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Draconis++ provides extensive build-time configuration through Meson options. These options allow you to enable or disable features, customize platform support, and control what gets built.

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Core features

Control the main functionality of Draconis++:
Enable package count functionality to display installed packages from various package managers.
  • Type: feature
  • Default: enabled
  • Meson flag: -Dpackagecount=enabled|disabled|auto
When enabled on Linux/macOS, requires SQLiteCpp dependency for database operations.
Enable caching functionality to improve performance by storing frequently accessed data.
  • Type: feature
  • Default: enabled
  • Meson flag: -Dcaching=enabled|disabled|auto
Enable the plugin system for extending Draconis++ with custom functionality.
  • Type: feature
  • Default: enabled
  • Meson flag: -Dplugins=enabled|disabled|auto
When enabled on non-Windows systems, requires libdl for dynamic loading.
Use precompiled configuration instead of runtime TOML parsing.
  • Type: boolean
  • Default: false
  • Meson flag: -Dprecompiled_config=true|false
When enabled, you must provide a config.hpp file at the project root. See Precompiled configuration for details.
Set the default language for localization.
  • Type: string
  • Default: “en”
  • Meson flag: -Ddefault_language=en
  • Valid values: en, es, fr, de
This is compiled into the DRAC_DEFAULT_LANGUAGE preprocessor definition.

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Build configuration

Control what components get built:
OptionTypeDefaultDescription
build_clibooleantrueBuild the CLI application
build_examplesbooleantrueBuild example applications
build_testsbooleantrueBuild unit tests
# Build only the library, skip CLI and examples
meson setup build -Dbuild_cli=false -Dbuild_examples=false

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Plugin system

Compile plugins directly into the binary for maximum portability.
  • Type: array
  • Default: [] (empty)
  • Meson flag: -Dstatic_plugins=['plugin1','plugin2']
When used with precompiled_config=true, creates a fully portable binary with no external dependencies.
# Statically compile weather and custom plugins
meson setup build -Dprecompiled_config=true -Dstatic_plugins=['weather','custom']
When precompiled_config=true, plugins are only enabled if static_plugins is non-empty.

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Platform-specific options

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Linux/BSD display server support

Enable X11 window manager and display support using libxcb.
  • Type: feature
  • Default: enabled
  • Meson flag: -Dxcb=enabled|disabled|auto
  • Platform: Linux, BSD (not Windows/macOS/Serenity/Haiku)
Requires dependencies: xau, xcb, xcb-randr, xdmcp

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Linux package manager support

Use pugixml for parsing XBPS package metadata on Void Linux.
  • Type: feature
  • Default: auto
  • Meson flag: -Dpugixml=enabled|disabled|auto
  • Platform: Linux, BSD (not Windows/macOS/Serenity/Haiku)

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Development and Nix options

OptionTypeDefaultDescription
build_for_muslbooleanfalseBuild for musl libc (primarily for Nix)
use_linked_pci_idsbooleanfalseUse linked PCI IDs database (primarily for Nix)

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Preprocessor definitions

Meson options are converted to C++ preprocessor definitions: 
// Version and build info
DRAC_VERSION          // Project version (e.g., "0.1.0")
DRAC_BUILD_DATE       // Build date (YYYY-MM-DD)
DRAC_GIT_HASH         // Git commit hash (short form)
DRAC_DEFAULT_LANGUAGE // Default language (e.g., "en")

// Architecture detection
DRAC_ARCH_64BIT       // 1 if 64-bit, 0 if 32-bit
DRAC_ARCH_AARCH64     // 1 if ARM64
DRAC_ARCH_ARM         // 1 if ARM (32-bit)
DRAC_ARCH_X86         // 1 if x86 (32-bit)
DRAC_ARCH_X86_64      // 1 if x86-64

// Build type
DRAC_DEBUG            // 1 if debug build, 0 otherwise

// Feature flags
DRAC_ENABLE_CACHING       // caching option
DRAC_ENABLE_PACKAGECOUNT  // packagecount option
DRAC_ENABLE_PLUGINS       // plugins option
DRAC_PRECOMPILED_CONFIG   // precompiled_config option
DRAC_USE_PUGIXML          // pugixml option
DRAC_USE_LINKED_PCI_IDS   // use_linked_pci_ids option
DRAC_USE_WAYLAND          // wayland option
DRAC_USE_XCB              // xcb option

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Common configurations

# Full-featured debug build with all options
meson setup build \
  -Dbuildtype=debug \
  -Dpackagecount=enabled \
  -Dcaching=enabled \
  -Dplugins=enabled \
  -Dbuild_tests=true

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Viewing build configuration

After running meson setup, Meson displays a configuration summary: 
Definitions
  64-bit                  : YES
  X86_64                  : YES
  Debug                   : NO

Features
  Package counting        : YES
  Caching                 : YES
  Plugin system           : YES
  Precompiled config      : NO
  Default language        : en

Platform Support (Linux only)
  XCB (X11)              : YES
  Wayland                : YES
  pugixml                : YES
  Use Linked pci.ids     : NO

Build Options
  Build examples         : YES
  Build tests            : YES

System
  C++ Compiler           : clang
  Host system            : linux
  Build type             : debugoptimized
  Install prefix         : /usr/local

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Reconfiguring builds

Change options without starting from scratch: 
# Reconfigure existing build directory
meson configure build -Dpackagecount=disabled -Dplugins=enabled

# View all current options
meson configure build
Use meson configure build without arguments to see all available options and their current values.

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