Info - Build Information

by Djones A. Boni

Add build information to a CMake project.

If you are using CMake, you can easily add build information to your project.

The following information will be available as variables:

• Git commit describe: TAG-N-gAAAAAAA-dirty
• Git commit hash: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-dirty
• Build type: Release/Debug/...
• Build user and host: john@workstation
• Build date: 2022-12-31 23:59:59 +0000
• Build time: 1672491599

Here is an usage example, followed by its output:

/* main.c */
#include "info.h"
#include <stdio.h>

void print_json_build_info(void)
{
    printf("{\n");
    printf("  \"git_commit_describe\": \"%s\",\n", git_commit_describe);
    printf("  \"git_commit_hash\": \"%s\",\n", git_commit_hash);
    printf("  \"build_type\": \"%s\",\n", build_type);
    printf("  \"build_user\": \"%s\",\n", build_user);
    printf("  \"build_date\": \"%s\",\n", build_date);
    printf("  \"build_time\": %lu\n", build_time);
    printf("}\n");
}

int main(void)
{
    print_json_build_info();

    return 0;
}

Output:

{
  "git_commit_describe": "TAG-N-gAAAAAAA-dirty",
  "git_commit_hash": "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-dirty",
  "build_type": "Debug",
  "build_user": "user@host",
  "build_date": "2022-12-31 23:59:59 +0000",
  "build_time": 1672491599
}

Using: External Project

This example is available in example/. CMake will download the repository for you.

1. Configure this repository as an external project, then link to your executable or library. You can also set the Git directory where to get the commit hash.

# CMakeLists.txt
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
project(info_test_add_submodule VERSION 1.0)

# Set Git directory (optional)
set(INFO_GIT_DIR "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}")

# Add Info as an external project
include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(
  info
  GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/embtool/info
  GIT_TAG main # or use a tag, eg. v1.0
)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(info)

# Link Info to an executable or library
add_executable(main main.c)
target_link_libraries(main PRIVATE info)

Using: add_subdirectory()

This example is similar to the previous. You need to download the source manually.

1. Download the repository.

$ git clone https://github.com/embtool/info

2. On CMakeLists.txt add the subdirectory, then link to your executable or library. You can also set the Git directory where to get the commit hash.

# CMakeLists.txt
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
project(info_test_add_submodule VERSION 1.0)

# Set Git directory (optional)
set(INFO_GIT_DIR "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}")

# Add Info's subdirectory
add_subdirectory(info)

# Link Info to an executable or library
add_executable(main main.c)
target_link_libraries(main PRIVATE info)