Qbs Manual | Group Item

Qbs 1.9.0

FileTagger Item ◦ Module Item

# Group Item

This item is attached to a product and used to group files that have something in common. For example:

      Application {
          Group {
              name: "common files"
              files: ["myclass.h", "myclass_common_impl.cpp"]
          }
          Group {
              name: "Windows files"
              condition: qbs.targetOS.contains("windows")
              files: "myclass_win_impl.cpp"
          }
          Group {
              name: "Unix files"
              condition: qbs.targetOS.contains("unix")
              files: "unixhelper.cpp"
              Group {
                  name: "Linux files"
                  condition: qbs.targetOS.contains("linux")
                  files: "myclass_linux_impl.cpp"
              }
              Group {
                  name: "FreeBSD files"
                  condition: qbs.targetOS.contains("freebsd")
                  files: "myclass_freebsd_impl.cpp"
              }
          }
          Group {
              name: "Files to install"
              qbs.install: true
              qbs.installDir: "share"
              files: "runtime_resource.txt"
          }
      }

When specifying files, you can use the wildcards "*", "?" and "[]", which have their usual meaning. By default, matching files are only picked up directly from the parent directory, but you can tell Qbs to consider the whole directory tree. It is also possible to exclude certain files from the list. The pattern ** used in a pathname expansion context will match all files and zero or more directories and subdirectories. For example:

              Group {
                  name: "Word processing documents"
                  files: ["*.doc", "*.rtf"]
                  prefix: "**/"
                  qbs.install: true
                  qbs.installDir: "share"
                  excludeFiles: "do_not_install_this_file.*"
              }

A group can also be used to attach properties to build artifacts such as executables or libraries. In the following example, an application is installed to "<install root>/bin".

      Application {
          Group {
              fileTagsFilter: "application"
              qbs.install: true
              qbs.installDir: "bin"
          }
      }

Groups may also appear in modules, which causes the respective sources to be added to the products depending on said module. Groups can be nested. In this case, child groups inherit the module properties and the file tags of their parent group. The condition of a child group gets logically ANDed with the one of its parent group.

## Group Properties

Property | Type | Default | Description
--- | --- | --- | ---
name | string | "Group x", where x is a unique number among all the groups in the product | The name of the group. Not used internally; mainly useful for IDEs.
files | list | empty list | The files in the group. Mutually exclusive with fileTagsFilter. Relative paths are resolved using the parent directory of the file that contains the `Group` item. However, if the `prefix` property is set to an absolute path, then that one becomes the base directory.
prefix | string | empty string | A string to prepend to all files. Slashes are allowed and have directory semantics.
fileTagsFilter | list | empty list | Artifact file tags to match. Any properties set in this group will be applied to the product's artifacts whose file tags intersect with the ones listed here. Mutually exclusive with files.
condition | bool | true | Determines whether the files in the group are actually considered part of the project.
fileTags | list | empty list | Tags to attach to the group's files. These can then be matched by a rule. Note that file taggers are never applied to a file that has this property set.
overrideTags | bool | true | Determines how tags on files that are listed both at the top level of a product (or the parent group, if there is one) and a group are handled. If this property is true, then the file tags set via the group replace the ones set via the product or parent group. If it is false, the "group tags" are added to the "parent tags".
excludeFiles | list | empty list | For use with wildcards; the files in this list are "subtracted" from the files list.

FileTagger Item ◦ Module Item