path: root/man/mkbundle.1

.\" 
.\" mkbundle manual page.
.\" (C) 2004 Ximian, Inc. 
.\" Author:
.\"   Miguel de Icaza (miguel@gnu.org)
.\"
.de Sp \" Vertical space (when we can't use .PP)
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..
.TH mkbundle "mkbundle 1.0"
.SH NAME
mkbundle, mkbundle2 \- Creates a bundled executable.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.PP
.B mkbundle [options] assembly1 [assembly2 ...]
.SH DESCRIPTION
\fImkbundle\fP generates an executable program that will contain
static copies of the assemblies listed on the command line.  By
default only the assemblies specified in the command line will be
included in the bundle.  To automatically include all of the
dependencies referenced, use the "--deps" command line option.
.PP
There are two modes of operation, the default one uses the
C compiler to create a bundle and requires a complete C and Mono SDK
to produced executables.   The simple mode (enabled when using the
"--simple") command line option does not require this, and also allows
for cross compilation.
.PP
For example, to create a bundle for hello world, use the following
command:
.nf
	$ mkbundle -o hello --simple hello.exe
.fi
.PP
The simple version allows for cross-compiling, this requires a Mono
runtime to be installed in the ~/.mono/targets/TARGET/mono to be
available.   You can use the "--local-targets" to list all available
targets, and the "--cross" argument to specify the target, like this:
.nf
	$ mkbundle --local-targets	
	Available targets:
		default	- Current System Mono
		4.4.0-macosx-x86
		4.4.0-debian-8-arm64
	$ mkbundle --cross 4.4.0-debian-8-powerpc hello.exe -o hello-debian
.fi
.PP
The above will bundle your native library into hello-debian for
a Debian 8 system running on a PowerPC machine.
.SH OLD EMBEDDING
.PP
For example, to create a bundle for hello world, use the following
command:
.nf
	$ mkbundle -o hello hello.exe
.fi
.PP
The above will pull hello.exe into a native program called "hello".  Notice
that the produced image still contains the CIL image and no
precompilation is done.
.PP
In addition, it is possible to control whether \fImkbundle\fP should compile
the resulting executable or not with the -c option.  This is useful if
you want to link additional libraries or control the generated output
in more detail. For example, this could be used to link some libraries
statically:
.nf
	$ mkbundle -c -o host.c -oo bundles.o --deps hello.exe

	$ cc host.c bundles.o /usr/lib/libmono.a -lc -lrt
.fi
.PP
You may also use \fImkbundle\fP to generate a bundle you can use when
embedding the Mono runtime in a native application.  In that case, use
both the -c and --nomain options.  The resulting host.c file will
not have a main() function.  Call mono_mkbundle_init() before
initializing the JIT in your code so that the bundled assemblies
are available to the embedded runtime.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.I "-c"
Produce the stub file, do not compile the resulting stub.
.TP
.I "--cross target"
Creates a bundle for the specified target platform.   The target
must be a directory in ~/.mono/targets/ that contains a "mono"
binary.   You can fetch various targets using the --fetch-target
command line option.
.TP
.I "-o filename"
Places the output on `out'.  If the flag -c is specified, this is the
C host program.  If not, this contains the resulting executable.
.TP
.I "-oo filename"
Specifies the name to be used for the helper object file that contains
the bundle.
.TP
.I "-L path"
Adds the `path' do the search list for assemblies.  The rules are the
same as for the compiler -lib: or -L flags.
.TP "--config FILE"
Specifies that a machine.config file must be bundled as well.
Typically this is $prefix/etc/mono/1.0/machine.config or
$prefix/etc/mono/2.0/machine.config depending on the profile that you
are using (1.0 or 2.0)
.TP
.I "--deps"
This option will bundle all of the referenced assemblies for the
assemblies listed on the command line option.  This is useful to
distribute a self-contained image.
.TP
.I "--fetch-target target"
Downloads a precompiled runtime for the specified target from the Mono
distribution site.
.TP
.I  "--nodeps"
This is the default: \fImkbundle\fP will only include the assemblies that
were specified on the command line to reduce the size of the resulting
image created.
.TP
.I "--keeptemp"
By default \fImkbundle\fP will delete the temporary files that it uses to
produce the bundle.  This option keeps the file around.
.TP
.I "--lists-targets"
Lists all of the available local cross compilation targets available
as precompiled binaries on the Mono distribution server.
.TP
.I "--local-targets"
Lists all of the available local cross compilation targets.
.TP
.I "--machine-config FILE"
Uses the given FILE as the machine.config file for the generated
application.   
.TP
.I "--nomain"
With the -c option, generate the host stub without a main() function.
.TP
.I "--config-dir DIR"
When passed, DIR will be set for the MONO_CFG_DIR environment variable
.TP
.I "--static"
By default \fImkbundle\fP dynamically links to mono and glib.  This option
causes it to statically link instead.
.TP
.I "--target-server SERVER"
By default the mkbundle tool will download from a Mono server the
target runtimes, you can specify a different server to provide
cross-compiled runtimes.
.TP
.I "-z"
Compresses the assemblies before embedding. This results in smaller
executable files, but increases startup time and requires zlib to be
installed on the target system.
.SH WINDOWS
On Windows systems, it it necessary to have  Unix-like toolchain to be
installed for \fImkbundle\fP to work.  You can use cygwin's and install gcc,
gcc-mingw and as packages. 
.SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
.TP
.I "AS"
Assembler command. The default is "as".
.TP
.I "CC"
C compiler command. The default is "cc" under Linux and "gcc"
under Windows.
.TP
.I "MONO_BUNDLED_OPTIONS"
Options to be passed to the bundled
Mono runtime, separated by spaces. See the mono(1) manual page or run mono --help.
.SH FILES
This program will load referenced assemblies from the Mono assembly
cache. 
.PP
Targets are loaded from ~/.mono/targets/TARGETNAME/mono
.SH BUGS
The option "--static" is not supported under Windows.
Moreover, a full cygwin environment containing at least "gcc" and "as"
is required for the build process. The generated executable does not
depend on cygwin.
.SH MAILING LISTS
Visit http://lists.ximian.com/mailman/listinfo/mono-devel-list for details.
.SH WEB SITE
Visit: http://www.mono-project.com for details
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR mcs(1), mono(1), mono-config(5).