path: root/PACKAGING.md

# Preparing your package for FPM

This document describes how you need to organize your application or library for
it to successfully build with the Fortran Package Manager (*fpm*).

* [What kind of package can fpm build?](#what-kind-of-package-can-fpm-build)
* [Example package layouts](#example-package-layouts)
  - [Single program](#single-program)
  - [Single-module library](#single-module-library)
  - [Multi-module library](#multi-module-library)
  - [Application and library](#application-and-library)
  - [Multi-level library](#multi-level-library)
  - [Be more explicit](#be-more-explicit)
  - [Add some tests](#add-some-tests)
  - [Adding dependencies](#adding-dependencies)
  - [Custom build scripts](#custom-build-scripts)

## What kind of package can fpm build?

You can use *fpm* to build:

* Applications (program only)
* Libraries (modules only)
* Combination of the two (programs and modules combined)

Let’s look at some examples of different kinds of package layouts that you can
use with *fpm*.

## Example package layouts

This section describes some example package layouts that you can build with
*fpm*. You can use them to model the layout of your own package.

### Single program

Let’s start with the simplest package imaginable—a single program without
dependencies or modules. Here’s what the layout of the top-level directory
looks like:

```
.
├── app
│   └── main.f90
└── fpm.toml
```

We have one source file (`main.f90`) in one directory (`app`). Its contents
are:

```fortran
program main
    print *, 'Hello, World!'
end program main
```

This program prints the usual greeting to the standard output, and nothing more.

There’s another important file in the top-level directory, `fpm.toml`.  This is
*fpm*’s configuration file specific to your package.  It includes all the data
that *fpm* needs to build your app.  In our simple case, it looks like this:

```toml
name = "hello"
version = "0.1.0"
license = "MIT"
author = "Jane Programmer"
maintainer = "jane@example.com"
copyright = "2020 Jane Programmer"
```

The preamble includes some metadata, such as `license`, `author`, and similar,
that you may have seen in other package manager configuration files.  The one
option that matters here right now is:

```toml
name = "hello"
```

This line specifies the name of your package, which determines the name of the
executable file of your program. In this example, our program executable, once
built, will be called `hello`.

Let’s now build this program using *fpm*:

```
$ fpm build
# gfortran (for build/debug/app/main.o)
# gfortran (for build/debug/app/hello)
```

On the first line, we ran `fpm build` to compile and link the application.
The latter two lines are emitted by *fpm*, and indicate which command was
executed at each build step (`gfortran`), and which files have been output
by it: object file `main.o`, and executable `hello`.

We can now run the app with `fpm run`:

```
$ fpm run
 Hello, World!
```

If your application needs to use a module internally, but you don’t intend
to build it as a library to be used in other projects, you can include the
module in your program source file as well.
For example:

```fortran
$ cat app/main.f90
module math_constants
    real, parameter :: pi = 4 * atan(1.)
end module math_constants

program main
    use math_constants, only: pi
    print *, 'Hello, World!'
    print *, 'pi = ', pi
end program main
```

Now, run this using `fpm run`:

```
$ fpm run
# gfortran (for build/debug/app/main.o)
# gfortran (for build/debug/app/hello)
 Hello, World!
 pi =    3.14159274
```

Notice that you can run `fpm run`, and if the package hasn’t been built yet,
`fpm build` will run automatically for you. This is true if the source files
have been updated since the last build.  Thus, if you want to run your
application, you can skip the `fpm build` step, and go straight to `fpm run`.

Although we have named our program `hello`, which is the same name as the
package name in `fpm.toml`, you can name it anything you want as long as it’s
permitted by the language.

In this last example, our source file defined a `math_constants` module inside
the same source file as the main program. Let’s see how we can define an *fpm*
package that makes this module available as a library.

### Single-module library

The package layout for this example looks like this:

```
.
├── fpm.toml
└── src
    └── math_constants.f90
```

In this example we’ll build a simple math constants library that exports
the number pi as a parameter:

```fortran
$ cat src/math_constants.f90
module math_constants
    real, parameter :: pi = 4 * atan(1.)
end module math_constants
```

and our `fpm.toml` is the same as before.

Now use `fpm build` to build the package:

```
$ fpm build
# gfortran (for build/debug/library/math_constants.o build/debug/library/math_constants.mod)
# ar (for build/debug/library/math_constants.a)
ar: creating build/debug/library/math_constants.a
```

Based on the output of `fpm build`, *fpm* first ran `gfortran` to emit the
binary object (`math_constants.o`) and module (`math_constants.mod`) files.
Then it ran `ar` to create a static library archive `math_constants.a`.
`build/debug/library` is thus both your include and library path, should you
want to compile and link an external program with this library.

For modules in the top-level (`src`) directory, *fpm* requires that:

* The module has the same name as the source file.
* There is only one module per file.

These two requirements simplify the build process for *fpm*. As Fortran
compilers emit module files (`.mod`) with the same name as the module itself
(but not the source file, `.f90`), naming the module the same as the source file
allows *fpm* to:

* Uniquely and exactly map a source file (`.f90`) to its object (`.o`) and
module (`.mod`) files.
* Avoid conflicts with modules of the same name that could appear in dependency
packages (more on this in a bit).

Since this is a library without executable programs, `fpm run` here does
nothing.

In this example, our library is made of only one module. However, most
real-world libraries are likely to use multiple modules. Let’s see how you can
package your multi-module library.

### Multi-module library

In this example, we’ll use another module to define a 64-bit real kind
parameter and make it available in `math_constants` to define `pi` with
higher precision. To make this exercise worthwhile, we’ll define another math
constant, Euler’s number.

Our package layout looks like this:

```
.
├── fpm.toml
└── src
    ├── math_constants.f90
    └── type_kinds.f90
```

And our source file contents are:

```fortran
$ cat src/math_constants.f90
module math_constants
    use type_kinds, only: rk
    real(rk), parameter :: pi = 4 * atan(1._rk)
    real(rk), parameter :: e = exp(1._rk)
end module math_constants

$ cat src/type_kinds.f90
module type_kinds
    use iso_fortran_env, only: real64
    integer, parameter :: rk = real64
end module type_kinds
```

and there are no changes to our `fpm.toml` relative to previous examples.

Like before, notice that the module `type_kinds` is name exactly as the
source file that contains it.
This is important.

By now you know how to build the package:

```
$ fpm build
# gfortran (for build/debug/library/type_kinds.o build/debug/library/type_kinds.mod)
# gfortran (for build/debug/library/math_constants.o build/debug/library/math_constants.mod)
# ar (for build/debug/library/math_constants.a)
ar: creating build/debug/library/math_constants.a
```

Our build path now contains:

```
$ ls build/debug/library/
math_constants.a  math_constants.mod  math_constants.o  type_kinds.mod  type_kinds.o
```

And the static library includes all the object files:

```
$ nm build/debug/library/math_constants.a

math_constants.o:

type_kinds.o:
```

The takeaways from this example are that:

* *fpm* automatically scanned the `src` directory for any source files.
* It also resolved the dependency order between different modules.

### Application and library

Let’s now combine the two previous examples into one: We’ll build the math
constants library *and* an executable program that uses it. We’ll use this
program as a demo, and to verify that defining higher-precision constants from
the previous example actually worked.

Here’s the package layout for your application + library package:

```
.
├── app
│   └── main.f90
├── fpm.toml
└── src
    ├── math_constants.f90
    └── type_kinds.f90
```

Our `fpm.toml` remains unchanged and our executable program source file is:

```fortran
$ cat app/main.f90
program main
    use math_constants, only: e, pi
    print *, 'math_constants library demo'
    print *, 'pi = ', pi
    print *, 'e = ', e
end program main
```

Let’s go straight to running the demo program:

```
$ fpm run
# gfortran (for build/debug/library/type_kinds.o build/debug/library/type_kinds.mod)
# gfortran (for build/debug/library/math_constants.o build/debug/library/math_constants.mod)
# ar (for build/debug/library/math_constants.a)
ar: creating build/debug/library/math_constants.a
# gfortran (for build/debug/app/main.o)
# gfortran (for build/debug/app/math_constants)
 math_constants library demo
 pi =    3.1415926535897931
 e =    2.7182818284590451
```

The *fpm* build + run process works as expected, and our program correctly
outputs higher-precision constants.

So far we covered how *fpm* builds:

* A single program
* A single-module library
* A multi-module library
* A program and a library

However, all our modules so far have been organized in the top level source
directory. More complex libraries may organize their modules in subdirectories.
Let’s see how we can build this with *fpm*.

### Multi-level library

In this example, we’ll define our library as a collection of modules, two of
which are defined in a subdirectory:

```
.
├── app
│   └── main.f90
├── fpm.toml
└── src
    ├── math_constants
    │   ├── derived.f90
    │   └── fundamental.f90
    ├── math_constants.f90
    └── type_kinds.f90
```

First, `fpm.toml` and `src/type_kinds.f90` remain unchanged relative to the
previous example.

The rest of the source files are:

```fortran
$ cat src/math_constants.f90
module math_constants
    use math_constants_fundamental, only: e, pi
    use math_constants_derived, only: half_pi, two_pi
end module math_constants

$ cat src/math_constants/fundamental.f90
module math_constants_fundamental
    use type_kinds, only: rk
    real(rk), parameter :: pi = 4 * atan(1._rk)
    real(rk), parameter :: e = exp(1._rk)
end module math_constants_fundamental

$ cat src/math_constants/derived.f90
module math_constants_derived
    use math_constants_fundamental, only: pi
    use type_kinds, only: rk
    real(rk), parameter :: two_pi = 2 * pi
    real(rk), parameter :: half_pi = pi / 2
end module math_constants_derived

$ cat app/main.f90
program main
    use math_constants, only: e, pi, half_pi, two_pi
    print *, 'math_constants library demo'
    print *, 'pi = ', pi
    print *, '2*pi = ', two_pi
    print *, 'pi/2 = ', half_pi
    print *, 'e = ', e
end program main
```

Our top-level `math_constants` module now doesn’t define the constants, but
imports them from the two modules in the subdirectory. Constants `e` and `pi`
we define in the `math_constants_fundamental` module, and `two_pi` and `half_pi`
in the `math_constants_derived` module. From the main program, we access all
the constants from the top-level module `math_constants`.

Let’s build and run this package:

```
$ fpm run
# gfortran (for build/debug/library/type_kinds.o build/debug/library/type_kinds.mod)
# gfortran (for build/debug/library/math_constants_fundamental.o build/debug/library/math_constants_fundamental.mod)
# gfortran (for build/debug/library/math_constants_derived.o build/debug/library/math_constants_derived.mod)
# gfortran (for build/debug/library/math_constants.o build/debug/library/math_constants.mod)
# ar (for build/debug/library/math_constants.a)
ar: creating build/debug/library/math_constants.a
# gfortran (for build/debug/app/main.o)
# gfortran (for build/debug/app/math_constants)
 math_constants library demo
 pi =    3.1415926535897931
 2*pi =    6.2831853071795862
 pi/2 =    1.5707963267948966
 e =    2.7182818284590451
```

Again, *fpm* built and run the package as expected.

Recall from an earlier example that *fpm* required the modules in the top-level
`src` directory to be named the same as their source file. This is why
`src/math_constants.f90` defines `module math_constants`.

For modules defined in subdirectories, there’s an additional requirement: module
name must contain the path components of the directory that its source file is
in.  In our case, `src/math_constants/fundamental.f90` defines the
`math_constants_fundamental` module.  Likewise, `src/math_constants/derived.f90`
defines the `math_constants_derived` module.

This rule applies generally to any number of nested directories and modules.
For example, `src/a/b/c/d.f90` must define a module called `a_b_c_d`.

Takeaways from this example are that:

* You can place your module source files in any levels of subdirectories inside `src`.
* The module name must include the path components and the source file name--for example,
`src/a/b/c/d.f90` must define a module called `a_b_c_d`.

### Be more explicit

So far we’ve let *fpm* use its defaults to determine the layout of our package.
It determined where our library sources would live, what the name of the
executable will be, and some other things. But we can be more explicit about it,
and make some changes to those things.

Let’s look at what the `fpm.toml` file from our last example would look like if
we specified everything.

```toml
name = "math_constants"
version = "0.1.0"
license = "MIT"
author = "Jane Programmer"
maintainer = "jane@example.com"
copyright = "2020 Jane Programmer"

[library]
source-dir="src"

[[ executable ]]
name="math_constants"
source-dir="app"
main="main.f90"
```

You can see that by making these explicit in the `fpm.toml` we are able to
change many of the settings that *fpm* used by default. We can change the
folders where our sources are stored, we can change the name of our executable,
and we can change the name of the file our program is defined in.

### Add some tests

*fpm* also provides support for unit testing. By default, *fpm* looks for a
program in `test/main.f90` which it will compile and execute with the command
`fpm test`. The tests are treated pretty much exactly like the executables.
Let’s define one explicitly in our `fpm.toml` file. We’ll make sure that our
definition of `pi` satisfies the property `sin(pi) == 0.0`. Here’s the
`fpm.toml` file:

```toml
name = "math_constants"
version = "0.1.0"
license = "MIT"
author = "Jane Programmer"
maintainer = "jane@example.com"
copyright = "2020 Jane Programmer"

[library]
source-dir="src"

[[ executable ]]
name="math_constants"
source-dir="app"
main="main.f90"

[[ test ]]
name="runTests"
source-dir="test"
main="main.f90"
```

where the contents of the `main.f90` file are

```fortran
program main
    use math_constants, only: pi
    print *, "sin(pi) = ", sin(pi)
end program main
```

With this setup, we can run our tests.

```
$ fpm test
# gfortran (for build/debug/library/type_kinds.o build/debug/library/type_kinds.mod)
# gfortran (for build/debug/library/math_constants_fundamental.o build/debug/library/math_constants_fundamental.mod)
# gfortran (for build/debug/library/math_constants_derived.o build/debug/library/math_constants_derived.mod)
# gfortran (for build/debug/library/math_constants.o build/debug/library/math_constants.mod)
# ar (for build/debug/library/math_constants.a)
ar: creating build/debug/library/math_constants.a
# gfortran (for build/debug/app/main.o)
# gfortran (for build/debug/app/math_constants)
# gfortran (for build/debug/test/main.o)
# gfortran (for build/debug/test/runTests)
 sin(pi) =    1.2246467991473532E-016
```

### Adding dependencies

Inevitably, you’ll want to be able to include other libraries in your project.
fpm makes this incredibly simple, by taking care of fetching and compiling your
dependencies for you. You just tell it what your dependencies are, and where to
find them. Let’s add a dependency to our library. Now our `fpm.toml` file looks
like this:

```toml
name = "math_constants"
version = "0.1.0"
license = "MIT"
author = "Jane Programmer"
maintainer = "jane@example.com"
copyright = "2020 Jane Programmer"

[library]
source-dir="src"

[dependencies]
helloff = { git = "https://gitlab.com/everythingfunctional/helloff.git" }

[[ executable ]]
name="math_constants"
source-dir="app"
main="main.f90"

[[ test ]]
name="runTests"
source-dir="test"
main="main.f90"
```

Now you can use any modules from this library anywhere in your code. Just like
this:

```fortran
program main
    use helloff, only: create_greeting
    use math_constants, only: e, pi, half_pi, two_pi
    print *, 'math_constants library demo'
    print *, 'pi = ', pi
    print *, '2*pi = ', two_pi
    print *, 'pi/2 = ', half_pi
    print *, 'e = ', e
    print *, create_greeting("fpm")
end program main
```

And now, `fpm run` will output the following:

```
 math_constants library demo
 pi =    3.1415926535897931
 2*pi =    6.2831853071795862
 pi/2 =    1.5707963267948966
 e =    2.7182818284590451
 Hello, fpm!
```

Additionally, any users of your library will now automatically depend on your
dependencies too. So if you don’t need that dependency for the library, like in
the above example, then you can specify it for the specific executable like
below. Then fpm will still fetch and compile it when building your executable,
but users of your library won’t have to.

```toml
name = "math_constants"
version = "0.1.0"
license = "MIT"
author = "Jane Programmer"
maintainer = "jane@example.com"
copyright = "2020 Jane Programmer"

[library]
source-dir="src"

[[ executable ]]
name="math_constants"
source-dir="app"
main="main.f90"
[executable.dependencies]
helloff = { git = "https://gitlab.com/everythingfunctional/helloff.git" }

[[ test ]]
name="runTests"
source-dir="test"
main="main.f90"
```

You can also specify dependencies for your tests in a similar way, with
`[test.dependencies]` instead of `[executable.dependencies]`. There’s also
another option for test dependencies. The below example makes the dependencies
available for all the tests, but again your users won’t depend on these.

```toml
name = "math_constants"
version = "0.1.0"
license = "MIT"
author = "Jane Programmer"
maintainer = "jane@example.com"
copyright = "2020 Jane Programmer"

[library]
source-dir="src"

[dev-dependencies]
helloff = { git = "https://gitlab.com/everythingfunctional/helloff.git" }

[[ executable ]]
name="math_constants"
source-dir="app"
main="main.f90"

[[ test ]]
name="runTests"
source-dir="test"
main="main.f90"
```

You can also be specific about which version of a dependency you’d like. You can
specify a branch to use like
`helloff = { git = "https://gitlab.com/everythingfunctional/helloff.git", branch = "master" }`,
or a tag like
`helloff = { git = "https://gitlab.com/everythingfunctional/helloff.git", tag = "v1.2.3" }`,
or even a specific commit like
`helloff = { git = "https://gitlab.com/everythingfunctional/helloff.git", rev = "a1b2c3" }`.
You can even specify the path to another folder, if for example you’ve got
another fpm package in the same repository. Like this:
`helloff = { path = "helloff" }`. Note that you should *not* specify paths
outside of your repository, or things won’t work for your users.

### Custom build scripts

If there is something special about your library that makes fpm unable to build
it, you can provide your own build script. fpm will then simply call your build
script to build the library.

To specify a build script to be used, put it in the library section of your
`fpm.toml` file, like:

```toml
[library]
source-dir="src"
build-script="my_build_script"
```

*fpm* will set the following environment variables to specify some parameters to
the build script:

* `FC` – The Fortran compiler to be used.
* `FFLAGS` – The flags that should be passed to the Fortran compiler.
* `BUILD_DIR` – Where the compiled files should be placed.
* `INCLUDE_DIRS` – The folders where any dependencies can be found, space separated.
It is then the responsibility of the build script to generate the appropriate
include flags.

Additionally, script will be called with the name of the archive (`*.a` file)
that should be produced as the command line argument.

> Note: If the name of the build script is `Makefile` or ends with `.mk`, then
> the make program will be used to run it. Not the the archive file is explicitly
> specified as the target to be built

> Note: All file and directory names are specified with their full canonical
> path.