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|
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
<title> Language</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../boostbook.css" type="text/css">
<meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.68.1">
<link rel="start" href="../index.html" title="Boost.Jam : 3.1.13">
<link rel="up" href="../index.html" title="Boost.Jam : 3.1.13">
<link rel="prev" href="usage.html" title=" Using BJam">
<link rel="next" href="miscellaneous.html" title="Miscellaneous">
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<body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF">
<table cellpadding="2" width="100%"><td valign="top"><img alt="Boost C++ Libraries" width="277" height="86" src=".././boost.png"></td></table>
<hr>
<div class="spirit-nav">
<a accesskey="p" href="usage.html"><img src="../images/prev.png" alt="Prev"></a><a accesskey="u" href="../index.html"><img src="../images/up.png" alt="Up"></a><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html"><img src="../images/home.png" alt="Home"></a><a accesskey="n" href="miscellaneous.html"><img src="../images/next.png" alt="Next"></a>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">
<a name="jam.language"></a><a href="language.html" title=" Language"> Language</a></h2></div></div></div>
<div class="toc"><dl>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.lexical"> Lexical Features</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.target"> Targets</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.rules"> Rules</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.flow_of_control">Flow-of-Control</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables">Variables</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules">Modules</a></span></dt>
</dl></div>
<p>
<code class="literal">BJam</code> has an interpreted, procedural language. Statements
in <code class="literal">bjam</code> are rule (procedure) definitions, rule invocations,
flow-of-control structures, variable assignments, and sundry language support.
</p>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.lexical"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.lexical" title=" Lexical Features"> Lexical Features</a></h3></div></div></div>
<p>
<code class="literal">BJam</code> treats its input files as whitespace-separated tokens,
with two exceptions: double quotes (") can enclose whitespace to embed
it into a token, and everything between the matching curly braces ({}) in
the definition of a rule action is treated as a single string. A backslash
(\) can escape a double quote, or any single whitespace character.
</p>
<p>
<code class="literal">BJam</code> requires whitespace (blanks, tabs, or newlines) to
surround all tokens, including the colon (:) and semicolon (;) tokens.
</p>
<p>
<code class="literal">BJam</code> keywords (an mentioned in this document) are reserved
and generally must be quoted with double quotes (") to be used as arbitrary
tokens, such as variable or target names.
</p>
<p>
Comments start with the <code class="literal">#</code> character and extend until the
end of line.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.target"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.target" title=" Targets"> Targets</a></h3></div></div></div>
<div class="toc"><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.target.binding_detection">Binding Detection</a></span></dt></dl></div>
<p>
The essential <code class="literal">bjam</code> data entity is a target. Build targets
are files to be updated. Source targets are the files used in updating built
targets. Built targets and source targets are collectively referred to as
file targets, and frequently built targets are source targets for other built
targets. Pseudotargets are symbols which represent dependencies on other
targets, but which are not themselves associated with any real file.
</p>
<p>
A file target's identifier is generally the file's name, which can be absolutely
rooted, relative to the directory of <code class="literal">bjam</code>'s invocation,
or simply local (no directory). Most often it is the last case, and the actual
file path is bound using the <code class="literal">$(SEARCH)</code> and <code class="literal">$(LOCATE)</code>
special variables. See <a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.builtins.search" title=" SEARCH and
LOCATE">SEARCH
and LOCATE Variables</a> below. A local filename is optionally qualified
with grist, a string value used to assure uniqueness. A file target with
an identifier of the form <span class="emphasis"><em>file(member)</em></span> is a library
member (usually an <code class="literal">ar</code>(1) archive on Unix).
</p>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.target.binding_detection"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.target.binding_detection" title="Binding Detection">Binding Detection</a></h4></div></div></div>
<p>
Whenever a target is bound to a location in the filesystem, Boost Jam will
look for a variable called <code class="literal">BINDRULE</code> (first "on"
the target being bound, then in the global module). If non-empty, <code class="literal">$(BINDRULE[1])</code>
names a rule which is called with the name of the target and the path it
is being bound to. The signature of the rule named by <code class="literal">$(BINDRULE[1])</code>
should match the following:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">rule <span class="emphasis"><em>bind-rule</em></span> ( <span class="emphasis"><em>target</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>path</em></span> )
</pre>
<p>
This facility is useful for correct header file scanning, since many compilers
will search for <code class="computeroutput"><span class="preprocessor">#include</span></code>
files first in the directory containing the file doing the <code class="computeroutput"><span class="preprocessor">#include</span></code> directive. <code class="literal">$(BINDRULE)</code>
can be used to make a record of that directory.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.rules"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.rules" title=" Rules"> Rules</a></h3></div></div></div>
<div class="toc"><dl>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.rules.action_modifiers">Action Modifiers</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.rules.argument_lists">Argument lists</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.rules.builtins"> Built-in Rules</a></span></dt>
</dl></div>
<p>
The basic <code class="literal">bjam</code> language entity is called a rule. A rule
is defined in two parts: the procedure and the actions. The procedure is
a body of jam statements to be run when the rule is invoked; the actions
are the OS shell commands to execute when updating the built targets of the
rule.
</p>
<p>
Rules can return values, which can be expanded into a list with "[
<span class="emphasis"><em>rule</em></span><span class="emphasis"><em>args</em></span> ... ]". A rule's
value is the value of its last statement, though only the following statements
have values: 'if' (value of the leg chosen), 'switch' (value of the case
chosen), set (value of the resulting variable), and 'return' (value of its
arguments). Note that 'return' doesn't actually cause a return, i.e., is
a no-op unless it is the last statement of the last block executed within
rule body.
</p>
<p>
The <code class="literal">bjam</code> statements for defining and invoking rules are
as follows:
</p>
<p>
Define a rule's procedure, replacing any previous definition.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">rule <span class="emphasis"><em>rulename</em></span> { <span class="emphasis"><em>statements</em></span> }
</pre>
<p>
Define a rule's updating actions, replacing any previous definition.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">actions [ <span class="emphasis"><em>modifiers</em></span> ] <span class="emphasis"><em>rulename</em></span> { <span class="emphasis"><em>commands</em></span> }
</pre>
<p>
Invoke a rule.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting"><span class="emphasis"><em>rulename</em></span><span class="emphasis"><em>field1</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>field2</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>...</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>fieldN</em></span> ;
</pre>
<p>
Invoke a rule under the influence of target's specific variables..
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">on <span class="emphasis"><em>target</em></span><span class="emphasis"><em>rulename</em></span><span class="emphasis"><em>field1</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>field2</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>...</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>fieldN</em></span> ;
</pre>
<p>
Used as an argument, expands to the return value of the rule invoked.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">[ <span class="emphasis"><em>rulename</em></span><span class="emphasis"><em>field1</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>field2</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>...</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>fieldN</em></span> ]
[ on <span class="emphasis"><em>target</em></span><span class="emphasis"><em>rulename</em></span><span class="emphasis"><em>field1</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>field2</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>...</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>fieldN</em></span> ]
</pre>
<p>
A rule is invoked with values in <span class="emphasis"><em>field1</em></span> through <span class="emphasis"><em>fieldN</em></span>.
They may be referenced in the procedure's statements as <code class="literal">$(1)</code>
through <code class="literal">$(<span class="emphasis"><em>N</em></span>)</code> (9 max), and the first
two only may be referenced in the action's <span class="emphasis"><em>commands</em></span>
as <code class="literal">$(1)</code> and <code class="literal">$(2)</code>. <code class="literal">$(<)</code>
and <code class="literal">$(>)</code> are synonymous with <code class="literal">$(1)</code>
and <code class="literal">$(2)</code>.
</p>
<p>
Rules fall into two categories: updating rules (with actions), and pure procedure
rules (without actions). Updating rules treat arguments <code class="literal">$(1)</code>
and <code class="literal">$(2)</code> as built targets and sources, respectively, while
pure procedure rules can take arbitrary arguments.
</p>
<p>
When an updating rule is invoked, its updating actions are added to those
associated with its built targets (<code class="literal">$(1)</code>) before the rule's
procedure is run. Later, to build the targets in the updating phase, <span class="emphasis"><em>commands</em></span>
are passed to the OS command shell, with <code class="literal">$(1)</code> and <code class="literal">$(2)</code>
replaced by bound versions of the target names. See Binding above.
</p>
<p>
Rule invocation may be indirected through a variable:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">$(<span class="emphasis"><em>var</em></span>) <span class="emphasis"><em>field1</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>field2</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>...</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>fieldN</em></span> ;
on <span class="emphasis"><em>target</em></span> $(<span class="emphasis"><em>var</em></span>) <span class="emphasis"><em>field1</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>field2</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>...</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>fieldN</em></span> ;
[ $(<span class="emphasis"><em>var</em></span>) <span class="emphasis"><em>field1</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>field2</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>...</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>fieldN</em></span> ]
[ on <span class="emphasis"><em>target</em></span> $(<span class="emphasis"><em>var</em></span>) <span class="emphasis"><em>field1</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>field2</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>...</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>fieldN</em></span> ]
</pre>
<p>
The variable's value names the rule (or rules) to be invoked. A rule is invoked
for each element in the list of <code class="literal">$(<span class="emphasis"><em>var</em></span>)</code>'s
values. The fields <code class="literal"><span class="emphasis"><em>field1</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>field2</em></span>
: <span class="emphasis"><em>...</em></span></code> are passed as arguments for each invokation.
For the [ ... ] forms, the return value is the concatenation of the return
values for all of the invocations.
</p>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.rules.action_modifiers"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.rules.action_modifiers" title="Action Modifiers">Action Modifiers</a></h4></div></div></div>
<p>
The following action modifiers are understood:
</p>
<div class="variablelist">
<p class="title"><b></b></p>
<dl>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">actions bind <span class="emphasis"><em>vars</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
<code class="literal">$(<span class="emphasis"><em>vars</em></span>)</code> will be replaced with
bound values.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">actions existing</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<code class="literal">$(>)</code> includes only source targets currently existing.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">actions ignore</code></span></dt>
<dd>
The return status of the commands is ignored.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">actions piecemeal</code></span></dt>
<dd>
commands are repeatedly invoked with a subset of <code class="literal">$(>)</code>
small enough to fit in the command buffer on this OS.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">actions quietly</code></span></dt>
<dd>
The action is not echoed to the standard output.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">actions together</code></span></dt>
<dd>
The <code class="literal">$(>)</code> from multiple invocations of the same
action on the same built target are glommed together.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">actions updated</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<code class="literal">$(>)</code> includes only source targets themselves marked
for updating.
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.rules.argument_lists"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.rules.argument_lists" title="Argument lists">Argument lists</a></h4></div></div></div>
<p>
You can describe the arguments accepted by a rule, and refer to them by
name within the rule. For example, the following prints "I'm sorry,
Dave" to the console:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">rule report ( pronoun index ? : state : names + )
{
local he.suffix she.suffix it.suffix = s ;
local I.suffix = m ;
local they.suffix you.suffix = re ;
ECHO $(pronoun)'$($(pronoun).suffix) $(state), $(names[$(index)]) ;
}
report I 2 : sorry : Joe Dave Pete ;
</pre>
<p>
Each name in a list of formal arguments (separated by "<code class="literal">:</code>"
in the rule declaration) is bound to a single element of the corresponding
actual argument unless followed by one of these modifiers:
</p>
<div class="informaltable">
<h4>
<a name="id2558760"></a>
</h4>
<table class="table">
<colgroup>
<col>
<col>
</colgroup>
<thead><tr>
<th>Symbol</th>
<th>Semantics of preceding symbol</th>
</tr></thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><code class="literal">?</code></td>
<td>optional</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><code class="literal">*</code></td>
<td>Bind to zero or more unbound
elements of the actual argument. When <code class="literal">*</code> appears
where an argument name is expected, any number of additional arguments
are accepted. This feature can be used to implement "varargs"
rules.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><code class="literal">+</code></td>
<td>Bind to one or more unbound
elements of the actual argument.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<p>
The actual and formal arguments are checked for inconsistencies, which
cause Jam to exit with an error code:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">### argument error
# rule report ( pronoun index ? : state : names + )
# called with: ( I 2 foo : sorry : Joe Dave Pete )
# extra argument foo
### argument error
# rule report ( pronoun index ? : state : names + )
# called with: ( I 2 : sorry )
# missing argument names
</pre>
<p>
If you omit the list of formal arguments, all checking is bypassed as in
"classic" Jam. Argument lists drastically improve the reliability
and readability of your rules, however, and are <span class="bold"><strong>strongly
recommended</strong></span> for any new Jam code you write.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.rules.builtins"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.rules.builtins" title=" Built-in Rules"> Built-in Rules</a></h4></div></div></div>
<div class="toc"><dl>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.rules.builtins.dependency_building">Dependency
Building</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.rules.builtins.modifying_binding">Modifying
Binding</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.rules.builtins.utility">Utility</a></span></dt>
</dl></div>
<p>
<code class="literal">BJam</code> has a growing set of built-in rules, all of which
are pure procedure rules without updating actions. They are in three groups:
the first builds the dependency graph; the second modifies it; and the
third are just utility rules.
</p>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.rules.builtins.dependency_building"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.rules.builtins.dependency_building" title="Dependency
Building">Dependency
Building</a></h5></div></div></div>
<pre class="programlisting">DEPENDS <span class="emphasis"><em>targets1</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>targets2</em></span> ;
</pre>
<p>
Builds a direct dependency: makes each of <span class="emphasis"><em>targets1</em></span>
depend on each of <span class="emphasis"><em>targets2</em></span>. Generally, <span class="emphasis"><em>targets1</em></span>
will be rebuilt if <span class="emphasis"><em>targets2</em></span> are themselves rebuilt
are or are newer than <span class="emphasis"><em>targets1</em></span>.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">INCLUDES <span class="emphasis"><em>targets1</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>targets2</em></span> ;
</pre>
<p>
Builds a sibling dependency: makes any target that depends on any of
<span class="emphasis"><em>targets1</em></span> also depend on each of <span class="emphasis"><em>targets2</em></span>.
This reflects the dependencies that arise when one source file includes
another: the object built from the source file depends both on the original
and included source file, but the two sources files don't depend on each
other. For example:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">DEPENDS foo.o : foo.c ;
INCLUDES foo.c : foo.h ;
</pre>
<p>
"<code class="literal">foo.o</code>" depends on "<code class="literal">foo.c</code>"
and "<code class="literal">foo.h</code>" in this example.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.rules.builtins.modifying_binding"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.rules.builtins.modifying_binding" title="Modifying
Binding">Modifying
Binding</a></h5></div></div></div>
<p>
The six rules <code class="literal">ALWAYS</code>, <code class="literal">LEAVES</code>,
<code class="literal">NOCARE</code>, <code class="literal">NOTFILE</code>, <code class="literal">NOUPDATE</code>,
and <code class="literal">TEMPORARY</code> modify the dependency graph so that
<code class="literal">bjam</code> treats the targets differently during its target
binding phase. See Binding above. Normally, <code class="literal">bjam</code> updates
a target if it is missing, if its filesystem modification time is older
than any of its dependencies (recursively), or if any of its dependencies
are being updated. This basic behavior can be changed by invoking the
following rules:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">ALWAYS <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span> ;
</pre>
<p>
Causes <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span> to be rebuilt regardless of whether
they are up-to-date (they must still be in the dependency graph). This
is used for the clean and uninstall targets, as they have no dependencies
and would otherwise appear never to need building. It is best applied
to targets that are also <code class="literal">NOTFILE</code> targets, but it can
also be used to force a real file to be updated as well.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">LEAVES <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span> ;
</pre>
<p>
Makes each of <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span> depend only on its leaf sources,
and not on any intermediate targets. This makes it immune to its dependencies
being updated, as the "leaf" dependencies are those without
their own dependencies and without updating actions. This allows a target
to be updated only if original source files change.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">NOCARE <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span> ;
</pre>
<p>
Causes <code class="literal">bjam</code> to ignore <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span>
that neither can be found nor have updating actions to build them. Normally
for such targets <code class="literal">bjam</code> issues a warning and then skips
other targets that depend on these missing targets. The <code class="literal">HdrRule</code>
in <code class="literal">Jambase</code> uses <code class="literal">NOCARE</code> on the header
file names found during header file scanning, to let <code class="literal">bjam</code>
know that the included files may not exist. For example, if an <code class="computeroutput"><span class="preprocessor">#include</span></code> is within an <code class="computeroutput"><span class="preprocessor">#ifdef</span></code>, the included file may not
actually be around.
</p>
<div class="warning"><table border="0" summary="Warning">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top" width="25"><img alt="[Warning]" src="../images/warning.png"></td>
<th align="left">Warning</th>
</tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
For targets with build actions: if their build actions exit with a
nonzero return code, dependent targets will still be built.
</p></td></tr>
</table></div>
<pre class="programlisting">NOTFILE <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span> ;
</pre>
<p>
Marks <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span> as pseudotargets and not real files.
No timestamp is checked, and so the actions on such a target are only
executed if the target's dependencies are updated, or if the target is
also marked with <code class="literal">ALWAYS</code>. The default <code class="literal">bjam</code>
target "<code class="literal">all</code>" is a pseudotarget. In <code class="literal">Jambase</code>,
<code class="literal">NOTFILE</code> is used to define several addition convenient
pseudotargets.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">NOUPDATE <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span> ;
</pre>
<p>
Causes the timestamps on <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span> to be ignored.
This has two effects: first, once the target has been created it will
never be updated; second, manually updating target will not cause other
targets to be updated. In <code class="literal">Jambase</code>, for example, this
rule is applied to directories by the <code class="literal">MkDir</code> rule,
because <code class="literal">MkDir</code> only cares that the target directory
exists, not when it has last been updated.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">TEMPORARY <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span> ;
</pre>
<p>
Marks <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span> as temporary, allowing them to be
removed after other targets that depend upon them have been updated.
If a <code class="literal">TEMPORARY</code> target is missing, <code class="literal">bjam</code>
uses the timestamp of the target's parent. <code class="literal">Jambase</code>
uses <code class="literal">TEMPORARY</code> to mark object files that are archived
in a library after they are built, so that they can be deleted after
they are archived.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">FAIL_EXPECTED <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span> ;
</pre>
<p>
For handling targets whose build actions are expected to fail (e.g. when
testing that assertions or compile-time type checkin work properly),
Boost Jam supplies the <code class="literal">FAIL_EXPECTED</code> rule in the same
style as <code class="literal">NOCARE</code>, et. al. During target updating, the
return code of the build actions for arguments to <code class="literal">FAIL_EXPECTED</code>
is inverted: if it fails, building of dependent targets continues as
though it succeeded. If it succeeds, dependent targets are skipped.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">RMOLD <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span> ;
</pre>
<p>
<code class="literal">BJam</code> removes any target files that may exist on disk
when the rule used to build those targets fails. However, targets whose
dependencies fail to build are not removed by default. The <code class="literal">RMOLD</code>
rule causes its arguments to be removed if any of their dependencies
fail to build.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">rule ISFILE ( <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span> * )
</pre>
<p>
<code class="literal">ISFILE</code> marks targets as required to be files. This
changes the way <code class="literal">bjam</code> searches for the target such
that it ignores mathes for file system items that are not file, like
directories. This makes it possible to avoid <code class="computeroutput"><span class="preprocessor">#include</span><span class="string">"exception"</span></code> matching if one happens
to have a directory named exception in the header search path.
</p>
<div class="warning"><table border="0" summary="Warning">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top" width="25"><img alt="[Warning]" src="../images/warning.png"></td>
<th align="left">Warning</th>
</tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
This is currently not fully implemented.
</p></td></tr>
</table></div>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.rules.builtins.utility"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.rules.builtins.utility" title="Utility">Utility</a></h5></div></div></div>
<p>
The two rules <code class="literal">ECHO</code> and <code class="literal">EXIT</code> are
utility rules, used only in <code class="literal">bjam</code>'s parsing phase.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">ECHO <span class="emphasis"><em>args</em></span> ;
</pre>
<p>
Blurts out the message <span class="emphasis"><em>args</em></span> to stdout.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">rule EXIT ( <span class="emphasis"><em>message</em></span> * : <span class="emphasis"><em>result-value</em></span> ? )
</pre>
<p>
Blurts out the <span class="emphasis"><em>message</em></span> to stdout and then exits
with a failure status if no <span class="emphasis"><em>result-value</em></span> is given,
otherwise it exits with the given <span class="emphasis"><em>result-value</em></span>.
</p>
<p>
"<code class="literal">Echo</code>", "<code class="literal">echo</code>",
"<code class="literal">Exit</code>", and "<code class="literal">exit</code>"
are accepted as aliases for <code class="literal">ECHO</code> and <code class="literal">EXIT</code>,
since it is hard to tell that these are built-in rules and not part of
the language, like "<code class="literal">include</code>".
</p>
<p>
The <code class="literal">GLOB</code> rule does filename globbing.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">GLOB <span class="emphasis"><em>directories</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>patterns</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>downcase-opt</em></span>
</pre>
<p>
Using the same wildcards as for the patterns in the switch statement.
It is invoked by being used as an argument to a rule invocation inside
of "<code class="literal">[ ]</code>". For example: "<code class="literal">FILES
= [ GLOB dir1 dir2 : *.c *.h ]</code>" sets <code class="literal">FILES</code>
to the list of C source and header files in <code class="literal">dir1</code> and
<code class="literal">dir2</code>. The resulting filenames are the full pathnames,
including the directory, but the pattern is applied only to the file
name without the directory.
</p>
<p>
If <span class="emphasis"><em>downcase-opt</em></span> is supplied, filenames are converted
to all-lowercase before matching against the pattern; you can use this
to do case-insensitive matching using lowercase patterns. The paths returned
will still have mixed case if the OS supplies them. On Windows NT and
Cygwin, filenames are always downcased before matching.
</p>
<p>
The <code class="literal">MATCH</code> rule does pattern matching.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">MATCH <span class="emphasis"><em>regexps</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>list</em></span>
</pre>
<p>
Matches the <code class="literal">egrep</code>(1) style regular expressions <span class="emphasis"><em>regexps</em></span>
against the strings in <span class="emphasis"><em>list</em></span>. The result is the concatenation
of matching <code class="literal">()</code> subexpressions for each string in
<span class="emphasis"><em>list</em></span>, and for each regular expression in <span class="emphasis"><em>regexps</em></span>.
Only useful within the "<code class="literal">[ ]</code>" construct,
to change the result into a list.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">rule BACKTRACE ( )
</pre>
<p>
Returns a list of quadruples: <span class="emphasis"><em>filename</em></span><span class="emphasis"><em>line</em></span><span class="emphasis"><em>module</em></span><span class="emphasis"><em>rulename</em></span>...,
describing each shallower level of the call stack. This rule can be used
to generate useful diagnostic messages from Jam rules.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">rule UPDATE ( <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span> * )
</pre>
<p>
Classic jam treats any non-option element of command line as a name of
target to be updated. This prevented more sophisticated handling of command
line. This is now enabled again but with additional changes to the <code class="literal">UPDATE</code>
rule to allow for the flexibility of changing the list of targets to
update. The UPDATE rule has two effects:
</p>
<div class="orderedlist"><ol type="1">
<li>
It clears the list of targets to update, and
</li>
<li>
Causes the specified targets to be updated.
</li>
</ol></div>
<p>
If no target was specified with the <code class="literal">UPDATE</code> rule, no
targets will be updated. To support changing of the update list in more
usefull ways, the rule also returns the targets previously in the update
list. This makes it possible to add targets as such:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">local previous-updates = [ UPDATE ] ;
UPDATE $(previous-updates) a-new-target ;
</pre>
<pre class="programlisting">rule W32_GETREG ( <span class="emphasis"><em>path</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>data</em></span> ? )
</pre>
<p>
Defined only for win32 platform. It reads the registry of Windows. '<span class="emphasis"><em>path</em></span>'
is the location of the information, and '<span class="emphasis"><em>data</em></span>' is
the name of the value which we want to get. If '<span class="emphasis"><em>data</em></span>'
is omitted, the default value of '<span class="emphasis"><em>path</em></span>' will be
returned. The '<span class="emphasis"><em>path</em></span>' value must conform to MS key
path format and must be prefixed with one of the predefined root keys.
As usual,
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist"><ul type="disc">
<li>
'<code class="literal">HKLM</code>' is equivalent to '<code class="literal">HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE</code>'.
</li>
<li>
'<code class="literal">HKCU</code>' is equivalent to '<code class="literal">HKEY_CURRENT_USER</code>'.
</li>
<li>
'<code class="literal">HKCR</code>' is equivalent to '<code class="literal">HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT</code>'.
</li>
</ul></div>
<p>
Other predefined root keys are not supported.
</p>
<p>
Currently supported data types : '<code class="literal">REG_DWORD</code>', '<code class="literal">REG_SZ</code>',
'<code class="literal">REG_EXPAND_SZ</code>', '<code class="literal">REG_MULTI_SZ</code>'.
The data with '<code class="literal">REG_DWORD</code>' type will be turned into
a string, '<code class="literal">REG_MULTI_SZ</code>' into a list of strings, and
for those with '<code class="literal">REG_EXPAND_SZ</code>' type environment variables
in it will be replaced with their defined values. The data with '<code class="literal">REG_SZ</code>'
type and other unsupported types will be put into a string without modification.
If it can't receive the value of the data, it just return an empty list.
For example,
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">local PSDK-location =
[ W32_GETREG HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\MicrosoftSDK\\Directories : "Install Dir" ] ;
</pre>
<pre class="programlisting">rule SHELL ( <span class="emphasis"><em>command</em></span> : * )
</pre>
<p>
<code class="literal">SHELL</code> executes <span class="emphasis"><em>command</em></span>, and then
returns the standard output of <span class="emphasis"><em>command</em></span>. <code class="literal">SHELL</code>
only works on platforms with a <code class="literal">popen()</code> function in
the C library. On platforms without a working <code class="literal">popen()</code>
function, <code class="literal">SHELL</code> is implemented as a no-op. <code class="literal">SHELL</code>
works on Unix, MacOS X, and most Windows compilers. <code class="literal">SHELL</code>
is a no-op on Metrowerks compilers under Windows. There is a variable
set of allowed options as additional arguments:
</p>
<div class="variablelist">
<p class="title"><b></b></p>
<dl>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">exit-status</code></span></dt>
<dd>
In addition to the output the result status of the executed command
is returned as a second element of the result.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">no-output</code></span></dt>
<dd>
Don't capture the output of the command. Instead an empty ("")
string value is returned in place of the output.
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
<p>
Because the Perforce/Jambase defines a <code class="literal">SHELL</code> rule
which hides the builtin rule, <code class="literal">COMMAND</code> can be used
as an alias for <code class="literal">SHELL</code> in such a case.
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.flow_of_control"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.flow_of_control" title="Flow-of-Control">Flow-of-Control</a></h3></div></div></div>
<p>
<code class="literal">BJam</code> has several simple flow-of-control statements:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">for <span class="emphasis"><em>var</em></span> in <span class="emphasis"><em>list</em></span> { <span class="emphasis"><em>statements</em></span> }
</pre>
<p>
Executes <span class="emphasis"><em>statements</em></span> for each element in <span class="emphasis"><em>list</em></span>,
setting the variable <span class="emphasis"><em>var</em></span> to the element value.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">if <span class="emphasis"><em>cond</em></span> { <span class="emphasis"><em>statements</em></span> }
[ else { <span class="emphasis"><em>statements</em></span> } ]
</pre>
<p>
Does the obvious; the <code class="literal">else</code> clause is optional. <span class="emphasis"><em>cond</em></span>
is built of:
</p>
<div class="variablelist">
<p class="title"><b></b></p>
<dl>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal"><span class="emphasis"><em>a</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
true if any <span class="emphasis"><em>a</em></span> element is a non-zero-length string
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal"><span class="emphasis"><em>a</em></span> = <span class="emphasis"><em>b</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
list <span class="emphasis"><em>a</em></span> matches list <span class="emphasis"><em>b</em></span> string-for-string
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal"><span class="emphasis"><em>a</em></span> != <span class="emphasis"><em>b</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
list <span class="emphasis"><em>a</em></span> does not match list <span class="emphasis"><em>b</em></span>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal"><span class="emphasis"><em>a</em></span> <
<span class="emphasis"><em>b</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
<span class="emphasis"><em>a[i]</em></span> string is less than <span class="emphasis"><em>b[i]</em></span>
string, where <span class="emphasis"><em>i</em></span> is first mismatched element in lists
<span class="emphasis"><em>a</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>b</em></span>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal"><span class="emphasis"><em>a</em></span> <=
<span class="emphasis"><em>b</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
every <span class="emphasis"><em>a</em></span> string is less than or equal to its <span class="emphasis"><em>b</em></span>
counterpart
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal"><span class="emphasis"><em>a</em></span> >
<span class="emphasis"><em>b</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
<span class="emphasis"><em>a[i]</em></span> string is greater than <span class="emphasis"><em>b[i]</em></span>
string, where <span class="emphasis"><em>i</em></span> is first mismatched element
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal"><span class="emphasis"><em>a</em></span> >=
<span class="emphasis"><em>b</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
every <span class="emphasis"><em>a</em></span> string is greater than or equal to its <span class="emphasis"><em>b</em></span>
counterpart
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal"><span class="emphasis"><em>a</em></span> in <span class="emphasis"><em>b</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
true if all elements of <span class="emphasis"><em>a</em></span> can be found in <span class="emphasis"><em>b</em></span>,
or if <span class="emphasis"><em>a</em></span> has no elements
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">! <span class="emphasis"><em>cond</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
condition not true
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal"><span class="emphasis"><em>cond</em></span> &&
<span class="emphasis"><em>cond</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
conjunction
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal"><span class="emphasis"><em>cond</em></span> ||
<span class="emphasis"><em>cond</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
disjunction
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">( <span class="emphasis"><em>cond</em></span>
)</code></span></dt>
<dd>
precedence grouping
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
<pre class="programlisting">include <span class="emphasis"><em>file</em></span> ;
</pre>
<p>
Causes <code class="literal">bjam</code> to read the named <span class="emphasis"><em>file</em></span>.
The <span class="emphasis"><em>file</em></span> is bound like a regular target (see Binding
above) but unlike a regular target the include <span class="emphasis"><em>file</em></span>
cannot be built.
</p>
<p>
The include <span class="emphasis"><em>file</em></span> is inserted into the input stream during
the parsing phase. The primary input file and all the included file(s) are
treated as a single file; that is, jam infers no scope boundaries from included
files.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">local <span class="emphasis"><em>vars</em></span> [ = <span class="emphasis"><em>values</em></span> ] ;
</pre>
<p>
Creates new <span class="emphasis"><em>vars</em></span> inside to the enclosing <code class="literal">{}</code>
block, obscuring any previous values they might have. The previous values
for vars are restored when the current block ends. Any rule called or file
included will see the local and not the previous value (this is sometimes
called Dynamic Scoping). The local statement may appear anywhere, even outside
of a block (in which case the previous value is restored when the input ends).
The <span class="emphasis"><em>vars</em></span> are initialized to <span class="emphasis"><em>values</em></span>
if present, or left uninitialized otherwise.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">return <span class="emphasis"><em>values</em></span> ;
</pre>
<p>
Within a rule body, the return statement sets the return value for an invocation
of the rule. It does <span class="bold"><strong>not</strong></span> cause the rule
to return; a rule's value is actually the value of the last statement executed,
so a return should be the last statement executed before the rule "naturally"
returns.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">switch <span class="emphasis"><em>value</em></span>
{
case <span class="emphasis"><em>pattern1</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>statements</em></span> ;
case <span class="emphasis"><em>pattern2</em></span> : <span class="emphasis"><em>statements</em></span> ;
...
}
</pre>
<p>
The switch statement executes zero or one of the enclosed <span class="emphasis"><em>statements</em></span>,
depending on which, if any, is the first case whose <span class="emphasis"><em>pattern</em></span>
matches <span class="emphasis"><em>value</em></span>. The <span class="emphasis"><em>pattern</em></span> values
are not variable-expanded. The pattern values may include the following wildcards:
</p>
<div class="variablelist">
<p class="title"><b></b></p>
<dl>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">?</code></span></dt>
<dd>
match any single character
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">*</code></span></dt>
<dd>
match zero or more characters
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">[<span class="emphasis"><em>chars</em></span>]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
match any single character in <span class="emphasis"><em>chars</em></span>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">[^<span class="emphasis"><em>chars</em></span>]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
match any single character not in <span class="emphasis"><em>chars</em></span>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\<span class="emphasis"><em>x</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
match <span class="emphasis"><em>x</em></span> (escapes the other wildcards)
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
<pre class="programlisting">while <span class="emphasis"><em>cond</em></span> { <span class="emphasis"><em>statements</em></span> }
</pre>
<p>
Repeatedly execute <span class="emphasis"><em>statements</em></span> while <span class="emphasis"><em>cond</em></span>
remains true upon entry. (See the description of <span class="emphasis"><em>cond</em></span>
expression syntax under if, above).
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.variables"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables" title="Variables">Variables</a></h3></div></div></div>
<div class="toc"><dl>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.expansion"> Variable Expansion</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.local_for_loop_variables">Local
For Loop Variables</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.builtins"> Built-in Variables</a></span></dt>
</dl></div>
<p>
<code class="literal">BJam</code> variables are lists of zero or more elements, with
each element being a string value. An undefined variable is indistinguishable
from a variable with an empty list, however, a defined variable may have
one more elements which are null strings. All variables are referenced as
<code class="literal">$(<span class="emphasis"><em>variable</em></span>)</code>.
</p>
<p>
Variables are either global or target-specific. In the latter case, the variable
takes on the given value only during the updating of the specific target.
</p>
<p>
A variable is defined with:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting"><span class="emphasis"><em>variable</em></span> = <span class="emphasis"><em>elements</em></span> ;
<span class="emphasis"><em>variable</em></span> += <span class="emphasis"><em>elements</em></span> ;
<span class="emphasis"><em>variable</em></span> on <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span> = <span class="emphasis"><em>elements</em></span> ;
<span class="emphasis"><em>variable</em></span> on <span class="emphasis"><em>targets</em></span> += <span class="emphasis"><em>elements</em></span> ;
<span class="emphasis"><em>variable</em></span> default = <span class="emphasis"><em>elements</em></span> ;
<span class="emphasis"><em>variable</em></span> ?= <span class="emphasis"><em>elements</em></span> ;
</pre>
<p>
The first two forms set <span class="emphasis"><em>variable</em></span> globally. The third
and forth forms set a target-specific variable. The <code class="literal">=</code>
operator replaces any previous elements of <span class="emphasis"><em>variable</em></span>
with <span class="emphasis"><em>elements</em></span>; the <code class="literal">+=</code> operation adds
<span class="emphasis"><em>elements</em></span> to <span class="emphasis"><em>variable</em></span>'s list of
elements. The final two forms are synonymous: they set <span class="emphasis"><em>variable</em></span>
globally, but only if it was previously unset.
</p>
<p>
Variables referenced in updating commands will be replaced with their values;
target-specific values take precedence over global values. Variables passed
as arguments (<code class="literal">$(1)</code> and <code class="literal">$(2)</code>) to actions
are replaced with their bound values; the "<code class="literal">bind</code>"
modifier can be used on actions to cause other variables to be replaced with
bound values. See Action Modifiers above.
</p>
<p>
<code class="literal">BJam</code> variables are not re-exported to the environment
of the shell that executes the updating actions, but the updating actions
can reference <code class="literal">bjam</code> variables with <code class="literal">$(<span class="emphasis"><em>variable</em></span>)</code>.
</p>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.variables.expansion"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.expansion" title=" Variable Expansion"> Variable Expansion</a></h4></div></div></div>
<p>
During parsing, <code class="literal">bjam</code> performs variable expansion on
each token that is not a keyword or rule name. Such tokens with embedded
variable references are replaced with zero or more tokens. Variable references
are of the form <code class="literal">$(<span class="emphasis"><em>v</em></span>)</code> or <code class="literal">$(<span class="emphasis"><em>vm</em></span>)</code>,
where <span class="emphasis"><em>v</em></span> is the variable name, and <span class="emphasis"><em>m</em></span>
are optional modifiers.
</p>
<p>
Variable expansion in a rule's actions is similar to variable expansion
in statements, except that the action string is tokenized at whitespace
regardless of quoting.
</p>
<p>
The result of a token after variable expansion is the <span class="emphasis"><em>product</em></span>
of the components of the token, where each component is a literal substring
or a list substituting a variable reference. For example:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">$(X) -> a b c
t$(X) -> ta tb tc
$(X)z -> az bz cz
$(X)-$(X) -> a-a a-b a-c b-a b-b b-c c-a c-b c-c
</pre>
<p>
The variable name and modifiers can themselves contain a variable reference,
and this partakes of the product as well:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">$(X) -> a b c
$(Y) -> 1 2
$(Z) -> X Y
$($(Z)) -> a b c 1 2
</pre>
<p>
Because of this product expansion, if any variable reference in a token
is undefined, the result of the expansion is an empty list. If any variable
element is a null string, the result propagates the non-null elements:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">$(X) -> a ""
$(Y) -> "" 1
$(Z) ->
-$(X)$(Y)- -> -a- -a1- -- -1-
-$(X)$(Z)- ->
</pre>
<p>
A variable element's string value can be parsed into grist and filename-related
components. Modifiers to a variable are used to select elements, select
components, and replace components. The modifiers are:
</p>
<div class="variablelist">
<p class="title"><b></b></p>
<dl>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">[<span class="emphasis"><em>n</em></span>]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
Select element number <span class="emphasis"><em>n</em></span> (starting at 1). If the
variable contains fewer than <span class="emphasis"><em>n</em></span> elements, the result
is a zero-element list. <span class="emphasis"><em>n</em></span> can be negative in which
case the element number <span class="emphasis"><em>n</em></span> from the last leftward
is returned.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">[<span class="emphasis"><em>n</em></span>-<span class="emphasis"><em>m</em></span>]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
Select elements number <span class="emphasis"><em>n</em></span> through <span class="emphasis"><em>m</em></span>.
<span class="emphasis"><em>n</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>m</em></span> can be negative in
which case they refer to elements counting from the last leftward.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">[<span class="emphasis"><em>n</em></span>-]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
Select elements number <span class="emphasis"><em>n</em></span> through the last. <span class="emphasis"><em>n</em></span>
can be negative in which case it refers to the element counting from
the last leftward.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:B</code></span></dt>
<dd>
Select filename base.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:S</code></span></dt>
<dd>
Select (last) filename suffix.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:M</code></span></dt>
<dd>
Select archive member name.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:D</code></span></dt>
<dd>
Select directory path.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:P</code></span></dt>
<dd>
Select parent directory.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:G</code></span></dt>
<dd>
Select grist.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:U</code></span></dt>
<dd>
Replace lowercase characters with uppercase.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:L</code></span></dt>
<dd>
Replace uppercase characters with lowercase.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:W</code></span></dt>
<dd>
When invoking Windows-based tools from <a href="http://www.cygwin.com/" target="_top">Cygwin</a>
it can be important to pass them true windows-style paths. The <code class="literal">:W</code>
modifier, <span class="bold"><strong>under Cygwin only</strong></span>, turns a
cygwin path into a Win32 path using the <a href="http://www.cygwin.com/cygwin-api/func-cygwin-conv-to-win32-path.html" target="_top"><code class="literal">cygwin_conv_to_win32_path</code></a>
function. On other platforms, the string is unchanged. For example
<pre class="programlisting">
<span class="identifier">x</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="string">"/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Borland"</span> <span class="special">;</span> <span class="identifier">ECHO</span> #<span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">x</span><span class="special">:</span><span class="identifier">W</span><span class="special">)</span> <span class="special">;</span>
</pre>
prints <code class="literal">"C:\Program Files\Borland"</code> on Cygwin
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:<span class="emphasis"><em>chars</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
Select the components listed in <span class="emphasis"><em>chars</em></span>.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:G=<span class="emphasis"><em>grist</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
Replace grist with <span class="emphasis"><em>grist</em></span>.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:D=<span class="emphasis"><em>path</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
Replace directory with <span class="emphasis"><em>path</em></span>.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:B=<span class="emphasis"><em>base</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
Replace the base part of file name with <span class="emphasis"><em>base</em></span>.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:S=<span class="emphasis"><em>suf</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
Replace the suffix of file name with <span class="emphasis"><em>suf</em></span>.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:M=<span class="emphasis"><em>mem</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
Replace the archive member name with <span class="emphasis"><em>mem</em></span>.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:R=<span class="emphasis"><em>root</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
Prepend <span class="emphasis"><em>root</em></span> to the whole file name, if not already
rooted.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:E=<span class="emphasis"><em>value</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
Assign <span class="emphasis"><em>value</em></span> to the variable if it is unset.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">:J=<span class="emphasis"><em>joinval</em></span></code></span></dt>
<dd>
Concatentate list elements into single element, separated by <span class="emphasis"><em>joinval</em></span>'.
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
<p>
On VMS, <code class="literal">$(var:P)</code> is the parent directory of <code class="literal">$(var:D)</code>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.variables.local_for_loop_variables"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.local_for_loop_variables" title="Local
For Loop Variables">Local
For Loop Variables</a></h4></div></div></div>
<p>
Boost Jam allows you to declare a local for loop control variable right
in the loop:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">x = 1 2 3 ;
y = 4 5 6 ;
for <span class="bold"><strong>local</strong></span> y in $(x)
{
ECHO $(y) ; # prints "1", "2", or "3"
}
ECHO $(y) ; # prints "4 5 6"
</pre>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.variables.builtins"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.builtins" title=" Built-in Variables"> Built-in Variables</a></h4></div></div></div>
<div class="toc"><dl>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.builtins.search"> SEARCH and
LOCATE</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.builtins.hdrscan"> HDRSCAN
and HDRRULE</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.builtins.semaphores">Semaphores</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.builtins.platform_identifier">Platform
Identifier</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.builtins.jam_version">Jam
Version</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.builtins.jamshell">JAMSHELL</a></span></dt>
</dl></div>
<p>
This section discusses variables that have special meaning to <code class="literal">bjam</code>.
</p>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.variables.builtins.search"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.builtins.search" title=" SEARCH and
LOCATE"> SEARCH and
LOCATE</a></h5></div></div></div>
<p>
These two variables control the binding of file target names to locations
in the file system. Generally, <code class="literal">$(SEARCH)</code> is used to
find existing sources while <code class="literal">$(LOCATE)</code> is used to fix
the location for built targets.
</p>
<p>
Rooted (absolute path) file targets are bound as is. Unrooted file target
names are also normally bound as is, and thus relative to the current
directory, but the settings of <code class="literal">$(LOCATE)</code> and <code class="literal">$(SEARCH)</code>
alter this:
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist"><ul type="disc">
<li>
If <code class="literal">$(LOCATE)</code> is set then the target is bound relative
to the first directory in <code class="literal">$(LOCATE)</code>. Only the first
element is used for binding.
</li>
<li>
If <code class="literal">$(SEARCH)</code> is set then the target is bound to
the first directory in <code class="literal">$(SEARCH)</code> where the target
file already exists.
</li>
<li>
If the <code class="literal">$(SEARCH)</code> search fails, the target is bound
relative to the current directory anyhow.
</li>
</ul></div>
<p>
Both <code class="literal">$(SEARCH)</code> and <code class="literal">$(LOCATE)</code> should
be set target-specific and not globally. If they were set globally,
<code class="literal">bjam</code> would use the same paths for all file binding,
which is not likely to produce sane results. When writing your own rules,
especially ones not built upon those in Jambase, you may need to set
<code class="literal">$(SEARCH)</code> or <code class="literal">$(LOCATE)</code> directly.
Almost all of the rules defined in Jambase set <code class="literal">$(SEARCH)</code>
and <code class="literal">$(LOCATE)</code> to sensible values for sources they
are looking for and targets they create, respectively.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.variables.builtins.hdrscan"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.builtins.hdrscan" title=" HDRSCAN
and HDRRULE"> HDRSCAN
and HDRRULE</a></h5></div></div></div>
<p>
These two variables control header file scanning. <code class="literal">$(HDRSCAN)</code>
is an <code class="literal">egrep(1)</code> pattern, with ()'s surrounding the
file name, used to find file inclusion statements in source files. <code class="literal">Jambase</code>
uses <code class="literal">$(HDRPATTERN)</code> as the pattern for <code class="literal">$(HDRSCAN)</code>.
<code class="literal">$(HDRRULE)</code> is the name of a rule to invoke with the
results of the scan: the scanned file is the target, the found files
are the sources. This is the only place where <code class="literal">bjam</code>
invokes a rule through a variable setting.
</p>
<p>
Both <code class="literal">$(HDRSCAN)</code> and <code class="literal">$(HDRRULE)</code>
must be set for header file scanning to take place, and they should be
set target-specific and not globally. If they were set globally, all
files, including executables and libraries, would be scanned for header
file include statements.
</p>
<p>
The scanning for header file inclusions is not exact, but it is at least
dynamic, so there is no need to run something like <code class="literal">makedepend(GNU)</code>
to create a static dependency file. The scanning mechanism errs on the
side of inclusion (i.e., it is more likely to return filenames that are
not actually used by the compiler than to miss include files) because
it can't tell if <code class="computeroutput"><span class="preprocessor">#include</span></code>
lines are inside <code class="computeroutput"><span class="preprocessor">#ifdefs</span></code>
or other conditional logic. In <code class="literal">Jambase</code>, <code class="literal">HdrRule</code>
applies the <code class="literal">NOCARE</code> rule to each header file found
during scanning so that if the file isn't present yet doesn't cause the
compilation to fail, <code class="literal">bjam</code> won't care.
</p>
<p>
Also, scanning for regular expressions only works where the included
file name is literally in the source file. It can't handle languages
that allow including files using variable names (as the <code class="literal">Jam</code>
language itself does).
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.variables.builtins.semaphores"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.builtins.semaphores" title="Semaphores">Semaphores</a></h5></div></div></div>
<p>
It is sometimes desirable to disallow parallel execution of some actions.
For example:
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist"><ul type="disc">
<li>
Old versions of yacc use files with fixed names. So, running two yacc
actions is dangerous.
</li>
<li>
One might want to perform parallel compiling, but not do parallel linking,
because linking is i/o bound and only gets slower.
</li>
</ul></div>
<p>
Craig McPeeters has extended Perforce Jam to solve such problems, and
that extension was integrated in Boost.Jam.
</p>
<p>
Any target can be assigned a <span class="emphasis"><em>semaphore</em></span>, by setting
a variable called <code class="literal">SEMAPHORE</code> on that target. The value
of the variable is the semaphore name. It must be different from names
of any declared target, but is arbitrary otherwise.
</p>
<p>
The semantic of semaphores is that in a group of targets which have the
same semaphore, only one can be updated at the moment, regardless of
"<code class="literal">-j</code>" option.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.variables.builtins.platform_identifier"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.builtins.platform_identifier" title="Platform
Identifier">Platform
Identifier</a></h5></div></div></div>
<p>
A number of Jam built-in variables can be used to identify runtime platform:
</p>
<div class="variablelist">
<p class="title"><b></b></p>
<dl>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">OS</code></span></dt>
<dd>
OS identifier string
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">OSPLAT</code></span></dt>
<dd>
Underlying architecture, when applicable
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">MAC</code></span></dt>
<dd>
true on MAC platform
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">NT</code></span></dt>
<dd>
true on NT platform
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">OS2</code></span></dt>
<dd>
true on OS2 platform
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">UNIX</code></span></dt>
<dd>
true on Unix platforms
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">VMS</code></span></dt>
<dd>
true on VMS platform
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.variables.builtins.jam_version"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.builtins.jam_version" title="Jam
Version">Jam
Version</a></h5></div></div></div>
<div class="variablelist">
<p class="title"><b></b></p>
<dl>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">JAMDATE</code></span></dt>
<dd>
Time and date at <code class="literal">bjam</code> start-up.
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">JAMUNAME</code></span></dt>
<dd>
Ouput of uname(1) command (Unix only)
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">JAMVERSION</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<code class="literal">bjam</code> version, currently "3.1.13"
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">JAM_VERSION</code></span></dt>
<dd>
A predefined global variable with two elements indicates the version
number of Boost Jam. Boost Jam versions start at "<code class="literal">03</code>"
"<code class="literal">00</code>". Earlier versions of <code class="literal">Jam</code>
do not automatically define <code class="literal">JAM_VERSION</code>.
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h5 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.variables.builtins.jamshell"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.variables.builtins.jamshell" title="JAMSHELL">JAMSHELL</a></h5></div></div></div>
<p>
When <code class="literal">bjam</code> executes a rule's action block, it forks
and execs a shell, passing the action block as an argument to the shell.
The invocation of the shell can be controlled by <code class="literal">$(JAMSHELL)</code>.
The default on Unix is, for example:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">JAMSHELL = /bin/sh -c % ;
</pre>
<p>
The <code class="literal">%</code> is replaced with the text of the action block.
</p>
<p>
<code class="literal">BJam</code> does not directly support building in parallel
across multiple hosts, since that is heavily dependent on the local environment.
To build in parallel across multiple hosts, you need to write your own
shell that provides access to the multiple hosts. You then reset <code class="literal">$(JAMSHELL)</code>
to reference it.
</p>
<p>
Just as <code class="literal">bjam</code> expands a <code class="literal">%</code> to be
the text of the rule's action block, it expands a <code class="literal">!</code>
to be the multi-process slot number. The slot number varies between 1
and the number of concurrent jobs permitted by the <code class="literal">-j</code>
flag given on the command line. Armed with this, it is possible to write
a multiple host shell. For example:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">#!/bin/sh
# This sample JAMSHELL uses the SunOS on(1) command to execute a
# command string with an identical environment on another host.
# Set JAMSHELL = jamshell ! %
#
# where jamshell is the name of this shell file.
#
# This version handles up to -j6; after that they get executed
# locally.
case $1 in
1|4) on winken sh -c "$2";;
2|5) on blinken sh -c "$2";;
3|6) on nod sh -c "$2";;
*) eval "$2";;
esac
</pre>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.modules"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules" title="Modules">Modules</a></h3></div></div></div>
<div class="toc"><dl>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.declaration">Declaration</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.variable_scope">Variable Scope</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.local_rules">Local Rules</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.the__rulenames__rule">The <code class="literal">RULENAMES</code>
Rule</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.the__varnames__rule">The <code class="literal">VARNAMES</code>
Rule</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.the__import__rule">The <code class="literal">IMPORT</code>
Rule</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.the__export__rule">The <code class="literal">EXPORT</code>
Rule</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.the__caller_module__rule">The
<code class="literal">CALLER_MODULE</code> Rule</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.the__delete_module__rule">The
<code class="literal">DELETE_MODULE</code> Rule</a></span></dt>
</dl></div>
<p>
Boost Jam introduces support for modules, which provide some rudimentary
namespace protection for rules and variables. A new keyword, "<code class="literal">module</code>"
was also introduced. The features described in this section are primitives,
meaning that they are meant to provide the operations needed to write Jam
rules which provide a more elegant module interface.
</p>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.modules.declaration"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.declaration" title="Declaration">Declaration</a></h4></div></div></div>
<pre class="programlisting">module <span class="emphasis"><em>expression</em></span> { ... }
</pre>
<p>
Code within the <code class="literal">{ ... }</code> executes within the module named
by evaluating expression. Rule definitions can be found in the module's
own namespace, and in the namespace of the global module as <span class="emphasis"><em>module-name</em></span>.<span class="emphasis"><em>rule-name</em></span>,
so within a module, other rules in that module may always be invoked without
qualification:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting"><span class="bold"><strong>module my_module</strong></span>
<span class="bold"><strong>{</strong></span>
rule salute ( x ) { ECHO $(x), world ; }
rule greet ( ) { salute hello ; }
greet ;
<span class="bold"><strong>}</strong></span>
<span class="bold"><strong>my_module.salute</strong></span> goodbye ;
</pre>
<p>
When an invoked rule is not found in the current module's namespace, it
is looked up in the namespace of the global module, so qualified calls
work across modules:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">module your_module
{
rule bedtime ( ) { <span class="bold"><strong>my_module.salute</strong></span> goodnight ; }
}
</pre>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.modules.variable_scope"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.variable_scope" title="Variable Scope">Variable Scope</a></h4></div></div></div>
<p>
Each module has its own set of dynamically nested variable scopes. When
execution passes from module A to module B, all the variable bindings from
A become unavailable, and are replaced by the bindings that belong to B.
This applies equally to local and global variables:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">module A
{
x = 1 ;
rule f ( )
{
local y = 999 ; # becomes visible again when B.f calls A.g
B.f ;
}
rule g ( )
{
ECHO $(y) ; # prints "999"
}
}
module B
{
y = 2 ;
rule f ( )
{
ECHO $(y) ; # always prints "2"
A.g ;
}
}
</pre>
<p>
The only way to access another module's variables is by entering that module:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">rule peek ( module-name ? : variables + )
{
module $(module-name)
{
return $($(>)) ;
}
}
</pre>
<p>
Note that because existing variable bindings change whenever a new module
scope is entered, argument bindings become unavailable. That explains the
use of "<code class="literal">$(>)</code>" in the peek rule above.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.modules.local_rules"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.local_rules" title="Local Rules">Local Rules</a></h4></div></div></div>
<pre class="programlisting">local rule <span class="emphasis"><em>rulename</em></span>...
</pre>
<p>
The rule is declared locally to the current module. It is not entered in
the global module with qualification, and its name will not appear in the
result of:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">[ RULENAMES <span class="emphasis"><em>module-name</em></span> ]
</pre>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.modules.the__rulenames__rule"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.the__rulenames__rule" title="The RULENAMES
Rule">The <code class="literal">RULENAMES</code>
Rule</a></h4></div></div></div>
<pre class="programlisting">rule RULENAMES ( <span class="emphasis"><em>module</em></span> ? )
</pre>
<p>
Returns a list of the names of all non-local rules in the given module.
If <span class="emphasis"><em>module</em></span> is omitted, the names of all non-local rules
in the global module are returned.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.modules.the__varnames__rule"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.the__varnames__rule" title="The VARNAMES
Rule">The <code class="literal">VARNAMES</code>
Rule</a></h4></div></div></div>
<pre class="programlisting">rule VARNAMES ( <span class="emphasis"><em>module</em></span> ? )
</pre>
<p>
Returns a list of the names of all variable bindings in the given module.
If <span class="emphasis"><em>module</em></span> is omitted, the names of all variable bindings
in the global module are returned.
</p>
<div class="note"><table border="0" summary="Note">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top" width="25"><img alt="[Note]" src="../images/note.png"></td>
<th align="left">Note</th>
</tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
This includes any local variables in rules from the call stack which
have not returned at the time of the <code class="literal">VARNAMES</code> invocation.
</p></td></tr>
</table></div>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.modules.the__import__rule"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.the__import__rule" title="The IMPORT
Rule">The <code class="literal">IMPORT</code>
Rule</a></h4></div></div></div>
<p>
<code class="literal">IMPORT</code> allows rule name aliasing across modules:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">rule IMPORT ( <span class="emphasis"><em>source_module</em></span> ? : <span class="emphasis"><em>source_rules</em></span> *
: <span class="emphasis"><em>target_module</em></span> ? : <span class="emphasis"><em>target_rules</em></span> * )
</pre>
<p>
The <code class="literal">IMPORT</code> rule copies rules from the <span class="emphasis"><em>source_module</em></span>
into the <span class="emphasis"><em>target_module</em></span> as local rules. If either
<span class="emphasis"><em>source_module</em></span> or <span class="emphasis"><em>target_module</em></span>
is not supplied, it refers to the global module. <span class="emphasis"><em>source_rules</em></span>
specifies which rules from the <span class="emphasis"><em>source_module</em></span> to import;
<span class="emphasis"><em>target_rules</em></span> specifies the names to give those rules
in <span class="emphasis"><em>target_module</em></span>. If <span class="emphasis"><em>source_rules</em></span>
contains a name which doesn't correspond to a rule in <span class="emphasis"><em>source_module</em></span>,
or if it contains a different number of items than <span class="emphasis"><em>target_rules</em></span>,
an error is issued. For example,
</p>
<pre class="programlisting"># import m1.rule1 into m2 as local rule m1-rule1.
IMPORT m1 : rule1 : m2 : m1-rule1 ;
# import all non-local rules from m1 into m2
IMPORT m1 : [ RULENAMES m1 ] : m2 : [ RULENAMES m1 ] ;
</pre>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.modules.the__export__rule"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.the__export__rule" title="The EXPORT
Rule">The <code class="literal">EXPORT</code>
Rule</a></h4></div></div></div>
<p>
<code class="literal">EXPORT</code> allows rule name aliasing across modules:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">rule EXPORT ( <span class="emphasis"><em>module</em></span> ? : <span class="emphasis"><em>rules</em></span> * )
</pre>
<p>
The <code class="literal">EXPORT</code> rule marks <span class="emphasis"><em>rules</em></span> from
the <code class="literal">source_module</code> as non-local (and thus exportable).
If an element of <span class="emphasis"><em>rules</em></span> does not name a rule in <span class="emphasis"><em>module</em></span>,
an error is issued. For example,
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">module X {
local rule r { ECHO X.r ; }
}
IMPORT X : r : : r ; # error - r is local in X
EXPORT X : r ;
IMPORT X : r : : r ; # OK.
</pre>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.modules.the__caller_module__rule"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.the__caller_module__rule" title="The
CALLER_MODULE Rule">The
<code class="literal">CALLER_MODULE</code> Rule</a></h4></div></div></div>
<pre class="programlisting">rule CALLER_MODULE ( <span class="emphasis"><em>levels</em></span> ? )
</pre>
<p>
<code class="literal">CALLER_MODULE</code> returns the name of the module scope enclosing
the call to its caller (if levels is supplied, it is interpreted as an
integer number of additional levels of call stack to traverse to locate
the module). If the scope belongs to the global module, or if no such module
exists, returns the empty list. For example, the following prints "{Y}
{X}":
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">module X {
rule get-caller { return [ CALLER_MODULE ] ; }
rule get-caller's-caller { return [ CALLER_MODULE 1 ] ; }
rule call-Y { return Y.call-X2 ; }
}
module Y {
rule call-X { return X.get-caller ; }
rule call-X2 { return X.get-caller's-caller ; }
}
callers = [ X.get-caller ] [ Y.call-X ] [ X.call-Y ] ;
ECHO {$(callers)} ;
</pre>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="jam.language.modules.the__delete_module__rule"></a><a href="language.html#jam.language.modules.the__delete_module__rule" title="The
DELETE_MODULE Rule">The
<code class="literal">DELETE_MODULE</code> Rule</a></h4></div></div></div>
<pre class="programlisting">rule DELETE_MODULE ( <span class="emphasis"><em>module</em></span> ? )
</pre>
<p>
<code class="literal">DELETE_MODULE</code> removes all of the variable bindings and
otherwise-unreferenced rules from the given module (or the global module,
if no module is supplied), and returns their memory to the system.
</p>
<div class="note"><table border="0" summary="Note">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top" width="25"><img alt="[Note]" src="../images/note.png"></td>
<th align="left">Note</th>
</tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
Though it won't affect rules that are currently executing until they
complete, <code class="literal">DELETE_MODULE</code> should be used with extreme
care because it will wipe out any others and all variable (including
locals in that module) immediately. Because of the way dynamic binding
works, variables which are shadowed by locals will not be destroyed,
so the results can be really unpredictable.
</p></td></tr>
</table></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<table width="100%"><tr>
<td align="left"></td>
<td align="right"><small>Copyright 2003-2006 Rene
Rivera, David Abrahams, Vladimir Prus</small></td>
</tr></table>
<hr>
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