Understanding what pbuild.exe is doing

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Anna Hristova

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I am using always the latest Xbase++ build
Aug 9, 2022
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The simplest description of what the ProjectBuilder pbuild.exe does is to convert source files into target files (exe/dll/lib). For this pbuild.exe starts the compilers xpp.exe, arc.exe and other command line tools. Target files are created from intermediate files such as obj-files. Intermediate files are only re-created if their source files are newer, i.e. have been modified. That is, prg source code is only compiled by the compiler xpp.exe to an object file (.obj), if at least the prg source or a header file (.ch) included has changed. Likewise, an application (.exe) or library (.dll) is linked only if one of its object files or resource files (.res) have changed.

What is done in detail by pbuild.exe can be seen in the verbose output. To do this, start pbuild.exe from the command line with the parameter /v:
Xbase++:
pbuild /v project.xpj
The verbose log also contains every single command line with which the compiler, linker and other tools are started. If the tool supports this, pbuild.exe has prepared a temporary file before the call, which is passed to the tool. This temporary file is then removed by pbuild.exe. The removal of the temporary file can be prevented by the command line argument /k. This is always useful if the command is to be repeated from the command line for diagnostic purposes:
Code:
pbuild.exe /k project.xpj

See also:
Command line options for PBUILD.EXE
Xpp.exe compiler switches
Alink.exe linker options
Options for ARC.EXE
 
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