How to build Spoofax¶
This how-to guides you on how to build Spoofax from scratch, via the command-line.
Cloning the Source Code¶
Clone the source code from the spoofax-releng repository with the following commands:
git clone --recursive https://github.com/metaborg/spoofax-releng.git
cd spoofax-releng
macOS Catalina, Big Sur, or newer
On macOS Catalina, Big Sur, or newer, you have to install Docker to be able to build Spoofax. This is temporary, until the 32-bit binaries for sdf2table and implodePT have been phased out.
See the requirements for Spoofax Development for more information.
git clone --recursive https://github.com/metaborg/spoofax-releng.git
cd spoofax-releng
git clone --recursive https://github.com/metaborg/spoofax-releng.git
cd spoofax-releng
cd releng\releng
py -m pip install -r .\requirements.txt
Cloning and updating submodules can take a while, since we have many submodules and some have a large history.
Start a Build¶
To build Spoofax, simply execute:
./b build all
./b build all
.\bd.bat build all
This downloads the latest Stratego/XT, and builds Spoofax. If you also want to build Stratego/XT from scratch, execute:
./b build -st all
./b build -st all
.\bd.bat build -st all
The -s flag build Stratego/XT instead of downloading it, and -t skips the Stratego/XT tests since they are very lengthy. The all part of the command indicates that we want to build all components. For example, if you would only like to build the Java components of Spoofax, and skip the Eclipse plugins, execute:
./b build java
./b build to get a list of components available for building, and ./b build --help for help on all the command-line flags and switches.
./b build java
./b build to get a list of components available for building, and ./b build --help for help on all the command-line flags and switches.
.\bd.bat build java
.\bd.bat build to get a list of components available for building, and .\bd.bat build --help for help on all the command-line flags and switches.
If you have opened a project in the repository in Eclipse, you must turn off Project ‣ Build Automatically in Eclipse, otherwise the Maven and Eclipse compilers will interfere and possibly fail the build. After the Maven build is finished, enable Build Automatically again.
Updating the Source Code¶
If you want to update the repository and submodules, execute:
git pull --rebase
./b checkout
./b update
git pull --rebase
./b checkout
./b update
git pull --rebase
.\bd.bat checkout
.\bd.bat update
The git pull command will update any changes in the main repository. The ./b checkout command will check out the correct branches in all submodules, because Git does not do this automatically. The ./b update command will update all submodules.
Switching to a Different Branch¶
Switching to a different branch, for example the spoofax-release branch, is done with the following commands:
git checkout spoofax-release
git pull --rebase
git submodule update --init --remote --recursive
./b checkout
./b update
git checkout spoofax-release
git pull --rebase
git submodule update --init --remote --recursive
./b checkout
./b update
git checkout spoofax-release
git pull --rebase
git submodule update --init --remote --recursive
.\bd.bat checkout
.\bd.bat update
Troubleshooting¶
Resetting and Cleaning¶
If updating or checking out a branch of submodule fails (because of unstaged or conflicting changes), you can try to resolve it yourself, or you can reset and clean everything. Reset and clean all submodules using:
./b reset
./b clean
./b checkout
./b update
.\bd.bat reset
.\bd.bat clean
Risk of loss of data
Resetting and cleaning deletes uncommitted and unpushed changes, which can cause permanent data loss. Make sure all your changes are committed and pushed!
Weird Compilation Errors¶
If you get any weird compilation errors during the command-line build, make sure that Project ‣ Build Automatically is turned off in Eclipse.
Created: April 12, 2024