A simple zig library template

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A simple zig library template that can be used in development.

Tested with zig version 0.12.0 (0.13.0-dev.351+64ef45eb0) on Linux Fedora 39.

The template can handle next steps via zig build command:

zlibrary-template$ zig build -l
  install (default)            Copy build artifacts to prefix path
  uninstall                    Remove build artifacts from prefix path
  lib                          Build static library
  tst                          Run all tests
  cov                          Generate code coverage
  doc                          Generate documentation
  fmt                          Format all files
  bms                          Build all benchmarks
  bms-run                      Run <benchmark> with `-Ddirname=<benchmark>` option
  egs                          Build all examples
  egs-run                      Run <example> with `-Ddirname=<example>` option
  rmv                          Remove zig-cache and zig-out directories
  rmv-dir                      Remove <directory> with `-Ddirname=<directory>` option
                               Supported Values: zig-cache, zig-out, bin, bms, cov, doc, egs, lib

Important:

  • Step cov assumes that kcov is already installed on your operating system
  • Use a live http server, like Live Server to see the code coverage report (zig-out/cov/index.html) and documentation (zig-out/doc/index.html)
  • Steps bms and bms-run assume that ztracy or ztracy-tsc is a library dependency and is only used in benchmarks
  • Use tracy frame profiler for benchmarking
  • Steps bms-run, egs-run and rmv-dir assume that the -Ddirname=<dirname> option is used
  • Step rmv-dir -Ddirname=<value> accepts zig-cache, zig-out, bin, bms, cov, doc, egs and lib values
  • Step rmv removes the zig-cache and zig-out directories

For VS Code users are some useful tasks and debug launchers in .vscode/tasks.json and .vscode/launch.json files.

There are two main types of tasks, debug and release, the difference is that the latter uses -Doptimize=ReleaseFast.

Important:

  • Some tasks require a file open and active in the VS Code editor, usually tasks specific to a file, such as “Run example”. These tasks will display an error message if they cannot run.
  • Note that the main entry point for an example_name is example_name.zig file (same for benchmarks). This is important to have a proper connection between builds, tasks and launchers.

Debug launchers require CodeLLDB extension.
Task management can be easily done with Task Explorer extension.

All the best!

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