haxelib libpath to return root path of a library

[mastef]

Currently it seems that haxelib path returns a lot of unformatted extra-information, instead of just the path. It would be great if the extra information was hidden behind a flag, or a flag could be provided that would only return the path of the library - as the command suggests.

haxelib path returns the paths of libraries' source files + compiler flags. It would be great to have a command where just the root path of a library would be returned.

This way haxelib libpath can be used to programmatically work with library locations - e.g. to detect current git commit of libraries in use at build time, etc.

Desired output :

$ haxelib libpath openfl-samples
/usr/local/lib/haxe/lib/openfl-samples/4,0,0/

$ haxelib libpath openfl
/somewhere/unexpected/openfl/

$ haxelib libpath tink_macro
/usr/local/lib/haxe/lib/tink_macro/0,15,4/

[back2dos]

Hmm, maybe the command documentation should be improved, but that's really not what it's for. It's primarily intended for the Haxe compiler to get all the necessary arguments for a library (classpath, defines, macros etc.) and its dependencies.

[Gama11]

It's frequently used the way @mastef describes though... There's code to parse the path out of haxelib path output in flixel as well as flixel-tools, for instance.

[mastef]

Same in lime - there's a whole helper to try and scan the returned lines for haxelib.json files, to see if they're parse-able, then to compare if the library name in them matches the one it's looking for etc. It seems overkill. I've submitted a PR now with a pathonly option.

As for the original intent - if the intent was to pass on args to the haxe compiler, then there should've been a haxelib buildinfo <library> or haxelib deps <library> option instead - but now it's too late for that as it would break backwards compatibility.

[elsassph]

haxelib path is doing a specific job, returning classpaths and extra compiler arguments - you want another feature.

Do you need the folder of the haxelib? Or the classpath of the haxelib? (it can be a subfolder)

[mastef]

Yep @elsassph @back2dos I've adjusted the issue and the PR.