Software Portability with imake

By Paul DuBois
First Edition January 1900
Pages: 390
ISBN 10: 1-56592-055-4 | ISBN 13: 9781565920552

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Book description

Imake is a utility that works with make to enable code to be compiled and installed on different UNIX machines. This Nutshell Handbook(R)--the only book available on imake--is ideal for X and UNIX programmers who want their software to be portable. The book covers a general explanation of imake, how to write and debug an Imakefile, and how to write configuration files. Several sample sets of configuration files are described and are available free over the Net.
Full Description

Imake is a utility that works with make to enable code to be compiled and installed on different UNIX machines. Imake makes possible the wide portability of the X Window System code and is widely considered an X tool, but it's also useful for any software project that needs to be ported to many UNIX systems. This Nutshell Handbook(R)--the only book available on imake--is ideal for X and UNIX programmers who want their software to be portable. The book is divided into two sections. The first section is a general explanation of imake, X configuration files, and how to write and debug an Imakefile. The second section describes how to write configuration files and presents a configuration file architecture that allows development of coexisting sets of configuration files. Several sample sets of configuration files are described and are available free over the Net.

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Media reviews "UNIX is *the* open system. Software is portable between UNIX systems (and, indeed, to other platforms) generally because of distribution via C source code. Development and tuning of C language programs is assisted by the "make" utility which automates the building, or making, of the actual executable programs from the incremental versions of the source. Makefiles specify the compiler, files, directories, installation, and so forth. "Makefiles are often used in the distribution of software. The level of detail, though, which renders them particularly helpful in the development process, is very machine-specific and, therefore, is unsuitable for distribution. Enter imake. "imake is not a replacement for make. Along with a series of templates, configuration files, and rules, imake produces Makefiles specific to the target machine. Thus, it can play a pivotal role in software portability and distribution which currently takes time and trouble across platforms. "imake is currently an inelegant, forceful, demanding system, the only saving grace being that it works. DuBois does not negate the difficulties of working with imake. He does, however, work slowly, carefully and steadily to give the reader a full understanding of the imake system and the structure of the files necessary to it. "imake is often seen as merely an adjunct to the X system (an error made more understandable, as the originator of imake later worked on X11). DuBois uses X examples, but points out the more general uses of imake as well. Portability is a major strength of UNIX--but a major problem for non-programmers. imake could play a part in changing that situation. Hey, it worked for X." Copyright 1995, Robert M. Slade, author Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses

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