blob: 56faa88f59e50e9cc031f064dbc9f71adfd0d379 [file] [log] [blame]
{namespace buck.build_target}
/***/
{template .soyweb}
{call buck.page}
{param title: 'Build Target' /}
{param prettify: true /}
{param description}
A string that is used to identify a build rule in a project.
{/param}
{param content}
A <strong>build target</strong> is a string that is used to
identify a build rule in your project.
<p>
Here is an example of a fully-qualified build target:
<pre>&#x2F/java/com/facebook/share:ui</pre>
A fully-qualified build target has three components:
<ol>
<li>The <code>&#x2F/</code> prefix indicates that this path is
relative to the root of your project.
<li>The <code>java/com/facebook/share</code> component between
the <code>&#x2F/</code> prefix and the colon (<code>:</code>) indicates
that the build file can be found in the{sp}
<code>java/com/facebook/share</code> directory.
<li>The <code>ui</code> after the colon (<code>:</code>) indicates the name
of the build rule within the build file in which it is defines.
Build rule names must be unique within a build file.
</ol>
A relative build target can be used to reference another build target within
the same <a href="build_file.html">build file</a>. A relative build target
starts with a colon (<code>:</code>) and is followed by only the third
component (or "short name") of the fully-qualified build target. For example,
within <code>java/com/facebook/share/BUCK</code>, <code>:ui</code> can be
used to reference <code>&#x2F/java/com/facebook/share:ui</code>:
{literal}<pre class="prettyprint lang-py">
# This is in java/com/facebook/share/BUCK.
java_binary(
name = 'ui_jar',
deps = [
# This would be the same as using:
# <code>'&#x2F;/java/com/facebook/share:ui'</code>
':ui',
],
)
</pre>{/literal}
Build targets are frequently used as arguments to build rules and to
the command-line interface for Buck.
<h2>Command-line Protip</h2>
When specifying a build target on the command-line, it can be tedious to type:
<pre>buck build &#x2F;/java/com/facebook/share:share</pre>
Fortunately, Buck is loose with its parsing of build targets on the command-line (but is always
strict when parsing them in build files). Specifically, the leading <code>//</code> is optional on
the command line, so the above could be:
<pre>buck build java/com/facebook/share:share</pre>
Also, if there is a forward slash before the colon, it is ignored, so this could also be written as:
<pre>buck build java/com/facebook/share/:share</pre>
This looks odd until you realize that the red text can be produced by tab-completing the path to the
directory, which dramatically reduces how much you need to type:
<pre>buck build <span class="com">java/com/facebook/share/</span>:share</pre>
Finally, if the final path element matches the value specified after the colon, it can be omitted
from the command line:
<pre>
<span class="com"># This is treated as &#x2F;/java/com/facebook/share:share.</span><br>
buck build java/com/facebook/share/
</pre>
Note that this is even easier to tab-complete! For this reason, the name of the build rule for the
primary deliverable in a build file is often named the same thing as the parent directory so it
can be built from the command-line with less typing.
{/param}
{/call}
{/template}