Compilation Database Generator (Rust)

A fast Rust implementation of Clang's JSON Compilation Database generator for GNU make-based build systems. This is a Rust rewrite of compiledb-go for even better performance and safety.

Project Status

• I consider this project to be feature-complete. I will sometimes release updates for dependency refreshes. Please open an issue or PR if you find a bug.

Features

• Fast compilation database generation
• No clean build required in most cases
• Cross-compilation friendly
• Supports both command string and arguments list formats
• Configurable file exclusion patterns
• Full path resolution for compiler executables
• Async I/O for improved performance with large build logs

Installation

From crates.io

cargo install compiledb

From source

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/compiledb-rs
cd compiledb-rs
cargo install --path .

Usage

Basic Usage

Generate compilation database from make output:

# Using the make wrapper
compiledb make

# Using make output directly
make -Bnwk | compiledb

Command-line Options

USAGE: compiledb [options] command [command options] [args]...

OPTIONS:
    -p, --parse <file>           Build log file to parse compilation commands
    -o, --output <file>          Output file [default: compile_commands.json]
    -d, --build-dir <path>       Path to be used as initial build dir
    -e, --exclude <pattern>      Regular expressions to exclude files
    -n, --no-build              Only generates compilation db file
    -v, --verbose               Print verbose messages
    -S, --no-strict            Do not check if source files exist
    -m, --macros <macro>        Add predefined compiler macros
    -c, --command-style        Use command string format instead of arguments list
        --full-path            Write full path to compiler executable
        --regex-compile <re>   Regular expressions to find compile commands
        --regex-file <re>      Regular expressions to find source files

COMMANDS:
    make    Run make and generate compilation database
    help    Print this message or help for a command

Examples

1. Generate database using make wrapper:

compiledb make

2. Parse from existing build log:

compiledb --parse build.log

3. Use command style output:

compiledb --command-style make

4. Use full compiler paths:

PATH=/opt/gcc/bin:$PATH compiledb --full-path make

5. Custom make target with flags:

compiledb make -f custom.mk -j8 target

Performance

This Rust implementation offers several performance improvements over the original Go version:

• Zero-copy parsing where possible
• Async I/O for file operations
• Efficient string handling
• Thread-safe by design

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

License

GNU GPLv3 - See LICENSE for details