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1*****
2Usage
3*****
4
5To use the {fmt} library, add :file:`fmt/core.h`, :file:`fmt/format.h`,
6:file:`fmt/format-inl.h`, :file:`src/format.cc` and optionally other headers
7from a `release archive <https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt/releases/latest>`_ or
8the `Git repository <https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt>`_ to your project.
9Alternatively, you can :ref:`build the library with CMake <building>`.
10
11.. _building:
12
13Building the Library
14====================
15
16The included `CMake build script`__ can be used to build the fmt
17library on a wide range of platforms. CMake is freely available for
18download from https://www.cmake.org/download/.
19
20__ https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt/blob/master/CMakeLists.txt
21
22CMake works by generating native makefiles or project files that can
23be used in the compiler environment of your choice. The typical
24workflow starts with::
25
26  mkdir build          # Create a directory to hold the build output.
27  cd build
28  cmake ..  # Generate native build scripts.
29
30where :file:`{<path/to/fmt>}` is a path to the ``fmt`` repository.
31
32If you are on a \*nix system, you should now see a Makefile in the
33current directory. Now you can build the library by running :command:`make`.
34
35Once the library has been built you can invoke :command:`make test` to run
36the tests.
37
38You can control generation of the make ``test`` target with the ``FMT_TEST``
39CMake option. This can be useful if you include fmt as a subdirectory in
40your project but don't want to add fmt's tests to your ``test`` target.
41
42If you use Windows and have Visual Studio installed, a :file:`FMT.sln`
43file and several :file:`.vcproj` files will be created. You can then build them
44using Visual Studio or msbuild.
45
46On Mac OS X with Xcode installed, an :file:`.xcodeproj` file will be generated.
47
48To build a `shared library`__ set the ``BUILD_SHARED_LIBS`` CMake variable to
49``TRUE``::
50
51  cmake -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=TRUE ...
52
53__ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_%28computing%29#Shared_libraries
54
55
56To build a `static library` with position independent code (required if the main
57consumer of the fmt library is a shared library i.e. a Python extension) set the
58``CMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE`` CMake variable to ``TRUE``::
59
60  cmake -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE=TRUE ...
61
62
63Installing the Library
64======================
65
66After building the library you can install it on a Unix-like system by running
67:command:`sudo make install`.
68
69Usage with CMake
70================
71
72You can add the ``fmt`` library directory into your project and include it in
73your ``CMakeLists.txt`` file::
74
75   add_subdirectory(fmt)
76
77or
78
79::
80
81   add_subdirectory(fmt EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
82
83to exclude it from ``make``, ``make all``, or ``cmake --build .``.
84
85You can detect and use an installed version of {fmt} as follows::
86
87   find_package(fmt)
88   target_link_libraries(<your-target> fmt::fmt)
89
90Setting up your target to use a header-only version of ``fmt`` is equally easy::
91
92   target_link_libraries(<your-target> PRIVATE fmt::fmt-header-only)
93
94Usage with build2
95=================
96
97You can use `build2 <https://build2.org>`_, a dependency manager and a
98build-system combined, to use ``fmt``.
99
100Currently this package is available in these package repositories:
101
102- **https://cppget.org/fmt/** for released and published versions.
103- `The git repository with the sources of the build2 package of fmt <https://github.com/build2-packaging/fmt.git>`_
104  for unreleased or custom revisions of ``fmt``.
105
106**Usage:**
107
108- ``build2`` package name: ``fmt``
109- Library target name : ``lib{fmt}``
110
111For example, to make your ``build2`` project depend on ``fmt``:
112
113- Add one of the repositories to your configurations, or in your
114  ``repositories.manifest``, if not already there::
115
116    :
117    role: prerequisite
118    location: https://pkg.cppget.org/1/stable
119
120- Add this package as a dependency to your ``./manifest`` file
121  (example for ``v7.0.x``)::
122
123    depends: fmt ~7.0.0
124
125- Import the target and use it as a prerequisite to your own target
126  using `fmt` in the appropriate ``buildfile``::
127
128    import fmt = fmt%lib{fmt}
129    lib{mylib} : cxx{**} ... $fmt
130
131Then build your project as usual with `b` or `bdep update`.
132
133For ``build2`` newcomers or to get more details and use cases, you can read the
134``build2``
135`toolchain introduction <https://build2.org/build2-toolchain/doc/build2-toolchain-intro.xhtml>`_.
136
137Usage with Meson
138================
139
140`Meson's WrapDB <https://mesonbuild.com/Wrapdb-projects.html>` includes a ``fmt``
141package, which repackages fmt to be built by Meson as a subproject.
142
143**Usage:**
144
145- Install the ``fmt`` subproject from the WrapDB by running::
146
147    meson wrap install fmt
148
149  from the root of your project.
150
151- In your project's ``meson.build`` file, add an entry for the new subproject::
152
153    fmt = subproject('fmt')
154    fmt_dep = fmt.get_variable('fmt_dep')
155
156- Include the new dependency object to link with fmt::
157
158    my_build_target = executable('name', 'src/main.cc', dependencies: [fmt_dep])
159
160**Options:**
161
162If desired, ``fmt`` may be built as a static library, or as a header-only
163library.
164
165For a static build, use the following subproject definition::
166
167  fmt = subproject('fmt', default_options: 'default_library=static')
168  fmt_dep = fmt.get_variable('fmt_dep')
169
170For the header-only version, use::
171
172  fmt = subproject('fmt')
173  fmt_dep = fmt.get_variable('fmt_header_only_dep')
174
175Building the Documentation
176==========================
177
178To build the documentation you need the following software installed on your
179system:
180
181* `Python <https://www.python.org/>`_ with pip and virtualenv
182* `Doxygen <http://www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen/>`_
183* `Less <http://lesscss.org/>`_ with ``less-plugin-clean-css``.
184  Ubuntu doesn't package the ``clean-css`` plugin so you should use ``npm``
185  instead of ``apt`` to install both ``less`` and the plugin::
186
187    sudo npm install -g less less-plugin-clean-css.
188
189First generate makefiles or project files using CMake as described in
190the previous section. Then compile the ``doc`` target/project, for example::
191
192  make doc
193
194This will generate the HTML documentation in ``doc/html``.
195
196Conda
197=====
198
199fmt can be installed on Linux, macOS and Windows with
200`Conda <https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/>`__, using its
201`conda-forge <https://conda-forge.org>`__
202`package <https://github.com/conda-forge/fmt-feedstock>`__, as follows::
203
204  conda install -c conda-forge fmt
205
206Vcpkg
207=====
208
209You can download and install fmt using the `vcpkg
210<https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg>`__ dependency manager::
211
212  git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg.git
213  cd vcpkg
214  ./bootstrap-vcpkg.sh
215  ./vcpkg integrate install
216  ./vcpkg install fmt
217
218The fmt port in vcpkg is kept up to date by Microsoft team members and community
219contributors. If the version is out of date, please `create an issue or pull
220request <https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg>`__ on the vcpkg repository.
221
222LHelper
223=======
224
225You can download and install fmt using
226`lhelper <https://github.com/franko/lhelper>`__ dependency manager::
227
228  lhelper activate <some-environment>
229  lhelper install fmt
230
231All the recipes for lhelper are kept in the
232`lhelper's recipe <https://github.com/franko/lhelper-recipes>`__ repository.
233
234Android NDK
235===========
236
237fmt provides `Android.mk file`__ that can be used to build the library
238with `Android NDK <https://developer.android.com/tools/sdk/ndk/index.html>`_.
239For an example of using fmt with Android NDK, see the
240`android-ndk-example <https://github.com/fmtlib/android-ndk-example>`_
241repository.
242
243__ https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt/blob/master/support/Android.mk
244
245Homebrew
246========
247
248fmt can be installed on OS X using `Homebrew <https://brew.sh/>`_::
249
250  brew install fmt
251