Erlang.mk User Guide

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Chapter 11. Compatibility with other build tools

Erlang.mk tries its best to be compatible with the other Erlang +build tools. It can use dependencies written with other build +tools in mind, and can also make your projects usable by those +build tools as well. Erlang.mk is like the cool kid that gets +along with everybody.

In this chapter I will use the term Rebar project to refer +to a project built using Rebar 2, Rebar 3 or Mad. These three +build tools are very similar and share the same configuration +file.

11.1. Rebar projects as Erlang.mk dependencies

Erlang.mk comes with a feature called Autoload which will +use Rebar 2 to patch any Rebar project and make it compatible +with Erlang.mk. This feature essentially patches Rebar out +and adds a Makefile to the project that Erlang.mk can then +use for building:

Autoload is documented in more details in the +Packages and dependencies chapter.

11.2. Erlang.mk projects as Rebar dependencies

Erlang.mk projects can be made compatible with the Rebar family +of build tools pretty easily, as Erlang.mk will generate +all the files they require for building.

The Rebar family requires two files: a rebar.config file +containing compilation options and the list of dependencies, +and the application resource file, found either at +ebin/$(PROJECT).app or at src/$(PROJECT).app.src.

11.2.1. Rebar configuration

Erlang.mk comes with a target that generates a rebar.config +file when invoked:

$ make rebar.config

Careful! This will build the file even if it already existed +before.

To build this file, Erlang.mk uses information it finds in +the DEPS and ERLC_OPTS variables, among others. This +means that the Rebar family builds your project much the +same way as Erlang.mk.

Careful though! Different build tools have different fetching +strategies. If some applications provide differing dependencies, +they might be fetched differently by other build tools. Check +the Sanity check chapter to find +out how to detect such issues.

You can automatically generate this file when you build +your application, by making it a dependency of the app +target:

app:: rebar.config

Don’t forget to commit the file when it changes!

If you run into other issues, it’s probably because you use a +feature specific to Erlang.mk, like the cp fetch method. +It could also be that we forgot to handle something! Sorry. +We are of course interested to hear about any compatibility +problems you may have, just open a ticket!

11.2.2. Application resource file

Erlang.mk has two ways to generate an application resource +file: from the information found in the Makefile, or from +the information found in the src/$(PROJECT).app.src file. +Needless to say, if you have this file in your repository, +then you don’t need to worry about compatibility with other +build tools.

If you don’t, however, it’s not much harder. Every time +Erlang.mk will compile your application, it will produce +a new ebin/$(PROJECT).app file. Simply commit this file +when it changes. It will only change when you modify the +configuration, add or remove modules.

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