Hello,

I have all my D packages in the c:\D\libs\ directory.
I added this path to the PropertyPages/Compiler/Additional Import Paths field.

In the project source file I imported a module from my package using "import het.utils;"
Also used a function from it.

The syntax highlighter worked good, and the compiler was able to build main.obj file.

But I can't find the het.utils.obj file nowhere. Also the linker is unable to link the things in it.

My question is that how can I add an external package the right way to my project in Visual D?

I'm planning to use that package from other projects too, so I want to keep it in one place on my HDD.

Thank You in advance!

On Tuesday, 5 April 2022 at 09:26:54 UTC, realhet wrote:

Importing modules is only for showing the compiler which symbols are available for you to use. By default, it does not cause them to be compiled or linked. You should compile the existing package as a library, then add the library file to the linker settings in VisualD.

On Tuesday, 5 April 2022 at 09:57:29 UTC, Mike Parker wrote:

Thank You for the fast help!

Currently I have my own build system which works similar to Delphi(native target):

You specify the main module and the package paths. Press F9. And the it AUTOMATICALLY discovers all the referenced module hierarchy and compiles it then finally producing an .exe.
It also does compiled .obj file caching, so only the modules I changed and the modules that using the changed modules will be recompiled.
I can do this module caching for myself, since the LDC compiler has the -allinstances flag.
I switched from LDC 1.20 to 1.28 and I love the new internal linker. It will eliminate a lot of MS linker specific hacking from my build tool. I can just give LDC a bunch of sources, objects, and libs. And it does all the job intelligently.

I'm talking about this if you want to peek: https://github.com/realhet/hetlib/blob/master/het/HLDC/BuildSys.d
It basically launches an LDC2 instance for each of the changed modules and calls the linker when all finished. A debug compile takes 15 sec for a 40KLOC project(hierarchically including a few packages too) if I only change the main D file.

Is this fast and light weight approach exists at all in VisualStudio?
I heard something about "incremental build" in VisualStudio, but I think even if it is working with D, it can't step over the static library boundaries that you mentioned I have top use for the packages.