Getting started

Getting started may be the most challenging part of every new library. This guide is describing how to start with the library quickly and effectively

Download library

Library is primarily hosted on Github.

You can get it by:

  • Downloading latest release from releases area on Github

  • Cloning main branch for latest stable version

  • Cloning develop branch for latest development

Download from releases

All releases are available on Github releases area.

Clone from Github

First-time clone

This is used when you do not have yet local copy on your machine.

  • Make sure git is installed.

  • Open console and navigate to path in the system to clone repository to. Use command cd your_path

  • Clone repository with one of available options below

    • Run git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/MaJerle/lwutil command to clone entire repository, including submodules

    • Run git clone --recurse-submodules --branch develop https://github.com/MaJerle/lwutil to clone development branch, including submodules

    • Run git clone --recurse-submodules --branch main https://github.com/MaJerle/lwutil to clone latest stable branch, including submodules

  • Navigate to examples directory and run favourite example

Update cloned to latest version

  • Open console and navigate to path in the system where your repository is located. Use command cd your_path

  • Run git pull origin main command to get latest changes on main branch

  • Run git pull origin develop command to get latest changes on develop branch

  • Run git submodule update --init --remote to update submodules to latest version

Note

This is preferred option to use when you want to evaluate library and run prepared examples. Repository consists of multiple submodules which can be automatically downloaded when cloning and pulling changes from root repository.

Add library to project

At this point it is assumed that you have successfully download library, either with git clone command or with manual download from the library releases page. Next step is to add the library to the project, by means of source files to compiler inputs and header files in search path.

CMake is the main supported build system. Package comes with the CMakeLists.txt and library.cmake files, both located in the lwutil directory:

  • library.cmake: It is a fully configured set of variables and with library definition. User can include this file to the project file with include(path/to/library.cmake) and then manually use the variables provided by the file, such as list of source files, include paths or necessary compiler definitions. It is up to the user to properly use the this file on its own.

  • CMakeLists.txt: It is a wrapper-only file and includes library.cmake file. It is used for when user wants to include the library to the main project by simply calling CMake add_subdirectory command, followed by target_link_libraries to link external library to the final project.

Tip

Open library.cmake and analyze the provided information. Among variables, you can also find list of all possible exposed libraries for the user.

If you do not use the CMake, you can do the following:

  • Copy lwutil folder to your project, it contains library files

  • Add lwutil/src/include folder to include path of your toolchain. This is where C/C++ compiler can find the files during compilation process. Usually using -I flag

  • Add source files from lwutil/src/ folder to toolchain build. These files are built by C/C++ compiler

  • Build the project