I am trying to test a fpc+lazarus file package for cross compilation on Windows (see thread "Compliments") and the downloaded set contains a lot of *.compiled files.
These contain unwanted absolute paths to the original location of internal files and I want to remove these .compiled files. Is that possible without breaking the functionality of the system?

I looked at this wiki page for info:
http://wiki.freepascal.org/File_extensions

Here the .compiled files are mentioned in connection to subversion or git as:
"These files are regenerated by the IDE or by a build so do not need to be stored"

Does this mean that they are not used by FPC/Lazarus once the build (of what?) has been completed and can safely be removed also in the project dir tree?

The files in question are located below these directories: .\lazarus\components
.\lazarus\doceditor
.\lazarus\docs
.\lazarus\lcl\units
.\lazarus\packager
.\lazarus\tools
.\lazarus\units

So they are all Lazarus files.

Bo Berglund wrote

Here the .compiled files are mentioned in connection to subversion or git as: "These files are regenerated by the IDE or by a build so do not need to be stored"

Indeed, you can safely delete those files. I have a Git Ignore setting that makes sure those never end up in my code repositories.

Regards,
Graeme

Good,
then are they needed in any other way than for the system to create and use during builds?
If so is there a switch to tell Lazarus to not keep them after the fact?

Bo Berglund wrote

Good, then are they needed in any other way than for the system to create and use during builds?

I don't actually know what that file is for. There is a build timestamp in there, so maybe Lazarus IDE uses that to detect if it should recompile a project or package... I honestly don't know.

If so is there a switch to tell Lazarus to not keep them after the fact?

I don't know of such a setting. I normally define a Unit Output path and a separate Target Path (where executable ends up), so the *.compiled file ends up with the *.ppu and *.o files in a separate directory to the generated executable. That way it doesn't bother me too much.

Regards,
Graeme

[...] > then are they needed in any other way than for the system to create > and use during builds?

The IDE uses them to determine if a rebuild (all) is needed. If it is missing on next compile, the IDE assumes a rebuild is needed. This means you don't need to store them in a source only repository (e.g. svn, git). If you distribute binary files (e.g. .ppu files) you should provide them. There is a platform independent version of the .compiled files. See the Makefile.compiled files.

Mattias

That is the right place, because the .compiled files basically extend the .ppu files.

Mattias