erlang emakefile explain

Question

i have an emakefile look like below

%% --
%%
%% --

{'/Users/user/projects/custom_test/trunk/*', [debug_info, {outdir, "/Users/user/projects/custom_test/trunk/ebin"},  {i, "/Users/user/projects/custom_test/trunk/include/."}]}.

1.can someone please explain in lay man term what does each item in the list means?
2. how to run the emakefile so that i able to compile it?
3. after compiled, those generated BEAM file, how to run?

Answer 1

1. For the Emakefile synax visit the man page
2. In the directory where the Emakefile is run erl -make to compile using the Emakefile
3. Simplest way to run would be to simply start an erlang shell in the same directory as the beam files with the command erl. Then run the code with module_name:function_name(). (including the dot).

Answer 2

1/ {"source files globbed", Options}

Here the options are :

• debug_info add debug info for the debugger

• {outdir, "/Users/user/projects/custom_test/trunk/ebin"} where should the output be written (the .beam files)

• {i, "/Users/user/projects/custom_test/trunk/include/."} where to find the .hrl header files.

2/ erl -make

3/ erl -pa /Users/user/projects/custom_test/trunk/ebin starts a shell.

Find the module serving as an entry point in your application and call the functions : module:start().

You can also run the code non interactively :

erl -noinput -noshell -pa /Users/user/projects/custom_test/trunk/ebin -s module start