Subproject default_options are ignored

[shdnx]

Describe the bug

The 'default_options' argument to 'subproject()' seems to be ignored.

To Reproduce

Main meson.build:

...
libfoo = subproject('libfoo', default_options: [ 'BUILD_TESTS=false' ])
...

Libfoo meson.build:

...
if get_option('BUILD_TESTS')
    message('Building unit tests')
    subdir('tests')
endif
...

Libfoo meson_options.txt:

option('BUILD_TESTS', type: 'boolean', value: true)

Then:

rm -rf ./build
meson ./build

Tests are built, the default_options setting is ignored. meson configure shows 'libfoo:BUILD_TESTS = true'.

To achieve desired behaviour, the option has to be specified from the command line:

rm -rf ./build
meson ./build -D libfoo:BUILD_TESTS=false

Expected behavior

Don't ignore subproject() default_options.

system parameters

• Plain native build
• Oracle Linux 7.7
• Python version: 3.7.4
• Meson version: 0.53.1
• Ninja version: 1.9.0

[Akaricchi]

This seems to be a long-standing issue. As a workaround you can put all default options for your subprojects in the superproject's project() statement, like so:

project('taisei', 'c',
    license : 'MIT',
    version : 'v1.4-dev',
    meson_version : '>=0.48.0',
    default_options : [
        # Should really be c11, but gnu11 is a safer default because everything is terrible.
        'c_std=gnu11',

        'default_library=static',

        'libzip:enable_crypto=false',
        'libzip:enable_bzip2=false',

        'sdl2:use_haptic=disabled',
        'sdl2:use_power=disabled',
        'sdl2:use_render=disabled',
        'sdl2:use_sensor=disabled',

        # You may want to change these for a debug build dir
        'buildtype=release',
        'strip=true',
        'b_lto=true',
        'b_ndebug=if-release',
    ]
)

[shdnx]

@Akaricchi Thank you very much for the workaround, that's not too bad!

[haata]

As a data point, this workaround hasn't been working for me with meson 0.55.0.
The toplevel project sets c_std=c99 and the subproject should be setting c_std=gnu99, but for some reason isn't set.

[Akaricchi]

I don't think it's possible to have a per-project c_std unless you override it in every build target, because it's a global option. It's a deliberate design choice (that I don't agree with). In my opinion c_std doesn't even make sense as a user-settable option at all.

[xclaesse]

It will be changed to per subprojects option, there is a wip branch there: #6729.

[phillipjohnston]

Is it still the case that default_options are ignored in subprojects?

[dcbaker]

@phillipjohnston Right now only a couple of options are allowed on a per-project basis: default_library, werror (and one more I can't remember off the top of my head). We keep adding more over time, but other ones are ignored, yes.

[phillipjohnston]

@dcbaker, thanks for that note. Here, I was specifically referring to default_options as passed to a subproject() call. Sorry for being vague!

libfoo = subproject('libfoo', default_options: [ 'BUILD_TESTS=false' ])

[dcbaker]

I think you should be able to pass user options via default_options, but @xclaesse probably knows better.

[BarabashkaD]

in addition any user defined common options between superproject and subproject doesn't passed
let say both projects have in meson_options.txt
option('product-type', type : 'string', value : 'l4',yield : true, description : 'Product type l4/l3')
and super projects setup as
meson setup -Dproduct-type=l3 .\build
in configure I get

....
  product-type          l3                                                                             Product type l4/l3
                                                                                                           
Subproject test-proj:                                                                                    
                                                                                                           
  Project options       Current Value        Possible Values                                               Description
  ---------------       -------------        ---------------                                               -----------
  product-type          l4                                                                              Product type l4/l3

[phillipjohnston]

Do you have yield: true set for that option in the subproject?

[BarabashkaD]

yes as in my example

[phillipjohnston]

Sorry... I missed that, I put it at the end in mine, so my brain went right past it :)

[BarabashkaD]

any idea ?

[ocrete]

Is it possible to add a warning/error for any options that are ignored ?