---
name: "mpc-ace"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "mpc-ace"
version: "8.0.2+dfsg-2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mpc-ace"
---

# mpc-ace(1)

generate project and workspace files

## NAME

mpc-ace, mwc-ace — generate project and workspace files

## SYNOPSIS

**mpc-ace** \[*OPTION* ...\]  \[*FILE* ...\]

**mwc-ace** \[*OPTION* ...\]  \[*FILE* ...\]

## DESCRIPTION

**mpc-ace** and **mwc-ace**, the Makefile,  Project and Workspace Creator generate platform and compiler specific  files to automate the compilation process  (e.g. **GNUmakefile**     and **Makefile.am**).

The most common way to use the Make Project Creator is to run the  workspace generator (**mwc-ace**).  This script will  generate projects and a single workspace that contains the generated  projects.  If no input  *FILE* (**.mwc** file)  is specified, it will recurse into  the directory in which the script was started.  It looks for  **.mpc** files and generates a project or projects  for each one found.

Most of what is stated about **mwc-ace** applies to  **mpc-ace** except that it only generates projects.  If an  input *FILE* (**.mpc** file) is  not provided, the project creator will attempt to create a default  project in the directory from which the script was started.

- **-global** *file*

  specifies the global input file.  Values stored within this file are  applied to all projects.  If not specified, defaults to  **config/global.mpb**

- **-include** *directory*

  specifies a directory to search when looking for base projects,  template input files and templates.  This option can be used  multiple times to add directories.  Two include directories  are used by default (**config** 	  and **templates**)

- **-recurse**

  recurse from the current directory and generate from all found  input files.

- **-ti dll \| lib \| dll\_exe \| lib\_exe:***file*

  specifies the template input file (with no extension) for the  specific type, e.g. **-ti dll\_exe:vc8exe**.  Each  project creator has a default template input file for each type of  project (**dll\_exe**, **lib\_exe**,  **dll**, **lib**).  You can  override the default template input file name with the  **-ti** option.  The file must have a  **mpt** extension and must reside within the  include search directories.  NOTE: the **lib** 	  and the **lib\_exe** template input files are only  used when MPC is generating static projects

- **-hierarchy**

  generate a workspace in a hierarchical fashion.  Forces the  generation of a hierarchical workspace at each directory level in  between the toplevel directory and the location of the  **.mpc** file that is being processed.  This is the  default for **make** based workspace creators.  NOTE: This option has no effect when when used with  **mpc-ace**

- **-template** *file*

  specifies the template name (with no extension).  *file* should have a  **.mpd** extension and sit in one of the include  search directories.  NOTE: The **-template** 	  option overrides the template file for all types specified

- **-relative** *name*=*var*

  any **$()** variable in an mpc file that is matched to  *name* is replaced by  *var* only if  *var* can be made into a relative path based  on the current working directory

- **-base** *project*

  add *project* as a base project to each  generated project file.  Do not provide a file extension, the  **.mpb** extension will be tried first; if that  fails the **.mpc** extension will be tried

- **-nocomments**

  do not place comments in the generated files

- **-noreldefs**

  do not try to generate default relative definitions for  **\*\_ROOT**, which come from environment variables

- **-notoplevel**

  do not generate the top level target file.  Files are still processed,  but no top level file is created.  For **mwc-ace**, it  says process all projects for a workspace, but do not generate the  top level workspace file.  For **mpc-ace**, it says  process the **.mpc** files, but do not generate  the project files

- **-static**

  specifies that only static projects are generated.  By default,  only dynamic projects will be generated.  This parameter was  previously **-static\_only**.  Currently,  **mpc-ace** only supports generating dynamic projects  or static projects, but not both during the same run.  To generate  them both you must run **mpc-ace** twice, once with the  **-static** option and once without.  Additionally, the **vc6**,  **em3**, **vc7**,  **vc71** and **vc8** project  names will no longer automatically have  **\_Static** appended to the project name when  generating static projects.  This can still be achieved by using the  **-name\_modifier** option.

-

  When generating static projects, inter-project dependencies will  not be generated for libraries within **vc6**,  **em3**, **vc7**,  and **vc71**  workspaces.  The reason is due to  the fact that each static library that depended upon another would  be combined at the library creation stage, resulting in extremely  large libraries.  Dependencies are handled correctly by vc8 and  later.  This behavior can be modified by setting the  MPC\_DEPENDENCY\_COMBINED\_STATIC\_LIBRARY environment  variable.  It will force **mpc-ace** to generate  inter-project dependencies for libraries within a single workspace

- **-genins**

  generate **.ins** files after  processing each project that can be used in conjunction with the  **prj\_install.pl** script to install different  parts of the project (such as header files) into an alternate  location

- **-use\_env**

  use environment variables for all uses of  **$()** instead of the relative replacement values

- **-value\_template** *name***+=***val* \| *name***=***val* \| *name***-=***val*

  this option allows modification of a template input name pair.  Use  **+=** to add  *val* to the  *name*'s value.  Use  **-=** to subtract and **=** to  override the value.  If a template variable value will contain  spaces, it is best to enclose the whole setting in double quotes  and use single quotes within the value to retain spaces (if it is  necessary)

- **-value\_project** *name***+=***val* \| *name***=***val* \| *name***-=***val*

  this option allows modification of a project variable  assignment.  Use **+=** to add  *val* to the  *name*'s value.  Use  **-=** to subtract and **=** to  override the value.  This can be used to introduce new name value  pairs to a project.  However, it must be a valid project assignment

- **-make\_coexistence**

  if multiple **make** based project types are generated,  they will be named such that they can coexist

- **-feature\_file** *file*

  specifies the features file to read before processing.  These  feature names can be anything, but they should correspond  to values used for the **requires** and  **avoids** keywords.  If a feature is required and  is not enabled then the project will not be created.  If a feature  is to be avoided and it is enabled then the project will not be  created.  The default feature file is  **default.features** under the  **config** directory

- **-expand\_vars**

  perform direct expansion, instead of performing relative replacement  with either **-use\_env** or  **-relative** options

- **-features** *features*

  specifies the feature list to set before processing.  Values  specified by this option overwrite values from features files,  e.g. **-features "qos=1,ssl=0"**

- **-gendot**

  generate .dot files for use with **Graphvis**.  This option, which is only useful with **mwc-ace**,  will result in the generation of .dot files for each workspace  processed.  Each .dot file will contain information that can be  fed to Graphvis to display the dependency information for the  various projects found within the workspace.

- **-exclude** *directories*

  use this option to exclude directories or files when searching for  input files.  NOTE: This option has no effect when used with  **mpc-ace**

- **-name\_modifier** *pattern*

  modify generated workspace or project names.  The  *pattern* passed  to this parameter will have the **\*** portion  replaced with the actual output name.  For example  **-name\_modifier '\*\_Static'** will result in all  workspace and project names ending in **\_Static**,  e.g. **FOO\_Static.dsw** and  **FOO\_Static.dsp**

- **-apply\_project**

  when used in conjunction with **-name\_modifier**,  it applies the name modifier to the project name also.  NOTE: this  option has no effect without the  **-name\_modifier** option

- **-workers**

  Specifies number of child processes to use to generate projects.

- **-workers\_dir**

  The directory for storing temporary output files from the child processes.   The default is '/tmp/mpc' If neither -workers\_dir nor -workers\_port is used,  -workers\_dir is assumed.

- **-workers\_port**

  The port number for the parent listener.

- **-version**

  print the MPC version and exit

- **-into** *directory*

  place all output files in a mirrored directory structure starting  at *directory*

- **-gfeature\_file** *file*

  specifies the global feature file.  The default value is  **global.features** under the  **config** directory

- **-language cplusplus \| csharp \| java \| vb**

  specify the language preference.  The default is  **cplusplus**

- **-type automake \| bcb2007 \| bcb2009 \| bds4 \| bmake \| cc \| em3 \| ghs \| html \| make \| nmake \| sle \| vc6 \| vc7 \| vc71 \| vc8 \| vc9 \| vc10 \| wb26**

  specifies the type of project file to generate.  This option can  be used multiple times to generate multiple types.  There is no  longer a default.  NOTE: The **-ti** 	  option overrides the template input file for all types specified

### MPC Codebase Configuration File

This configuration file can be used to specify alternate locations for the  MPC Configuration File.  If a base.cfg is found underneath the 'config'  directory where MPC is executed, it will be read to determine the location  of MPC.cfg based on the directory in which MPC was started.

For example, if $MPC\_ROOT/mwc-ace is run under /foo/bar\_root/src and  $MPC\_ROOT/config/base.cfg contained:

/foo/bar\_root = /foo/bar\_root/MPC/config

MPC would attempt to open and read /foo/bar\_root/MPC/config/MPC.cfg as the  MPC Configuration File.  If the base configuration file is not present,  MPC will try to use $MPC\_ROOT/config/MPC.cfg as the MPC Configuration File.

You may reference environment variables, accessed by $NAME, on either side  of the equals sign.

### MPC Configuration File

In an effort to move away from the use of environment variables, a  configuration file has been introduced.  The configuration file (MPC.cfg)  can contain settings to provide command line options, control logging and  direct MPC to dynamic project types.

The following keywords are allowed in the configuration file, which will  be read from the 'config' directory of MPC.

- **command\_line**

  provide additional command line options to MPC.  The value of  this setting will be prepended to the options passed to  **mwc-ace** or **mpc-ace**

- **default\_type**

  provide a single project type (as specified by the -type  option) as the default project type

- **dynamic\_types**

  this comma separated list points to directories in which  MPC will search for Perl modules to implement additional  MPC project types, base projects or template files.  This  setting can be used to augment or replace functionality  in MPC.  For each suitable directory found, it will add a  **modules** include path for Perl to find  modules, add a **config** include path to  locate base projects and a **template**               include path to find MPC templates.

- **includes**

  similar to the -include command line option, it adds the  list of comma separated paths to the MPC include search paths.

- logging

  if this setting contains  **info=1**, informational  messages will be printed.  If it contains  **warn=1**, warning  messages will be printed.  If it contains  **diag=1**, diagnostic  messages will be printed.  If it contains  **debug=1**, debug  messages will be printed.  And lastly, if it contains  **detail=1**,  detail messages will be printed.  If it contains none of these,  **mpc-ace** will not print out any information or  warnings when processing projects or workspaces.  Errors are  always printed if any are encountered.

- verbose\_ordering

  if this is set, **mwc-ace** will warn the user about  references to projects in the **after** keyword  that have not been processed

### ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

The following environment variable could affect  **mwc-ace** and **mpc-ace**:

- MPC\_DEPENDENCY\_COMBINED\_STATIC\_LIBRARY

  see the help on **-static** parameter above

- MPC\_GHS\_UNIX

  this environment variable is only meaningful when generating  the ghs project files.  By default, the ghs type assumes that it is for  Windows.  If this is not the case, set this environment variable  prior to running MPC