Hi,

How can I embed git version info AUTOMATICALLY while I compile my program in lazarus, just like {$I %DATE%} ?

Thanks.
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Xiangrong Fang wrote

How can I embed git version info AUTOMATICALLY while I compile my program in lazarus, just like {$I %DATE%} ?

Use a pre-compile script (Project Options|Compiler Options|Compilation|Execute Before) in combination with a include file.

Attached is what I use in my projects. You will need to modify the script slightly to fit your project.

If you want something slightly less complex, simply output the 'git describe' results to a include file, and use that in your project. You can also use the 'git describe --abbrev=4' to get a slightly shorter output.

Regards,
- Graeme -

How can I embed git version info AUTOMATICALLY while I compile my

program

Thanks.

I realized that this may not work for me. Because I need to compile the project under both Linux and Windows, and then I need 2 scripts in the same place :-(

Anyway, I tested with the simplest pre-build script:

git describe --always > REVISION.INC

Then in my program I added:

msgs.Lines.Add('GIT HASH: ' + {$I REVISION.INC});

Unfortunately, it does not compile, the error I got is:

unit1.pas(831,50) Error: Identifier not found "c25d546"

It seems that this directive does not load the include file as simple string??
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maybe have your script do :

echo "constgithashfrominc : string = \'" > REVISION.INC git describe --always >> REVISION.INC
echo "\';" >> REVISION.INC

at the implementation section, under const directive do:

{$I REVISION.INC}

and then

msgs.Lines.Add('Git HASH: '+constgithashfrominc);

(i.e. so that you are going to have
const githashfrominc : string = 'whatever';
)

Or have it as resource string (it was mentioned on this list once upon a time).

L.

Xiangrong Fang wrote

I realized that this may not work for me. Because I need to compile the project under both Linux and Windows, and then I need 2 scripts in the same place :-(

Yeah, compared to MSEide, Lazarus project build settings are a bit historic or limited.

To get around problems with scripts vs batch files for cross-platform use, I found it is better to implement my "scripts" as FPC console applications. Then simply execute the console application where I would have used a script. I found that creating such console apps are actually a lot more powerful that batch files or bash scripts, because I have full use of the Free Pascal RTL, FCL and whatever else I need.

Anyway, I tested with the simplest pre-build script: git describe --always > REVISION.INC

If you run the 'git describe' from the command line, you would see the output is simply the "version information" (no constant definition or string quotes). So you need to place it in your source code with an identifier as the Pascal language requires. So you need to do something like the following in your code.

const
  cGitRevision = '{$revision.inc}';

Then in your program, use the constant instead.

  msgs.Lines.Add('GIT HASH: ' + cGitRevision);

Regards,
- Graeme -

This won't work, because the string takes precedance over the directive.

But you could use the data2inc tool that cones with FPC to convert the returned data to a include file with constant.

Regards,
Sven
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Probably why my original version build script generates the whole line with identifier.

What about the following...

 const
   cGitRevision = '''' + {$revision.inc} + '''';

Or are expressions not allowed in constant declarations either? Anyway, I think we gave enough hints for the original poster to find a suitable solution. I was never pro to spoon-feeding programmers. ;-)

Regards,
- Graeme -

2013/3/27 Lukasz Sokol

I thought {$I revision.inc} is similar as {$I %DAT%}, but apparently they have different semantic.
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That should work :)

Or are expressions not allowed in constant declarations either? Anyway, I think we gave enough hints for the original poster to find a suitable solution. I was never pro to spoon-feeding programmers. ;-)

Me neither...

Regards,
Sven

Another approach- which I use for svn- is to generate the version string with quotes. At the point of use you can simply have something like

(*$IFDEF USE_SVN *)
   (*$IFDEF UNIX   *)
           rev= (*$I project_svnrevision.inc *) ;
   (*$ELSE         *)
           rev= 'unimplemented';
   (*$ENDIF        *)

This can be a bit tricky, since it needs something like tr on all platforms and Lazarus has problems with \ in the ExecuteBefore...Command Value setting. I'm sure somebody wants to tell us that MSEide handles them without complaint.

Mark Morgan Lloyd wrote

Another approach- which I use for svn- is to generate the version string with quotes.

My first reply suggested that, but Xiangrong didn't like the idea of platform specific scripts.

I'm sure somebody wants to tell us that MSEide handles them without complaint.

That goes without saying. ;-) But MSEide isn't perfect either. Session information mixed with project settings, and the solution is a bit of a pain to use. It doesn't officially support 64-bit system (though it does work under Linux), and it doesn't work at all under FreeBSD. :-/

Regards,
- Graeme -

[...] This can be a bit tricky, since it needs something like tr on all platforms and Lazarus has problems with \ in the ExecuteBefore...Command Value setting.

What problems?

Mattias

hard-coded compiler values that can be used in the format %xxx%. If it is not any of those 9 hard-coded values, it is assumed to be an environment variable, and will go fetch the value of that. If the environment variable doesn't exist, an empty string is inserted.

Regards,
- Graeme -

My first reply suggested that, but Xiangrong didn't like the idea of platform specific scripts.

I can use InstantFPC to write platform independent script. -------------- next part --------------
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The original command I used was

/bin/sh -c "echo -n \'`svnversion -n `\' >project_svnrevision.inc"

but at some point (if my memory is correct) Lazarus started trying to convert \ to / even on unix (I'm pretty sure we discussed it at the time). Thanks to somebody on CIX, I'm now using

/bin/sh -c "echo -n C`svnversion -n`C |tr A-G %-+ >project_svnrevision.inc"

I don't think that counts as "doing all the work for the OP" since he's still got to figure out why it works :-)

I remember that under certain conditions I've had problems compiling Lazarus where the FPC command to filter the SVN version hasn't yet been built (I forget the detail, but this was probably when trying to get it running on Solaris/SPARC). It does occur to me that a generic program to munge an svn or git version string into a quoted literal would be a good candidate for InstantFPC.

That does not work.
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The IDE converts \,/ in all paths when for example a project saved under Windows is opened under Linux.
You can define OS dependent paths via the project macros. See project options / compiler options / IDE Macros / Conditionals.

Or maybe an IDE plugin.

Mattias

I don't think that counts as "doing all the work for the OP" since he's

still got to figure

out why it works :-)

I may leave some of you a wrong impression that I need spoon-feeding. Let me explain what I mean clearly:

While using {$I %DATE%}, I can write:

WriteLn('COMPILED: ' + {$I %DATE%});

i.e. the $I above returned a string without trying to parse it. But with {$I revision.inc} the file is parsed! I just realized this after my first reply to Graeme. After think about the logic, I think this makes sense. However, before I searched the forum for this problem, I didn't realize $I has such usage (I used to use that for $I- or $I+).

I am a programmer, but I only write apps, not compiler or OS related stuff. So sometime I may seem naive to "hardcore" or "real" programmers. Just like I asked why SIGFPE happend on random places. I don't think answer such questions are spoon-feeding, just like the sigfpe question.

Sometime I have other considerations as to what is worth to do, e.g. after I remembered I have to compile my program under windows, I hesitated whether I need to embed git rev into my program, because I don't want to install git on my windows virtual machine, not that I ask step by step help for how to do it, or write the script.
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Yes, but the backslashes in that command aren't paths.

I certainly find it very reassuring being able to get compiler and LCL version info for a program, even if it does mean that it might have to know more about the FPC/Lazarus tree structure than is desirable.

$ ./*gtk2 --version
Built 2013-01-10 16:14:49 revision 45
Lazarus IDE v1.0 revision 38513
Lazarus Class Library v1.0.1.3
Free Pascal v2.6.0 for sparc Linux
Linked with the GTK v2 widget set
Screen 0, displaying 1280x1024 at 96 dpi

Under Windows backslashes are typically directory separators, and often parameters contain file names.
There is no simple way to tell what is what. The IDE must use a simple and consistent way.
Maybe if both path delimiters are in a path, do not switch them.

[...]

Mattias

Was reported as http://mantis.freepascal.org/view.php?id=18068&history=1 Fix sorted out (back)slashes in paths, but not other cases in the command line (which, in fairness, are probably non-portable). I see that you (Mattias) suggested InstantFPC at the time, seems like an excellent idea since a specialist program could do its job without needing any parameters.

I don't think that there's a 100% reliable heuristic, and there probably aren't many cases where this sort of thing has to be embedded in a Lazarus command. I'm happy enough with the hack that I've got, although I might be rather less so if I were using Windows regularly and it turned out that there wasn't a readily-available tr utility.

Indeed, I just tested it (which I didn't before). Anyway, ignore my "spoon feeding" comment....email humour fails 99.9% of the times.

Whatever you choose to use... scripts, InstantFPC, console app etc, just make sure that the include file contains the full declaration of a constant, or a string in quotes. I tested the attached program, and it works 100%.

I now consider your question answered.

Regards,
- Graeme -

Xiangrong Fang wrote

WriteLn('COMPILED: ' + {$I %DATE%}); i.e. the $I above returned a string without trying to parse it.

It just returns a string.... string + string = string. Hence the Writeln() statements works. As I said in another reply. The compiler has some special cases regarding %xxx% format, and for everything else it returns an environment variable as a string.

Regards,
- Graeme -

Mark Morgan Lloyd wrote

I don't think that there's a 100% reliable heuristic, and there probably

Under MSEide and Maximus, I use the different compiler build modes for this, and it works perfectly. eg: I use Build Mode 1 for Linux, and Build Mode 2 is used for Windows. By default MSEide has six available build modes. In Maximus there are the same, but I plan to make that amount user definable.

Back to the point. You can define as many Before and After commands as you want, and simply tick which build modes they apply to. Simple, elegant and it works! A much better design than what you get in Lazarus IDE.

Regards,
- Graeme -

Eh, right. Sorry... I thought a bit too much here (or too less depending on the perspective ^^).

Regards,
Sven
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This problem is relatively frequent.
See
http://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=15560
http://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=21848
for a solution (which, unfortunately, is still not applied).

As an alternative hack which avoids the creation of a new directive, would it be possible to do

AStringConst = {$INCLUDE 'filename.inc'};

or for that matter

AnIntegerConst = {$INCLUDE $filename.inc};

i.e. the directive specifies quoting style or radix prefix?

A bit late to the party, but why not use git attributes and clean/smudge scripts? see "keyword expansion" part

http://git-scm.com/book/ch7-2.html

or
http://chillibear.org/2010/04/git-and-cvs-like-keyword-expansion-idents.html

kind regards,
Dimitri Smits

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