtual machine.
First, download Macaroni from this link. I unzipped mine to ~/Tools/macaroni, so the final directory was ~/Tools/macaroni/macaroni-0.1.0.25-ubuntu-64.
The Macaroni binary won't have the execute permission set, so fix that with:
$ chmod 700 ~/Tools/macaroni/macaroni-0.1.0.25-ubuntu-64/macaroni
Macaroni needs a settings file to be present at ~/Macaroni. This is for global settings which need to be changed on a per-machine basis, though for this project we won't need it all.
$ mkdir -p ~/Macaroni
$ echo "properties={}" > ~/Macaroni/init.lua
Unlike the Windows version, we'll need to specify each path to the various Lua scripts (the ability to avoid this might be coming to the Linux version soon, but currently it seems a little complicated). So we'll create an alias to do all this for us.
$ MPATH=~/Tools/macaroni/macaroni-0.1.0.25-ubuntu-64
$ alias mcpp="$MPATH/macaroni generatorPath $MPATH/Generators \
libraryRepoPath $MPATH/Libraries messagesPath $MPATH/"
At this point typing “mcpp” will run Macaroni.
Create a new directory for an example project. Mine is ~/Work/mexample. In that directory, create the following file called “project.lua”:
import('Macaroni', 'ProjectTemplates', '1')
require 'SimpleProject'
GenerateCpp{group='Junk', project='Junk', version='0'};
This project file is simple to the point of absurdity. It uses the “GenerateCpp” function, which does nothing other than parse Macaroni files in the directory “src” and write C++ files to the directory “target”. If you want, you can change these directories with the “src” and “target” named arguments to GenerateCpp.
Of course, we'll need a Macaroni source file in the “src” directory. First, create the “src” directory, and then create the following file in that directory named “Example.mcpp” (actually, it can be called anything at all so long as it ends in .mcpp).
~import std::cout;
class Class1 { public Class1() { cout << "Class1!" } };
class Class2 { public Class2() { cout << "Class2!" } };
Finally, generate C++ code by running the following:
$ mcpp generate
Macaroni for C++
Version 0.1.0.25 built at 2012-12-11-10:45:52
Creating new Environment with the following AppPaths:
Message file : /home/tim/Tools/macaroni/macaroni-0.1.0.25-ubuntu-64/
Library Paths : [/home/tim/Tools/macaroni/macaroni-0.1.0.25-ubuntu-64/Libraries/home/tim/Macaroni/Libraries]
Generator Paths : [/home/tim/Tools/macaroni/macaroni-0.1.0.25-ubuntu-64/Generators]
LoadProjectEnvironment
Parsing file project.lua...
Running /home/tim/Tools/macaroni/macaroni-0.1.0.25-ubuntu-64/Libraries/Macaroni/Project-Lua/0/src/project-init.lua...
Running /home/tim/Macaroni/init.lua...
LoadProjectEnvironment
Parsing file /home/tim/Tools/macaroni/macaroni-0.1.0.25-ubuntu-64/Libraries/Macaroni/ProjectTemplates/1/project-final.lua...
Running /home/tim/Tools/macaroni/macaroni-0.1.0.25-ubuntu-64/Libraries/Macaroni/Project-Lua/0/src/project-init.lua...
Running /home/tim/Macaroni/init.lua...
Program finished.
$ ls -la target
total 24
drwxrwxr-x 2 tim tim 4096 Dec 12 00:07 .
drwxrwxr-x 4 tim tim 4096 Dec 12 00:07 ..
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tim tim 1329 Dec 12 00:07 Class1.cpp
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tim tim 366 Dec 12 00:07 Class1.h
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tim tim 1329 Dec 12 00:07 Class2.cpp
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tim tim 366 Dec 12 00:07 Class2.h
$ cat target/Class1.h
#ifndef MACARONI_COMPILE_GUARD_Class1_H
#define MACARONI_COMPILE_GUARD_Class1_H
// This class was originally defined in Example.mcpp
// Forward declaration necessary for anything which also depend on this.
class Class1;
// Define class Class1
class Class1
{
public : Class1();
}; // End of class Class1
#endif // end of MACARONI_COMPILE_GUARD_Class1_H
Hurray! You've now used Macaroni. If all you're interested in is getting rid of the duplication between header and implementation files, then you're good.
Hopefully I'll soon find time to write more blog posts soon detailing how to use Macaroni to do other things such as build projects using Boost Build, write glue code for Lua, as well as some other entries explaining the ideas behind Macaroni for anyone who's interested in writing their own code generators.
