Command line tool

Confer comes with CF, a handy tool to manage your project and run your tests. It can create projects, build and run tests, and add/rename/remove independant objects.

You can see this tool as a fast way to setup and use Confer.

Creating a project

To create a Confer project, use the cf create subcommand. Here is the complete documentation of this subcommand:

usage: cf create [-h] [-g] [--sdl] [-l] name

positional arguments:
  name        the name of the new project

optional arguments:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit
  -g, --git   init a git repository
  --sdl       add SDL flags
  -l, --lib   create a library project (no executable, etc.)

For example, to create an executable project named "myproject", enter cf create myproject in a terminal. This will:

• Create a myproject directory *
• Create src, test, obj and bin directories inside it *
• Create pre-filled C files at src/myproject.c and test/test.c *
• Create a pre-filled Makefile *
• If the --git argument is passed, initialize a Git repository *

* if it does not exist already

Objects

A Confer project is made of objects. An object has a name, let's say a, and is a pair of files : a C language file (e.g. a.c) and a C header file (e.g. a.h).

At compile time, they are compiled together using make into an object file (i.e. a.o). All the independant objects of our project can then be compiled into our main my-project executable file (see running the project).

CF provides commands to add, remove, and rename objects easily, but you can also edit them directly by editing the project's Makefile.

Adding objects

To add an object to your project, let's say a, enter cf add a.

Here is the run subcommand's complete documentation:

usage: cf add [-h] name

positional arguments:
  name        the name of the new object (no extension)

optional arguments:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit

Renaming objects

To rename an object a into b, enter cf mv a b. Both a and b must be the paths from the project's root directory.

This will rename the files a.c and a.h to b.c and b.h in addition to changing the object's name in the Makefile.

Removing objects

To remove an object to your project, let's say a, enter cf rm a.

This will not remove the object's file (here, a.c and a.h). To do this, add the --files to your command.

Listing objects

To list the project's objects, use the cf list command. The object's names will be separated with a space and a comma.

For example, cf list with Confer's source prints assertions, build, children, print (and a newline).

Running the project

Entering cf run in a terminal will compile your main C file (e.g. src/myproject.c) into an executable in the bin directory (e.g. bin/myproject) and run it.

Here is the run subcommand's complete documentation:

usage: cf run [-h] [-j]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help          show this help message and exit
  -j, --just-compile  just compile, not run

Testing the project

To test the project, simply enter cf test in a terminal. This will compile test/test.c (and the files it includes) into an executable binary at bin/test, run this file, and delete it.

Here is the test subcommand's complete documentation:

usage: cf test [-h] [-k]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit
  -k, --keep  keep bin/test after test run