Build System Guide

This guide covers the build system configuration and compilation options for the Simplex Noise Library.

Overview

The library uses CMake as its primary build system, providing cross-platform support and easy integration with other projects.

Prerequisites

Required Tools

CMake 3.10 or later
C99 compatible compiler (GCC, Clang, MSVC)
Make or Ninja (for compilation)

Optional Dependencies

libpng (for PNG image generation)
pkg-config (for library discovery)

Basic Build

Quick Start

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/paredezadrian/simplex-noise.git
cd simplex-noise

# Create build directory
mkdir build
cd build

# Configure with CMake
cmake ..

# Build the library
make

# Install (optional)
sudo make install

One-liner Build

mkdir build && cd build && cmake .. && make

CMake Configuration

Basic Configuration

# Debug build (default)
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ..

# Release build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..

# RelWithDebInfo build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo ..

Advanced Configuration

# Custom install prefix
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local ..

# Custom compiler
cmake -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=gcc ..

# Enable/disable features
cmake -DENABLE_PNG=ON ..
cmake -DENABLE_TESTS=ON ..
cmake -DENABLE_EXAMPLES=ON ..

Available CMake Options

Option	Default	Description
`CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE`	Debug	Build type (Debug, Release, RelWithDebInfo, MinSizeRel)
`CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX`	/usr/local	Installation directory
`ENABLE_PNG`	ON	Enable PNG image generation
`ENABLE_TESTS`	ON	Build test programs
`ENABLE_EXAMPLES`	ON	Build example programs
`ENABLE_DOCS`	OFF	Build documentation

Build Types

Debug Build

cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ..
make

Characteristics:

Debug symbols included
No optimization
Assertions enabled
Larger binary size
Slower execution

Release Build

cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
make

Characteristics:

Full optimization
No debug symbols
Assertions disabled
Smaller binary size
Faster execution

RelWithDebInfo Build

cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo ..
make

Characteristics:

Full optimization
Debug symbols included
Assertions disabled
Medium binary size
Fast execution with debugging

Compiler-Specific Options

GCC

# Use GCC with specific version
cmake -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=gcc-9 ..

# Custom GCC flags
cmake -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS="-Wall -Wextra -Wpedantic" ..

Clang

# Use Clang
cmake -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang ..

# Custom Clang flags
cmake -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS="-Wall -Wextra -Wpedantic" ..

MSVC (Windows)

# Use MSVC
cmake -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=cl ..

# Custom MSVC flags
cmake -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS="/W4" ..

Cross-Platform Building

Linux

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install build-essential cmake libpng-dev

# CentOS/RHEL
sudo yum install gcc cmake libpng-devel

# Build
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make

macOS

# Install dependencies with Homebrew
brew install cmake libpng

# Build
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make

Windows

# Using Visual Studio
mkdir build && cd build
cmake -G "Visual Studio 16 2019" ..
cmake --build . --config Release

# Using MinGW
mkdir build && cd build
cmake -G "MinGW Makefiles" ..
make

Integration with Other Projects

Using as Submodule

# Add as git submodule
git submodule add https://github.com/paredezadrian/simplex-noise.git external/simplex-noise

# In your CMakeLists.txt
add_subdirectory(external/simplex-noise)
target_link_libraries(your_target simplex_noise)

Using with pkg-config

# Install library
sudo make install

# Use pkg-config
pkg-config --cflags --libs simplex_noise

Manual Integration

# Copy headers and library
cp include/simplex_noise.h /usr/local/include/
cp include/simplex_image.h /usr/local/include/
cp build/libsimplex_noise.a /usr/local/lib/

# Link with your project
gcc -o my_program my_program.c -lsimplex_noise -lm

Custom Build Scripts

Build Script for Development

#!/bin/bash
# build-dev.sh

set -e

# Create build directory
mkdir -p build
cd build

# Configure for development
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug \
      -DENABLE_TESTS=ON \
      -DENABLE_EXAMPLES=ON \
      -DENABLE_DOCS=ON \
      ..

# Build
make -j$(nproc)

# Run tests
make test

echo "Build completed successfully!"

Build Script for Release

#!/bin/bash
# build-release.sh

set -e

# Create build directory
mkdir -p build
cd build

# Configure for release
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
      -DENABLE_PNG=ON \
      -DENABLE_TESTS=OFF \
      -DENABLE_EXAMPLES=OFF \
      ..

# Build
make -j$(nproc)

# Install
sudo make install

echo "Release build completed successfully!"

Testing

Running Tests

# Build with tests enabled
cmake -DENABLE_TESTS=ON ..
make

# Run tests
make test

# Run specific test
./tests/test_simplex_noise

Test Coverage

# Build with coverage
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug \
      -DENABLE_COVERAGE=ON \
      ..
make

# Generate coverage report
make coverage

Documentation

Building Documentation

# Build with documentation
cmake -DENABLE_DOCS=ON ..
make docs

# View documentation
open docs/html/index.html

Documentation Requirements

Doxygen (for API documentation)
Sphinx (for user guides)
Graphviz (for diagrams)

Packaging

Creating Packages

# Create source package
make package_source

# Create binary package
make package

# Create RPM package
cpack -G RPM

# Create DEB package
cpack -G DEB

Installation

# Install from package
sudo dpkg -i simplex-noise-1.0.0.deb

# Install from source
sudo make install

# Uninstall
sudo make uninstall

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

CMake not found: Install CMake 3.10 or later
Compiler not found: Install build-essential or development tools
Library not found: Install required dependencies (libpng, etc.)
Permission denied: Use sudo for installation

Debug Build Issues

# Enable verbose output
make VERBOSE=1

# Check CMake configuration
cmake -LAH ..

# Check compiler flags
make -n

Performance Issues

# Use parallel compilation
make -j$(nproc)

# Use Ninja for faster builds
cmake -GNinja ..
ninja

Continuous Integration

GitHub Actions

name: Build and Test

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          sudo apt-get update
          sudo apt-get install -y build-essential cmake libpng-dev
      - name: Build
        run: |
          mkdir build && cd build
          cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DENABLE_TESTS=ON ..
          make -j$(nproc)
      - name: Test
        run: |
          cd build
          make test

Travis CI

language: c

compiler:
  - gcc
  - clang

before_install:
  - sudo apt-get update
  - sudo apt-get install -y libpng-dev

script:
  - mkdir build && cd build
  - cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DENABLE_TESTS=ON ..
  - make -j$(nproc)
  - make test

Best Practices

Use out-of-source builds - Always build in a separate directory
Enable tests - Always run tests before releasing
Use appropriate build type - Debug for development, Release for production
Parallel compilation - Use -j$(nproc) for faster builds
Clean builds - Remove build directory for clean builds
Version control - Don't commit build artifacts

For more information about using the library, see Getting Started