conan export-pkg

$ conan export-pkg -h
WARN: Downgrading cache from Conan 2.1.0 to 2.0.17
usage: conan export-pkg [-h] [-v [V]] [-f FORMAT] [-of OUTPUT_FOLDER]
                        [--build-require] [-tf TEST_FOLDER] [-sb]
                        [-r REMOTE | -nr] [--name NAME] [--version VERSION]
                        [--user USER] [--channel CHANNEL] [-l LOCKFILE]
                        [--lockfile-partial] [--lockfile-out LOCKFILE_OUT]
                        [--lockfile-packages] [--lockfile-clean]
                        [--lockfile-overrides LOCKFILE_OVERRIDES]
                        [-pr PROFILE] [-pr:b PROFILE_BUILD]
                        [-pr:h PROFILE_HOST] [-pr:a PROFILE_ALL] [-o OPTIONS]
                        [-o:b OPTIONS_BUILD] [-o:h OPTIONS_HOST]
                        [-o:a OPTIONS_ALL] [-s SETTINGS] [-s:b SETTINGS_BUILD]
                        [-s:h SETTINGS_HOST] [-s:a SETTINGS_ALL] [-c CONF]
                        [-c:b CONF_BUILD] [-c:h CONF_HOST] [-c:a CONF_ALL]
                        path

Create a package directly from pre-compiled binaries.

positional arguments:
  path                  Path to a folder containing a recipe (conanfile.py)

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -v [V]                Level of detail of the output. Valid options from less
                        verbose to more verbose: -vquiet, -verror, -vwarning,
                        -vnotice, -vstatus, -v or -vverbose, -vv or -vdebug,
                        -vvv or -vtrace
  -f FORMAT, --format FORMAT
                        Select the output format: json
  -of OUTPUT_FOLDER, --output-folder OUTPUT_FOLDER
                        The root output folder for generated and build files
  --build-require       Whether the provided reference is a build-require
  -tf TEST_FOLDER, --test-folder TEST_FOLDER
                        Alternative test folder name. By default it is
                        "test_package". Use "" to skip the test stage
  -sb, --skip-binaries  Skip installing dependencies binaries
  -r REMOTE, --remote REMOTE
                        Look in the specified remote or remotes server
  -nr, --no-remote      Do not use remote, resolve exclusively in the cache
  --name NAME           Provide a package name if not specified in conanfile
  --version VERSION     Provide a package version if not specified in
                        conanfile
  --user USER           Provide a user if not specified in conanfile
  --channel CHANNEL     Provide a channel if not specified in conanfile
  -l LOCKFILE, --lockfile LOCKFILE
                        Path to a lockfile. Use --lockfile="" to avoid
                        automatic use of existing 'conan.lock' file
  --lockfile-partial    Do not raise an error if some dependency is not found
                        in lockfile
  --lockfile-out LOCKFILE_OUT
                        Filename of the updated lockfile
  --lockfile-packages   Lock package-id and package-revision information
  --lockfile-clean      Remove unused entries from the lockfile
  --lockfile-overrides LOCKFILE_OVERRIDES
                        Overwrite lockfile overrides
  -pr PROFILE, --profile PROFILE
                        Apply the specified profile. By default, or if
                        specifying -pr:h (--profile:host), it applies to the
                        host context. Use -pr:b (--profile:build) to specify
                        the build context, or -pr:a (--profile:all) to specify
                        both contexts at once
  -pr:b PROFILE_BUILD, --profile:build PROFILE_BUILD
  -pr:h PROFILE_HOST, --profile:host PROFILE_HOST
  -pr:a PROFILE_ALL, --profile:all PROFILE_ALL
  -o OPTIONS, --options OPTIONS
                        Apply the specified options. By default, or if
                        specifying -o:h (--options:host), it applies to the
                        host context. Use -o:b (--options:build) to specify
                        the build context, or -o:a (--options:all) to specify
                        both contexts at once. Example: -o pkg:with_qt=true
  -o:b OPTIONS_BUILD, --options:build OPTIONS_BUILD
  -o:h OPTIONS_HOST, --options:host OPTIONS_HOST
  -o:a OPTIONS_ALL, --options:all OPTIONS_ALL
  -s SETTINGS, --settings SETTINGS
                        Apply the specified settings. By default, or if
                        specifying -s:h (--settings:host), it applies to the
                        host context. Use -s:b (--settings:build) to specify
                        the build context, or -s:a (--settings:all) to specify
                        both contexts at once. Example: -s compiler=gcc
  -s:b SETTINGS_BUILD, --settings:build SETTINGS_BUILD
  -s:h SETTINGS_HOST, --settings:host SETTINGS_HOST
  -s:a SETTINGS_ALL, --settings:all SETTINGS_ALL
  -c CONF, --conf CONF  Apply the specified conf. By default, or if specifying
                        -c:h (--conf:host), it applies to the host context.
                        Use -c:b (--conf:build) to specify the build context,
                        or -c:a (--conf:all) to specify both contexts at once.
                        Example: -c tools.cmake.cmaketoolchain:generator=Xcode
  -c:b CONF_BUILD, --conf:build CONF_BUILD
  -c:h CONF_HOST, --conf:host CONF_HOST
  -c:a CONF_ALL, --conf:all CONF_ALL

The conan export-pkg command creates a package binary directly from pre-compiled binaries in a user folder. This command can be useful in different cases:

  • When creating a package for some closed source or pre-compiled binaries provided by a vendor. In this case, it is not necessary that the conanfile.py recipe contains a build() method, and providing the package() and package_info() method are enough to package those pre-compiled binaries. In this case the build_policy = "never" could make sense to indicate it is not possible to conan install --build=this_pkg, as it doesn’t know how to build from sources when it is a dependency.

  • When testing some recipe locally in the local development flow, it can be used to quickly put the locally built binaries in the cache to make them available to other packages for testing, without needing to go through a full conan create that would be slower.

In general, it is expected that when conan export-pkg executes, the possible Conan dependencies that were necessary to build this package had already been installed via conan install, so it is not necessary to download dependencies at export-pkg time. But if for some reason this is not the case, the command defines --remote and --no-remote arguments, similar to other commands, as well as the --skip-binaries optimization that could save some time installing dependencies binaries if they are not strictly necessary for the current export-pkg. But this is the responsibility of the user, as it is possible that such binaries are actually necessary, for example, if a tool_requires = "cmake/x.y" is used and the package() method implements a cmake.install() call, this will definitely need the binaries for the dependencies installed in the current machine to execute.

See also