Macros

Macros are distgen’s way to provide values that need to be expanded and reexpanded. In other words, the yaml configuration files have no means of value interpolation. This is why the macros system exists.

Macros can be created using any macros from the passed config. They can also be passed from commandline via --macro "name value" or loaded from a custom project file (TODO: custom project file needs to be documented).

Several macro examples:

  • foo $bindir/executable - define macro foo to expand using bindir macro provided in passed config (usually this will expand to /usr/bin/executable)
  • bar $foo.sh - define macro bar to expand using previously defined foo macro (hence getting /usr/bin/executable.sh)

The examples above will be available as macros.foo and macros.bar in the template.