Colored messages from C/C++ compiler in C stubs

CHANGES.md

@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 Unreleased
 ----------
 
+- Use colored output with GCC and Clang when compiling C stubs. The
+  flag `-fdiagnostics-color=always` is added to the `:standard` set of
+  flags. (#4083, @MisterDA)
+
 - Fix the parsing of decimal and hexadecimal escape literals in `dune`,
   `dune-package`, and other dune s-expression based files (#6710, @shym)
 

src/dune_rules/cxx_flags.ml

@@ -20,6 +20,11 @@ let base_cxx_flags ~for_ cc =
   | Msvc, Link -> []
   | Other _, (Link | Compile) -> []
 
+let fdiagnostics_color = function
+  | (Gcc | Clang) when Lazy.force Ansi_color.stderr_supports_color ->
+    [ "-fdiagnostics-color=always" ]
+  | _ -> []
+
 let preprocessed_filename = "ccomp"
 
 let ccomp_type build_dir =
@@ -46,8 +51,13 @@ let check_warn = function
       ]
   | _ -> ()
 
-let get_flags ~for_ ctx =
+let ccomp_type ctx =
   let open Action_builder.O in
   let+ ccomp_type = ccomp_type ctx.Context.build_dir in
   check_warn ccomp_type;
+  ccomp_type
+
+let get_flags ~for_ ctx =
+  let open Action_builder.O in
+  let+ ccomp_type = ccomp_type ctx in
   base_cxx_flags ~for_ ccomp_type

src/dune_rules/cxx_flags.mli

@@ -7,10 +7,24 @@ type phase =
   | Compile
   | Link
 
+(** The detected compiler *)
+type ccomp_type =
+  | Gcc
+  | Msvc
+  | Clang
+  | Other of string
+
 (** The name of the file created in the .dune folder after calling the C
     preprocessor *)
 val preprocessed_filename : string
 
-(** [get_flags c_compiler] returns the necessary flags to turn this compiler
+(** [ccomp_type ctx] returns the C/C++ compiler type. *)
+val ccomp_type : Context.t -> ccomp_type Action_builder.t
+
+(** [get_flags for_:phase ctx] returns the necessary flags to turn this compiler
     into a c++ compiler for some of the most common compilers *)
 val get_flags : for_:phase -> Context.t -> string list Action_builder.t
+
+(** [fdiagnostics_color cc] returns the flags activating color diagnostics for
+    the C/C++ compiler, if supported. *)
+val fdiagnostics_color : ccomp_type -> string list

src/dune_rules/super_context.ml

@@ -7,16 +7,23 @@ let default_context_flags (ctx : Context.t) ~project =
   in
   let c, cxx =
     match Dune_project.use_standard_c_and_cxx_flags project with
-    | None | Some false ->
-      (Action_builder.return cflags, Action_builder.return cxxflags)
+    | None | Some false -> Action_builder.(return cflags, return cxxflags)
     | Some true ->
-      let c = cflags @ Ocaml_config.ocamlc_cppflags ctx.ocaml_config in
+      let open Action_builder.O in
+      let c =
+        let+ cc = Cxx_flags.ccomp_type ctx in
+        let fdiagnostics_color = Cxx_flags.fdiagnostics_color cc in
+        cflags
+        @ Ocaml_config.ocamlc_cppflags ctx.ocaml_config
+        @ fdiagnostics_color
+      in
       let cxx =
-        let open Action_builder.O in
-        let+ db_flags = Cxx_flags.get_flags ~for_:Compile ctx in
-        db_flags @ cxxflags
+        let+ cc = Cxx_flags.ccomp_type ctx
+        and+ db_flags = Cxx_flags.get_flags ~for_:Compile ctx in
+        let fdiagnostics_color = Cxx_flags.fdiagnostics_color cc in
+        db_flags @ cxxflags @ fdiagnostics_color
       in
-      (Action_builder.return c, cxx)
+      (c, cxx)
   in
   Foreign_language.Dict.make ~c ~cxx
 

test/blackbox-tests/test-cases/c-flags-diagnostics-color.t/dune-project

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+(lang dune 3.5)

test/blackbox-tests/test-cases/c-flags-diagnostics-color.t/run.t

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+This test won't work with MSVC as it's using GCC and clang CLI
+parameters.
+
+We have to force Dune outputting colors, for that we use
+`CLICOLOR_FORCE=1`.
+
+The flag should be present in the command, as we want it in the
+:standard set.
+
+We don't actually test that the compiler outputs colors, just that
+Dune correctly passes the flag when required, and doesn't when it's
+not.
+
+test, color enabled, color flag default (enabled)
+=================================================
+
+  $ cat >dune <<EOF
+  > (library
+  >  (name test)
+  >  (foreign_stubs (language c) (names stub)))
+  > EOF
+
+  $ CLICOLOR_FORCE=1 dune rules -m stub.o | grep -ce "-fdiagnostics-color=always"
+  1
+
+test, color enabled, color flag disabled
+========================================
+
+  $ cat >dune <<EOF
+  > (library
+  >  (name test)
+  >  (foreign_stubs
+  >   (flags :standard \ -fdiagnostics-color=always)
+  >   (language c) (names stub)))
+  > EOF
+
+  $ CLICOLOR_FORCE=1 dune rules -m stub.o | grep -ce "-fdiagnostics-color=always"
+  0
+  [1]
+
+test, color disabled, color flag default (enabled)
+==================================================
+
+  $ cat >dune <<EOF
+  > (library
+  >  (name test)
+  >  (foreign_stubs
+  >   (language c) (names stub)))
+  > EOF
+
+  $ CLICOLOR=0 dune rules -m stub.o | grep -ce "-fdiagnostics-color=always"
+  0
+  [1]

test/blackbox-tests/test-cases/c-flags-diagnostics-color.t/stub.c

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+#error "error message"