Tools

Under the tools module there are several functions and utilities that can be used in Conan package recipes:

 from conans import ConanFile
 from conans import tools

 class ExampleConan(ConanFile):
     ...

tools.cpu_count()

def tools.cpu_count()

Returns the number of CPUs available, for parallel builds. If processor detection is not enabled, it will safely return 1. Can be overwritten with the environment variable CONAN_CPU_COUNT and configured in the conan.conf.

tools.vcvars_command()

def vcvars_command(settings, arch=None, compiler_version=None, force=False, vcvars_ver=None,
                   winsdk_version=None)

Returns, for given settings, the command that should be called to load the Visual Studio environment variables for a certain Visual Studio version. It wraps the functionality of vcvarsall but does not execute the command, as that typically have to be done in the same command as the compilation, so the variables are loaded for the same subprocess. It will be typically used in the build() method, like this:

from conans import tools

def build(self):
    if self.settings.build_os == "Windows":
        vcvars = tools.vcvars_command(self.settings)
        build_command = ...
        self.run("%s && configure %s" % (vcvars, " ".join(args)))
        self.run("%s && %s %s" % (vcvars, build_command, " ".join(build_args)))

The vcvars_command string will contain something like call "%vsXX0comntools%../../VC/vcvarsall.bat" for the corresponding Visual Studio version for the current settings.

This is typically not needed if using CMake, as the cmake generator will handle the correct Visual Studio version.

If arch or compiler_version is specified, it will ignore the settings and return the command to set the Visual Studio environment for these parameters.

Parameters:

settings (Required): Conanfile settings. Use self.settings.
arch (Optional, Defaulted to None): Will use settings.arch.
compiler_version (Optional, Defaulted to None): Will use settings.compiler.version.
force (Optional, Defaulted to False): Will ignore if the environment is already set for a different Visual Studio version.
winsdk_version (Optional, Defaulted to None): Specifies the version of the Windows SDK to use.
vcvars_ver (Optional, Defaulted to None): Specifies the Visual Studio compiler toolset to use.

Note

When cross-building from x64 to x86 the toolchain by default is x86. If you want to use amd64_x86 instead, set the environment variable PreferredToolArchitecture=x64.

tools.vcvars_dict()

vcvars_dict(settings, arch=None, compiler_version=None, force=False, filter_known_paths=False,
            vcvars_ver=None, winsdk_version=None, only_diff=True)

Returns a dictionary with the variables set by the tools.vcvars_command() that can be directly applied to tools.environment_append().

The values of the variables INCLUDE, LIB, LIBPATH and PATH will be returned as a list. When used with tools.environment_append(), the previous environment values that these variables may have will be appended automatically.

from conans import tools

def build(self):
    env_vars = tools.vcvars_dict(self.settings)
    with tools.environment_append(env_vars):
        # Do something

Parameters:

Same as tools.vcvars_command().
filter_known_paths (Optional, Defaulted to False): When True, the function will only keep the PATH entries that follows some known patterns, filtering all the non-Visual Studio ones. When False, it will keep the PATH will all the system entries.
only_diff (Optional, Defaulted to True): When True, the command will return only the variables set by vcvarsall and not the whole environment. If vcvars modifies an environment variable by appending values to the old value (separated by ;), only the new values will be returned, as a list.

tools.vcvars()

vcvars(settings, arch=None, compiler_version=None, force=False, filter_known_paths=False)

Note

This context manager tool has no effect if used in a platform different from Windows.

This is a context manager that allows to append to the environment all the variables set by the tools.vcvars_dict(). You can replace tools.vcvars_command() and use this context manager to get a cleaner way to activate the Visual Studio environment:

from conans import tools

def build(self):
    with tools.vcvars(self.settings):
        do_something()

tools.build_sln_command() [DEPRECATED]

Warning

This tool is deprecated and will be removed in Conan 2.0. Use MSBuild() build helper instead.

def build_sln_command(settings, sln_path, targets=None, upgrade_project=True, build_type=None,
                      arch=None, parallel=True, toolset=None, platforms=None, verbosity=None,
                      definitions=None)

Returns the command to call devenv and msbuild to build a Visual Studio project. It’s recommended to use it with tools.vcvars_command(), so that the Visual Studio tools will be in path.

from conans import tools

def build(self):
    build_command = build_sln_command(self.settings, "myfile.sln", targets=["SDL2_image"])
    command = "%s && %s" % (tools.vcvars_command(self.settings), build_command)
    self.run(command)

Parameters:

settings (Required): Conanfile settings. Use “self.settings”.
sln_path (Required): Visual Studio project file path.
targets (Optional, Defaulted to None): List of targets to build.
upgrade_project (Optional, Defaulted to True): If True, the project file will be upgraded if the project’s VS version is older than current. When CONAN_SKIP_VS_PROJECTS_UPGRADE environment variable is set to True/1, this parameter will be ignored and the project won’t be upgraded.
build_type (Optional, Defaulted to None): Override the build type defined in the settings (settings.build_type).
arch (Optional, Defaulted to None): Override the architecture defined in the settings (settings.arch).
parallel (Optional, Defaulted to True): Enables Visual Studio parallel build with /m:X argument, where X is defined by CONAN_CPU_COUNT environment variable or by the number of cores in the processor by default.
toolset (Optional, Defaulted to None): Specify a toolset. Will append a /p:PlatformToolset option.
platforms (Optional, Defaulted to None): Dictionary with the mapping of archs/platforms from Conan naming to another one. It is useful for Visual Studio solutions that have a different naming in architectures. Example: platforms={"x86":"Win32"} (Visual solution uses “Win32” instead of “x86”). This dictionary will update the following default one:
```
msvc_arch = {'x86': 'x86',
             'x86_64': 'x64',
             'armv7': 'ARM',
             'armv8': 'ARM64'}
```
verbosity (Optional, Defaulted to None): Specifies verbosity level (/verbosity: parameter).
definitions (Optional, Defaulted to None): Dictionary with additional compiler definitions to be applied during the build. Use value of None to set compiler definition with no value.

tools.msvc_build_command() [DEPRECATED]

Warning

This tool is deprecated and will be removed in Conan 2.0. Use MSBuild().get_command() instead.

def msvc_build_command(settings, sln_path, targets=None, upgrade_project=True, build_type=None,
                       arch=None, parallel=True, force_vcvars=False, toolset=None, platforms=None)

Returns a string with a joint command consisting in setting the environment variables via vcvars.bat with the above tools.vcvars_command() function, and building a Visual Studio project with the tools.build_sln_command() [DEPRECATED] function.

Parameters:

Same parameters as the above tools.build_sln_command() [DEPRECATED].
force_vcvars: Optional. Defaulted to False. Will set tools.vcvars_command(force=force_vcvars).

tools.unzip()

def unzip(filename, destination=".", keep_permissions=False, pattern=None)

Function mainly used in source(), but could be used in build() in special cases, as when retrieving pre-built binaries from the Internet.

This function accepts .tar.gz, .tar, .tzb2, .tar.bz2, .tgz, .txz, tar.xz, and .zip files, and decompresses them into the given destination folder (the current one by default).

It also accepts gzipped files, with extension .gz (not matching any of the above), and it will unzip them into a file with the same name but without the extension, or to a filename defined by the destination argument.

from conans import tools

tools.unzip("myfile.zip")
# or to extract in "myfolder" sub-folder
tools.unzip("myfile.zip", "myfolder")

You can keep the permissions of the files using the keep_permissions=True parameter.

from conans import tools

tools.unzip("myfile.zip", "myfolder", keep_permissions=True)

Use pattern=None if you want to filter specific files and paths to decompress from the archive.

from conans import tools

# Extract only files inside relative folder "small"
tools.unzip("bigfile.zip", pattern="small/*")
# Extract only txt files
tools.unzip("bigfile.zip", pattern="*.txt")

Parameters:

filename (Required): File to be unzipped.
destination (Optional, Defaulted to "."): Destination folder for unzipped files.
keep_permissions (Optional, Defaulted to False): Keep permissions of files. WARNING: Can be dangerous if the zip was not created in a NIX system, the bits could produce undefined permission schema. Use only this option if you are sure that the zip was created correctly.
pattern (Optional, Defaulted to None): Extract from the archive only paths matching the pattern. This should be a Unix shell-style wildcard. See fnmatch documentation for more details.

tools.untargz()

def untargz(filename, destination=".", pattern=None)

Extract .tar.gz files (or in the family). This is the function called by the previous unzip() for the matching extensions, so generally not needed to be called directly, call unzip() instead unless the file had a different extension.

from conans import tools

tools.untargz("myfile.tar.gz")
# or to extract in "myfolder" sub-folder
tools.untargz("myfile.tar.gz", "myfolder")
# or to extract only txt files
tools.untargz("myfile.tar.gz", pattern="*.txt")

Parameters:

filename (Required): File to be unzipped.
destination (Optional, Defaulted to "."): Destination folder for untargzed files.
pattern (Optional, Defaulted to None): Extract from the archive only paths matching the pattern. This should be a Unix shell-style wildcard. See fnmatch documentation for more details.

tools.get()

def get(url, filenname="", md5="", sha1="", sha256="", keep_permissions=False, pattern=None,
        verify=True, retry=2, retry_wait=5, overwrite=False, auth=None, headers=None)

Just a high level wrapper for download, unzip, and remove the temporary zip file once unzipped. You can pass hash checking parameters: md5, sha1, sha256. All the specified algorithms will be checked. If any of them doesn’t match, it will raise a ConanException.

from conans import tools

tools.get("http://url/file", md5='d2da0cd0756cd9da6560b9a56016a0cb')
# also, specify a destination folder
tools.get("http://url/file", destination="subfolder")

Parameters:

url (Required): URL to download.
filename (Optional, Defaulted to `""): Specify the name of the compressed file if it cannot be deduced from the URL.
md5 (Optional, Defaulted to ""): MD5 hash code to check the downloaded file.
sha1 (Optional, Defaulted to ""): SHA1 hash code to check the downloaded file.
sha256 (Optional, Defaulted to ""): SHA256 hash code to check the downloaded file.
keep_permissions (Optional, Defaulted to False): Propagates the parameter to tools.unzip().
pattern (Optional, Defaulted to None): Propagates the parameter to tools.unzip().
verify (Optional, Defaulted to True): When False, disables https certificate validation.
retry (Optional, Defaulted to 2): Number of retries in case of failure.
retry_wait (Optional, Defaulted to 5): Seconds to wait between download attempts.
overwrite: (Optional, Defaulted to False): When True Conan will overwrite the destination file if it exists. Otherwise it will raise.
auth (Optional, Defaulted to None): A tuple of user, password can be passed to use HTTPBasic authentication. This is passed directly to the requests Python library. Check here other uses of the auth parameter: https://2.python-requests.org/en/master/user/authentication/
headers (Optional, Defaulted to None): A dictionary with additional headers.

tools.get_env()

def get_env(env_key, default=None, environment=None)

Parses an environment and cast its value against the default type passed as an argument. Following Python conventions, returns default if env_key is not defined.

This is a usage example with an environment variable defined while executing Conan:

$ TEST_ENV="1" conan <command> ...

from conans import tools

tools.get_env("TEST_ENV") # returns "1", returns current value
tools.get_env("TEST_ENV_NOT_DEFINED") # returns None, TEST_ENV_NOT_DEFINED not declared
tools.get_env("TEST_ENV_NOT_DEFINED", []) # returns [], TEST_ENV_NOT_DEFINED not declared
tools.get_env("TEST_ENV", "2") # returns "1"
tools.get_env("TEST_ENV", False) # returns True (default value is boolean)
tools.get_env("TEST_ENV", 2) # returns 1
tools.get_env("TEST_ENV", 2.0) # returns 1.0
tools.get_env("TEST_ENV", []) # returns ["1"]

Parameters:

env_key (Required): environment variable name.
default (Optional, Defaulted to None): default value to return if not defined or cast value against.
environment (Optional, Defaulted to None): os.environ if None or environment dictionary to look for.

tools.download()

def download(url, filename, verify=True, out=None, retry=2, retry_wait=5, overwrite=False,
             auth=None, headers=None)

Retrieves a file from a given URL into a file with a given filename. It uses certificates from a list of known verifiers for https downloads, but this can be optionally disabled.

from conans import tools

tools.download("http://someurl/somefile.zip", "myfilename.zip")

# to disable verification:
tools.download("http://someurl/somefile.zip", "myfilename.zip", verify=False)

# to retry the download 2 times waiting 5 seconds between them
tools.download("http://someurl/somefile.zip", "myfilename.zip", retry=2, retry_wait=5)

# Use https basic authentication
tools.download("http://someurl/somefile.zip", "myfilename.zip", auth=("user", "password"))

# Pass some header
tools.download("http://someurl/somefile.zip", "myfilename.zip", headers={"Myheader": "My value"})

Parameters:

url (Required): URL to download
filename (Required): Name of the file to be created in the local storage
verify (Optional, Defaulted to True): When False, disables https certificate validation.
out: (Optional, Defaulted to None): An object with a write() method can be passed to get the output. stdout will use if not specified.
retry (Optional, Defaulted to 2): Number of retries in case of failure.
retry_wait (Optional, Defaulted to 5): Seconds to wait between download attempts.
overwrite: (Optional, Defaulted to False): When True, Conan will overwrite the destination file if exists. Otherwise it will raise an exception.
auth (Optional, Defaulted to None): A tuple of user and password to use HTTPBasic authentication. This is used directly in the requests Python library. Check other uses here: https://2.python-requests.org/en/master/user/authentication/
headers (Optional, Defaulted to None): A dictionary with additional headers.

tools.ftp_download()

def ftp_download(ip, filename, login="", password="")

Retrieves a file from an FTP server. This doesn’t support SSL, but you might implement it yourself using the standard Python FTP library.

from conans import tools

def source(self):
    tools.ftp_download('ftp.debian.org', "debian/README")
    self.output.info(load("README"))

Parameters:

ip (Required): The IP or address of the ftp server.
filename (Required): The filename, including the path/folder where it is located.
login (Optional, Defaulted to ""): Login credentials for the ftp server.
password (Optional, Defaulted to ""): Password credentials for the ftp server.

tools.replace_in_file()

def replace_in_file(file_path, search, replace, strict=True)

This function is useful for a simple “patch” or modification of source files. A typical use would be to augment some library existing CMakeLists.txt in the source() method of a conanfile.py, so it uses Conan dependencies without forking or modifying the original project:

from conans import tools

def source(self):
    # get the sources from somewhere
    tools.replace_in_file("hello/CMakeLists.txt", "PROJECT(MyHello)",
        '''PROJECT(MyHello)
           include(${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/conanbuildinfo.cmake)
           conan_basic_setup()''')

Parameters:

file_path (Required): File path of the file to perform the replace in.
search (Required): String you want to be replaced.
replace (Required): String to replace the searched string.
strict (Optional, Defaulted to True): If True, it raises an error if the searched string is not found, so nothing is actually replaced.

tools.replace_path_in_file()

def replace_path_in_file(file_path, search, replace, strict=True, windows_paths=None)

Replace a path in a file with another string. In Windows, it will match the path even if the casing and the path separator doesn’t match.

from conans import tools

def build(self):
    tools.replace_path_in_file("hello/somefile.cmake", "c:\Some/PATH/to\File.txt","PATTERN/file.txt")

Parameters:

file_path (Required): File path of the file to perform the replace in.
search (Required): String with the path you want to be replaced.
replace (Required): String to replace the searched path.
strict (Optional, Defaulted to True): If True, it raises an error if the search string is not found and nothing is actually replaced.
windows_paths (Optional, Defaulted to None): Controls whether the casing of the path and the different directory separators are taken into account:
- None: Only when Windows operating system is detected.
- False: Deactivated, it will match exact patterns (like tools.replace_in_file()).
- True: Always activated, irrespective of the detected operating system.

tools.run_environment()

def run_environment(conanfile)

Context manager that sets temporary environment variables set by RunEnvironment.

tools.check_with_algorithm_sum()

def check_with_algorithm_sum(algorithm_name, file_path, signature)

Useful to check that some downloaded file or resource has a predefined hash, so integrity and security are guaranteed. Something that could be typically done in source() method after retrieving some file from the internet.

Parameters:

algorithm_name (Required): Name of the algorithm to be checked.
file_path (Required): File path of the file to be checked.
signature (Required): Hash code that the file should have.

There are specific functions for common algorithms:

def check_sha1(file_path, signature)
def check_md5(file_path, signature)
def check_sha256(file_path, signature)

For example:

from conans import tools

tools.check_sha1("myfile.zip", "eb599ec83d383f0f25691c184f656d40384f9435")

Other algorithms are also possible, as long as are recognized by python hashlib implementation, via hashlib.new(algorithm_name). The previous is equivalent to:

from conans import tools

tools.check_with_algorithm_sum("sha1", "myfile.zip",
                                "eb599ec83d383f0f25691c184f656d40384f9435")

tools.patch()

def patch(base_path=None, patch_file=None, patch_string=None, strip=0, output=None)

Applies a patch from a file or from a string into the given path. The patch should be in diff (unified diff) format. To be used mainly in the source() method.

from conans import tools

tools.patch(patch_file="file.patch")
# from a string:
patch_content = " real patch content ..."
tools.patch(patch_string=patch_content)
# to apply in subfolder
tools.patch(base_path=mysubfolder, patch_string=patch_content)

If the patch to be applied uses alternate paths that have to be stripped like this example:

--- old_path/text.txt\t2016-01-25 17:57:11.452848309 +0100
+++ new_path/text_new.txt\t2016-01-25 17:57:28.839869950 +0100
@@ -1 +1 @@
- old content
+ new content

Then, the number of folders to be stripped from the path can be specified:

from conans import tools

tools.patch(patch_file="file.patch", strip=1)

Parameters:

base_path (Optional, Defaulted to None): Base path where the patch should be applied.
patch_file (Optional, Defaulted to None): Patch file that should be applied.
patch_string (Optional, Defaulted to None): Patch string that should be applied.
strip (Optional, Defaulted to 0): Number of folders to be stripped from the path.
output (Optional, Defaulted to None): Stream object.

tools.environment_append()

def environment_append(env_vars)

This is a context manager that allows to temporary use environment variables for a specific piece of code in your conanfile:

from conans import tools

def build(self):
    with tools.environment_append({"MY_VAR": "3", "CXX": "/path/to/cxx", "CPPFLAGS": None}):
        do_something()

The environment variables will be overridden if the value is a string, while it will be prepended if the value is a list. Additionally, if value is None, the given environment variable is unset (In the previous example, CPPFLAGS environment variable will be unset), and in case variable wasn’t set prior to the invocation, it has no effect on the given variable (CPPFLAGS). When the context manager block ends, the environment variables will recover their previous state.

Parameters:

env_vars (Required): Dictionary object with environment variable name and its value.

tools.chdir()

def chdir(newdir)

This is a context manager that allows to temporary change the current directory in your conanfile:

from conans import tools

def build(self):
    with tools.chdir("./subdir"):
        do_something()

Parameters:

newdir (Required): Directory path name to change the current directory.

tools.pythonpath()

Warning

This way of reusing python code from other recipes can be improved via Python requires: reusing code [EXPERIMENTAL].

This tool is automatically applied in the conanfile methods unless apply_env is deactivated, so any PYTHONPATH inherited from the requirements will be automatically available.

def pythonpath(conanfile)

This is a context manager that allows to load the PYTHONPATH for dependent packages, create packages with Python code and reuse that code into your own recipes.

For example:

from conans import tools

def build(self):
    with tools.pythonpath(self):
        from module_name import whatever
        whatever.do_something()

When the apply_env is activated (default) the above code could be simplified as:

from conans import tools

def build(self):
    from module_name import whatever
    whatever.do_something()

For that to work, one of the dependencies of the current recipe, must have a module_name file or folder with a whatever file or object inside, and should have declared in its package_info():

from conans import tools

def package_info(self):
    self.env_info.PYTHONPATH.append(self.package_folder)

Parameters:

conanfile (Required): Current ConanFile object.

tools.no_op()

def no_op()

Context manager that performs nothing. Useful to condition any other context manager to get a cleaner code:

from conans import tools

def build(self):
    with tools.chdir("some_dir") if self.options.myoption else tools.no_op():
        # if not self.options.myoption, we are not in the "some_dir"
        pass

tools.human_size()

def human_size(size_bytes)

Will return a string from a given number of bytes, rounding it to the most appropriate unit: GB, MB, KB, etc. It is mostly used by the Conan downloads and unzip progress.

from conans import tools

tools.human_size(1024)
>> 1.0KB

Parameters:

size_bytes (Required): Number of bytes.

tools.OSInfo and tools.SystemPackageTool

These are helpers to install system packages. Check system_requirements().

tools.cross_building()

def cross_building(settings, self_os=None, self_arch=None)

Reading the settings and the current host machine it returns True if we are cross building a Conan package:

from conans import tools

if tools.cross_building(self.settings):
    # Some special action

Parameters:

settings (Required): Conanfile settings. Use self.settings.
self_os (Optional, Defaulted to None): Current operating system where the build is being done.
self_arch (Optional, Defaulted to None): Current architecture where the build is being done.

tools.get_gnu_triplet()

def get_gnu_triplet(os_, arch, compiler=None)

Returns string with GNU like <machine>-<vendor>-<op_system> triplet.

Parameters:

os_ (Required): Operating system to be used to create the triplet.
arch (Required): Architecture to be used to create the triplet.
compiler (Optional, Defaulted to None): Compiler used to create the triplet (only needed for Windows).

tools.run_in_windows_bash()

def run_in_windows_bash(conanfile, bashcmd, cwd=None, subsystem=None, msys_mingw=True, env=None, with_login=True)

Runs a UNIX command inside a bash shell. It requires to have “bash” in the path. Useful to build libraries using configure and make in Windows. Check Windows subsytems section.

You can customize the path of the bash executable using the environment variable CONAN_BASH_PATH or the conan.conf bash_path variable to change the default bash location.

from conans import tools

command = "pwd"
tools.run_in_windows_bash(self, command) # self is a conanfile instance

Parameters:

conanfile (Required): Current ConanFile object.
bashcmd (Required): String with the command to be run.
cwd (Optional, Defaulted to None): Path to directory where to apply the command from.
subsystem (Optional, Defaulted to None will autodetect the subsystem): Used to escape the command according to the specified subsystem.
msys_mingw (Optional, Defaulted to True): If the specified subsystem is MSYS2, will start it in MinGW mode (native windows development).
env (Optional, Defaulted to None): You can pass a dictionary with environment variable to be applied at first place so they will have more priority than others.
with_login (Optional, Defaulted to True): Pass the --login flag to bash command. This might come handy when you don’t want to create a fresh user session for running the command.

tools.get_cased_path()

get_cased_path(abs_path)

This function converts a case-insensitive absolute path to a case-sensitive one. That is, with the real cased characters. Useful when using Windows subsystems where the file system is case-sensitive.

tools.remove_from_path()

remove_from_path(command)

This is a context manager that allows you to remove a tool from the PATH. Conan will locate the executable (using tools.which()) and will remove from the PATH the directory entry that contains it. It’s not necessary to specify the extension.

from conans import tools

with tools.remove_from_path("make"):
    self.run("some command")

tools.unix_path()

def unix_path(path, path_flavor=None)

Used to translate Windows paths to MSYS/CYGWIN Unix paths like c/users/path/to/file.

Parameters:

path (Required): Path to be converted.
path_flavor (Optional, Defaulted to None, will try to autodetect the subsystem): Type of Unix path to be returned. Options are MSYS, MSYS2, CYGWIN, WSL and SFU.

tools.escape_windows_cmd()

def escape_windows_cmd(command)

Useful to escape commands to be executed in a windows bash (msys2, cygwin etc).

Adds escapes so the argument can be unpacked by CommandLineToArgvW().
Adds escapes for cmd.exe so the argument survives to cmd.exe’s substitutions.

Parameters:

command (Required): Command to execute.

tools.sha1sum(), sha256sum(), md5sum()

def def md5sum(file_path)
def sha1sum(file_path)
def sha256sum(file_path)

Return the respective hash or checksum for a file.

from conans import tools

md5 = tools.md5sum("myfilepath.txt")
sha1 = tools.sha1sum("myfilepath.txt")

Parameters:

file_path (Required): Path to the file.

tools.md5()

def md5(content)

Returns the MD5 hash for a string or byte object.

from conans import tools

md5 = tools.md5("some string, not a file path")

Parameters:

content (Required): String or bytes to calculate its md5.

tools.save()

def save(path, content, append=False)

Utility function to save files in one line. It will manage the open and close of the file and creating directories if necessary.

from conans import tools

tools.save("otherfile.txt", "contents of the file")

Parameters:

path (Required): Path to the file.
content (Required): Content that should be saved into the file.
append (Optional, Defaulted to False): If True, it will append the content.

tools.load()

def load(path, binary=False)

Utility function to load files in one line. It will manage the open and close of the file, and load binary encodings. Returns the content of the file.

from conans import tools

content = tools.load("myfile.txt")

Parameters:

path (Required): Path to the file.
binary (Optional, Defaulted to False): If True, it reads the the file as binary code.

tools.mkdir(), tools.rmdir()

def mkdir(path)
def rmdir(path)

Utility functions to create/delete a directory. The existence of the specified directory is checked, so mkdir() will do nothing if the directory already exists and rmdir() will do nothing if the directory does not exists.

This makes it safe to use these functions in the package() method of a conanfile.py when no_copy_source=True.

from conans import tools

tools.mkdir("mydir") # Creates mydir if it does not already exist
tools.mkdir("mydir") # Does nothing

tools.rmdir("mydir") # Deletes mydir
tools.rmdir("mydir") # Does nothing

Parameters:

path (Required): Path to the directory.

tools.which()

def which(filename)

Returns the path to a specified executable searching in the PATH environment variable. If not found, it returns None.

This tool also looks for filenames with following extensions if no extension provided:

.com, .exe, .bat .cmd for Windows.
.sh if not Windows.

from conans import tools

abs_path_make = tools.which("make")

Parameters:

filename (Required): Name of the executable file. It doesn’t require the extension of the executable.

tools.unix2dos()

def unix2dos(filepath)

Converts line breaks in a text file from Unix format (LF) to DOS format (CRLF).

from conans import tools

tools.unix2dos("project.dsp")

Parameters:

filepath (Required): The file to convert.

tools.dos2unix()

def dos2unix(filepath)

Converts line breaks in a text file from DOS format (CRLF) to Unix format (LF).

from conans import tools

tools.dos2unix("dosfile.txt")

Parameters:

filepath (Required): The file to convert.

tools.touch()

def touch(fname, times=None)

Updates the timestamp (last access and last modification times) of a file. This is similar to Unix’ touch command except that this one fails if the file does not exist.

Optionally, a tuple of two numbers can be specified, which denotes the new values for the last access and last modified times respectively.

from conans import tools
import time

tools.touch("myfile")                            # Sets atime and mtime to the current time
tools.touch("myfile", (time.time(), time.time()) # Similar to above
tools.touch("myfile", (time.time(), 1))          # Modified long, long ago

Parameters:

fname (Required): File name of the file to be touched.
times (Optional, Defaulted to None: Tuple with ‘last access’ and ‘last modified’ times.

tools.relative_dirs()

def relative_dirs(path)

Recursively walks a given directory (using os.walk()) and returns a list of all contained file paths relative to the given directory.

from conans import tools

tools.relative_dirs("mydir")

Parameters:

path (Required): Path of the directory.

tools.vswhere()

def vswhere(all_=False, prerelease=False, products=None, requires=None, version="",
            latest=False, legacy=False, property_="", nologo=True)

Wrapper of vswhere tool to look for details of Visual Studio installations. Its output is always a list with a dictionary for each installation found.

from conans import tools

vs_legacy_installations = tool.vswhere(legacy=True)

Parameters:

all_ (Optional, Defaulted to False): Finds all instances even if they are incomplete and may not launch.
prerelease (Optional, Defaulted to False): Also searches prereleases. By default, only releases are searched.
products (Optional, Defaulted to None): List of one or more product IDs to find. Defaults to Community, Professional, and Enterprise. Specify ["*"] by itself to search all product instances installed.
requires (Optional, Defaulted to None): List of one or more workload or component IDs required when finding instances. See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/install/workload-and-component-ids?view=vs-2017 listing all workload and component IDs.
version (Optional, Defaulted to ""): A version range of instances to find. Example: "[15.0,16.0)" will find versions 15.*.
latest (Optional, Defaulted to False): Return only the newest version and last installed.
legacy (Optional, Defaulted to False): Also searches Visual Studio 2015 and older products. Information is limited. This option cannot be used with either products or requires parameters.
property_ (Optional, Defaulted to ""): The name of a property to return. Use delimiters ., /, or _ to separate object and property names. Example: "properties.nickname" will return the “nickname” property under “properties”.
nologo (Optional, Defaulted to True): Do not show logo information.

tools.vs_comntools()

def vs_comntools(compiler_version)

Returns the value of the environment variable VS<compiler_version>.0COMNTOOLS for the compiler version indicated.

from conans import tools

vs_path = tools.vs_comntools("14")

Parameters:

compiler_version (Required): String with the version number: "14", "12"…

tools.vs_installation_path()

def vs_installation_path(version, preference=None)

Returns the Visual Studio installation path for the given version. It uses tools.vswhere() and tools.vs_comntools(). It will also look for the installation paths following CONAN_VS_INSTALLATION_PREFERENCE environment variable or the preference parameter itself. If the tool is not able to return the path it will return None.

from conans import tools

vs_path_2017 = tools.vs_installation_path("15", preference=["Community", "BuildTools", "Professional", "Enterprise"])

Parameters:

version (Required): Visual Studio version to locate. Valid version numbers are strings: "10", "11", "12", "13", "14", "15"…
preference (Optional, Defaulted to None): Set to value of CONAN_VS_INSTALLATION_PREFERENCE or defaulted to ["Enterprise", "Professional", "Community", "BuildTools"]. If only set to one type of preference, it will return the installation path only for that Visual type and version, otherwise None.

tools.replace_prefix_in_pc_file()

def replace_prefix_in_pc_file(pc_file, new_prefix)

Replaces the prefix variable in a package config file .pc with the specified value.

from conans import tools

lib_b_path = self.deps_cpp_info["libB"].rootpath
tools.replace_prefix_in_pc_file("libB.pc", lib_b_path)

Parameters:

pc_file (Required): Path to the pc file
new_prefix (Required): New prefix variable value (Usually a path pointing to a package).

tools.collect_libs()

def collect_libs(conanfile, folder=None)

Returns a sorted list of library names from the libraries (files with extensions .so, .lib, .a and .dylib) located inside the conanfile.cpp_info.libdirs (by default) or the folder directory relative to the package folder. Useful to collect not inter-dependent libraries or with complex names like libmylib-x86-debug-en.lib.

from conans import tools

def package_info(self):
    self.cpp_info.libdirs = ["lib", "other_libdir"]  # Deafult value is 'lib'
    self.cpp_info.libs = tools.collect_libs(self)

For UNIX libraries staring with lib, like libmath.a, this tool will collect the library name math.

Parameters:

conanfile (Required): A ConanFile object to get the package_folder and cpp_info.
folder (Optional, Defaulted to None): String indicating the subfolder name inside conanfile.package_folder where the library files are.

Warning

This tool collects the libraries searching directly inside the package folder and returns them in no specific order. If libraries are inter-dependent, then package_info() method should order them to achieve correct linking order.

tools.PkgConfig()

class PkgConfig(library, pkg_config_executable="pkg-config", static=False, msvc_syntax=False, variables=None, print_errors=True)

Wrapper of the pkg-config tool.

from conans import tools

with environment_append({'PKG_CONFIG_PATH': tmp_dir}):
    pkg_config = PkgConfig("libastral")
    print(pkg_config.cflags)
    print(pkg_config.cflags_only_I)
    print(pkg_config.variables)

Parameters of the constructor:

library (Required): Library (package) name, such as libastral.
pkg_config_executable (Optional, Defaulted to "pkg-config"): Specify custom pkg-config executable (e.g., for cross-compilation).
static (Optional, Defaulted to False): Output libraries suitable for static linking (adds --static to pkg-config command line).
msvc_syntax (Optional, Defaulted to False): MSVC compatibility (adds --msvc-syntax to pkg-config command line).
variables (Optional, Defaulted to None): Dictionary of pkg-config variables (passed as --define-variable=VARIABLENAME=VARIABLEVALUE).
print_errors (Optional, Defaulted to True): Output error messages (adds –print-errors)

Properties:

PROPERTY	DESCRIPTION
.cflags	get all pre-processor and compiler flags
.cflags_only_I	get -I flags
.cflags_only_other	get cflags not covered by the cflags-only-I option
.libs	get all linker flags
.libs_only_L	get -L flags
.libs_only_l	get -l flags
.libs_only_other	get other libs (e.g., -pthread)
.provides	get which packages the package provides
.requires	get which packages the package requires
.requires_private	get packages the package requires for static linking
.variables	get list of variables defined by the module

tools.Git()

Warning

This is an experimental feature subject to breaking changes in future releases.

class Git(folder=None, verify_ssl=True, username=None, password=None,
          force_english=True, runner=None):

Wrapper of the git tool.

Parameters of the constructor:

folder (Optional, Defaulted to None): Specify a subfolder where the code will be cloned. If not specified it will clone in the current directory.
verify_ssl (Optional, Defaulted to True): Verify SSL certificate of the specified url.
username (Optional, Defaulted to None): When present, it will be used as the login to authenticate with the remote.
password (Optional, Defaulted to None): When present, it will be used as the password to authenticate with the remote.
force_english (Optional, Defaulted to True): The encoding of the tool will be forced to use en_US.UTF-8 to ease the output parsing.
runner (Optional, Defaulted to None): By default subprocess.check_output will be used to invoke the git tool.

Methods:

run(command): Run any “git” command, e.g., run("status")
get_url_with_credentials(url): Returns the passed URL but containing the username and password in the URL to authenticate (only if username and password is specified)
clone(url, branch=None): Clone a repository. Optionally you can specify a branch. Note: If you want to clone a repository and the specified folder already exist you have to specify a branch.
checkout(element, submodule=None): Checkout a branch, commit or tag given by element. Argument submodule can get values in shallow or recursive to instruct what to do with submodules.
get_remote_url(remote_name=None): Returns the remote URL of the specified remote. If not remote_name is specified origin will be used.
get_qualified_remote_url(): Returns the remote url (see get_remote_url()) but with forward slashes if it is a local folder.
get_revision(), get_commit(): Gets the current commit hash.
get_branch(): Gets the current branch.
get_tag(): Gets the current checkout tag (git describe --exact-match --tags) and returns None if not in a tag.
excluded_files(): Gets a list of the files and folders that would be excluded by .gitignore file.
is_local_repository(): Returns True if the remote is a local folder.
is_pristine(): Returns True if there aren’t modified or uncommitted files in the working copy.
get_repo_root(): Returns the root folder of the working copy.
get_commit_message(): Returns the latest log message

tools.SVN()

Warning

This is an experimental feature subject to breaking changes in future releases.

class SVN(folder=None, verify_ssl=True, username=None, password=None,
          force_english=True, runner=None):

Wrapper of the svn tool.

Parameters of the constructor:

folder (Optional, Defaulted to None): Specify a subfolder where the code will be cloned. If not specified it will clone in the current directory.
verify_ssl (Optional, Defaulted to True): Verify SSL certificate of the specified url.
username (Optional, Defaulted to None): When present, it will be used as the login to authenticate with the remote.
password (Optional, Defaulted to None): When present, it will be used as the password to authenticate with the remote.
force_english (Optional, Defaulted to True): The encoding of the tool will be forced to use en_US.UTF-8 to ease the output parsing.
runner (Optional, Defaulted to None): By default subprocess.check_output will be used to invoke the svn tool.

Methods:

version(): Retrieve version from the installed SVN client.
run(command): Run any “svn” command, e.g., run("status")
get_url_with_credentials(url): Return the passed url but containing the username and password in the URL to authenticate (only if username and password is specified)
checkout(url, revision=”HEAD”): Checkout the revision number given by revision from the specified url.
update(revision=”HEAD”): Update working copy to revision number given by revision.
get_remote_url(): Returns the remote url of working copy.
get_qualified_remote_url(): Returns the remote url of the working copy with the peg revision appended to it.
get_revision(): Gets the current revision number from the repo server.
get_last_changed_revision(use_wc_root=True): Returns the revision number corresponding to the last changed item in the working folder (use_wc_root=False) or in the working copy root (use_wc_root=True).
get_branch(): Tries to deduce the branch name from the standard SVN layout. Will raise if cannot resolve it.
get_tag(): Tries to deduce the tag name from the standard SVN layout and returns the current tag name. Otherwise it will return None.
excluded_files(): Gets a list of the files and folders that are marked to be ignored.
is_local_repository(): Returns True if the remote is a local folder.
is_pristine(): Returns True if there aren’t modified or uncommitted files in the working copy.
get_repo_root(): Returns the root folder of the working copy.
get_revision_message(): Returns the latest log message

Warning

SVN allows to checkout a subdirectory of the remote repository, take into account that the return value of some of these functions may depend on the root of the working copy that has been checked out.

tools.is_apple_os()

def is_apple_os(os_)

Returns True if OS is an Apple one: macOS, iOS, watchOS or tvOS.

Parameters:

os_ (Required): OS to perform the check. Usually this would be self.settings.os.

tools.to_apple_arch()

def to_apple_arch(arch)

Converts Conan style architecture into Apple style architecture.

Parameters:

arch (Required): arch to perform the conversion. Usually this would be self.settings.arch.

tools.apple_sdk_name()

def apple_sdk_name(settings)

Returns proper SDK name suitable for OS and architecture you are building for (considering simulators).

Parameters:

settings (Required): Conanfile settings.

tools.apple_deployment_target_env()

def apple_deployment_target_env(os_, os_version)

Environment variable name which controls deployment target: MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET, IOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET, WATCHOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET or TVOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET.

Parameters:

os_ (Required): OS of the settings. Usually self.settings.os.
os_version (Required): OS version.

tools.apple_deployment_target_flag()

def apple_deployment_target_flag(os_, os_version)

Compiler flag name which controls deployment target. For example: -mappletvos-version-min=9.0

Parameters:

os_ (Required): OS of the settings. Usually self.settings.os.
os_version (Required): OS version.

tools.XCRun()

class XCRun(object):

    def __init__(self, settings, sdk=None):

XCRun wrapper used to get information for building.

Properties:

sdk_path: Obtain SDK path (a.k.a. Apple sysroot or -isysroot).
sdk_version: Obtain SDK version.
sdk_platform_path: Obtain SDK platform path.
sdk_platform_version: Obtain SDK platform version.
cc: Path to C compiler (CC).
cxx: Path to C++ compiler (CXX).
ar: Path to archiver (AR).
ranlib: Path to archive indexer (RANLIB).
strip: Path to symbol removal utility (STRIP).

tools.latest_vs_version_installed()

def latest_vs_version_installed()

Returns a string with the major version of latest Microsoft Visual Studio available on machine. If no Microsoft Visual Studio installed, it returns None.

tools.apple_dot_clean()

def apple_dot_clean(folder)

Remove recursively all ._ files inside folder, these files are created by Apple OS when the underlying filesystem cannot store metadata associated to files (they could appear when unzipping a file that has been created in Macos). This tool will remove only the ._ files that are accompanied with a file without that prefix (it will remove ._file.txt only if file.txt exists).

Parameters:

folder (Required): root folder to start deleting ._ files.

tools.Version()

from conans import tools

v = tools.Version("1.2.3-dev23")
assert v < "1.2.3"

This is a helper class to work with semantic versions, built on top of semver.SemVer class with loose parsing. It exposes all the version components as properties and offers total ordering through compare operators.

Build the tools.Version object using any valid string or any object that converts to string, the constructor will raise if the string is not a valid loose semver.

Properties:

major: component major of semver version
minor: component minor of semver version (defaults to "0")
patch: component patch of semver version (defaults to "0")
prerelease: component prerelease of semver version (defaults to "")
build: component build of semver version (defaults to ""). Take into account that build component doesn’t affect precedence between versions.