Autotools Integration

The gobject-introspection package provides the following two macros for use in your configure.ac file:

GOBJECT_INTROSPECTION_CHECK([version])

This macro adds a --enable-introspection=yes|no|auto configure option which defaults to auto.

auto - Will set HAVE_INTROSPECTION if gobject-introspection is available and the version requirement is satisfied.
yes - Will error out if gobject-introspection is missing or the version requirement is not satisfied. HAVE_INTROSPECTION will always be true.
no - Will never error out and HAVE_INTROSPECTION will always be false.

GOBJECT_INTROSPECTION_REQUIRE([version])

This macro does not add a configure option and behaves as if --enable-introspection=yes.

Example

You’ll need to adapt this for the library you’re adding introspection support to.

configure.ac (or configure.in if no .ac file is used)
```
GOBJECT_INTROSPECTION_CHECK([1.40.0])
```
Makefile.am
```
DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS = --enable-introspection
```
or just add to the existing DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS

foo/Makefile.am - must be near the end (after CLEANFILES has been set)

-include $(INTROSPECTION_MAKEFILE)
INTROSPECTION_GIRS =
INTROSPECTION_SCANNER_ARGS = --add-include-path=$(srcdir) --warn-all
INTROSPECTION_COMPILER_ARGS = --includedir=$(srcdir)

if HAVE_INTROSPECTION
introspection_sources = $(libfoo_1_0_la_SOURCES)

Foo-1.0.gir: libfoo-1.0.la
Foo_1_0_gir_INCLUDES = GObject-2.0
Foo_1_0_gir_CFLAGS = $(INCLUDES)
Foo_1_0_gir_LIBS = libfoo-1.0.la
Foo_1_0_gir_FILES = $(introspection_sources)
INTROSPECTION_GIRS += Foo-1.0.gir

girdir = $(datadir)/gir-1.0
gir_DATA = $(INTROSPECTION_GIRS)

typelibdir = $(libdir)/girepository-1.0
typelib_DATA = $(INTROSPECTION_GIRS:.gir=.typelib)

CLEANFILES += $(gir_DATA) $(typelib_DATA)
endif

You can also check out a complete example at https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/blob/c0ba041c73214f82d2c32b2ca1fa8f3c388c6170/gtk/Makefile.am#L1571-1621

Makefile variable documentation

INTROSPECTION_GIRS is the entry point, you should list all the gir files you want to build there in the XXX-Y.gir format where X is the name of the gir (for example Gtk) and Y is the version (for example 2.0).

If output is Gtk-3.0.gir then you should name the variables like Gtk_3_0_gir_NAMESPACE, Gtk_3_0_gir_VERSION etc.

Required variables:
- FILES - C sources and headers which should be scanned
One of these variables are required:
- LIBS - Library where the symbol represented in the gir can be found
- PROGRAM - Program where the symbol represented in the gir can be found
Optional variables, commonly used:
- INCLUDES - Gir files to include without the .gir suffix, for instance GLib-2.0, Gtk-3.0. This is needed for all libraries which you depend on that provides introspection information.
- SCANNERFLAGS - Flags to pass in to the scanner, see g-ir-scanner(1) for a list
- PACKAGES - list of pkg-config names which cflags are required to parse the headers of this gir. Note that INCLUDES will already fetch the packages and thus the cflags for all dependencies.
- EXPORT_PACKAGES - List of pkg-config names which are provided by this Gir.
- CFLAGS - Flags to pass in to the parser when scanning headers. Normally INCLUDES and PACKAGES will fetch the cflags for all dependencies. This is normally used for project specific CFLAGS.
- LDFLAGS - Linker flags used by the scanner. Normally INCLUDES and PACKAGES will fetch the ldflags for all dependencies. This is normally used for project-specific LDFLAGS (for instance if you’re building several libraries and typelibs).
Optional variables, seldomly used:
- NAMESPACE - Namespace of the gir, first letter capital, rest should be lower case, for instance: ‘Gtk’, ‘Clutter’, ‘ClutterGtk’. If not present the namespace will be fetched from the gir filename, the part before the first dash. For ‘Gtk-3.0’, namespace will be ‘Gtk’.
- VERSION - Version of the gir, if not present, will be fetched from gir filename, the part after the first dash. For ‘Gtk-3.0’, version will be ‘3.0’.