Introduction

Cmake package retrieval. This can be used to download and install cmake packages. The advantages of using carbin are:

• Non-intrusive: There is no need to write special hooks in cmake to use carbin. One cmake file is written and can be used to install a package with carbin or standalone.

• Works out of the box: Since it uses the standard build and install of cmake, it already works with almost all cmake packages. There is no need to wait for packages to convert over to support carbin. Standard cmake packages can be already installed immediately.

• Decentralized: Packages can be installed from anywhere, from github, urls, or local files.

	carbin	conda	cmake	CPM	conan	bazel
Usage complexity	easy	middle	hard	middle	hard	hard
Installation	pip easy	binary easy	NA easy	pip easy	pip easy	binary hard
dependency mode	source/binary	binary	source	source	source/binary	source
dependency tree	support	support	support	support	support	support
download size	small	very large	small	small	middle	small
local source	support	/	support	support	/	support
compile times	1	1	more	more	1	more
download times	1	1	more	more	1	1
compatibility	good	poor	good	good	middle	poor
speed	good	poor	middle	middle	middle	poor
ide compatibility	good	middle	good	good	middle	poor
system compatibility	good	middle	/	/	middle	/
install to system	support	/	/	/	/	/
project level manage	support	support	support	support	support	support
project reusable	support	support	/	/	support	/

Installing carbin

carbin can be simply installed using pip (you can get pip from here):

pip install carbin

Or installed directly with python:

you can try it in a installed python and cmake environment on centos7:

docker run -it lijippy/ea_inf:c7_base_v1

try in docker

docker run -it lijippy/ea_inf:c7_base_v1

Quickstart

We can also install cmake packages directly from source files, for example zlib:

carbin install http://zlib.net/zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz

However, its much easier to install recipes so we don’t have to remember urls:

carbin install gottingen/carbin-recipes

Then we can install packages such as boost:

carbin install boost

Or curl:

carbin install curl

Usage

Installing a package

Any library that uses cmake to build can be built and installed as a package with carbin. A source for package can be from many areas (see Package source). We can simply install zlib with its URL:

carbin install http://zlib.net/zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz

We can install the package from github as well, using a shorten form. For example, installing John MacFarlane’s implementation of CommonMark in C called cmark:

carbin install jgm/cmark

Removing a package

A package can be removed by using the same source name that was used to install the package:

carbin install http://zlib.net/zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz
carbin remove http://zlib.net/zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz

If an alias was specified, then the name of the alias must be used instead:

carbin install zlib,http://zlib.net/zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz
carbin remove zlib

Testing packages

The test suite for a package can be ran before installing it, by using the --test flag. This will either build the check target or run ctest. So if we want to run the tests for zlib we can do this:

carbin install --test http://zlib.net/zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz

Setting the prefix

By default, the packages are installed in the local directory carbin. This can be changed by using the --prefix flag:

carbin install --prefix /usr/local zlib:http://zlib.net/zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz

The prefix can also be set with the CARBIN_PREFIX environment variable.

Integration with cmake

By default, carbin creates a cmake toolchain file with the settings necessary to build and find the libraries in the carbin prefix. The toolchain file is at $CARBIN_PREFIX/carbin.cmake. If another toolchain needs to be used, it can be specified with the init command:

carbin init --toolchain my_cmake_toolchain.cmake

Also, the C++ version can be set for the toolchain as well:

carbin init --std=c++14

Which is necessary to use modern C++ on many compilers.