Using the Slice Compiler

Common Options

Ice provides a Slice compiler for each language mapping. The compilers share a similar command-line syntax:

BASH

slice2<name> [options] file...

Regardless of which compiler you use, a number of command-line options are common to the compilers for any language mapping:

-h, --help
Displays a help message.
-v, --version
Displays the compiler version.
-DNAME
Defines the preprocessor symbol NAME.
-DNAME=DEF
Defines the preprocessor symbol NAME with the value DEF.
Each compiler always predefines the __<compiler name in upper case>__ macro when compiling Slice file. For example, slice2cpp predefines __SLICE2CPP__.
-UNAME
Undefines the preprocessor symbol NAME.
-IDIR
Add the directory DIR to the search path for #include directives.
--output-dir DIR
Place the generated files into directory DIR, which must already exist.
-d, --debug
Print debug information showing the operation of the Slice parser.

--depend
Print dependency information in Makefile format to standard output by default, or to the file specified by the --depend-file option.

--depend-xml
Print dependency information in XML format to standard output by default, or to the file specified by the --depend-file option.

--depend-file FILE
Directs dependency information to the specified file. The output format depends on whether --depend, --depend-xml, or --depend-json is specified.
--validate
Checks the provided command-line options for correctness, and does not generate any code.

The Slice compilers permit you to compile more than a single source file, so you can compile several Slice definitions at once, for example:

BASH

slice2cpp -I. file1.ice file2.ice file3.ice

The Slice-to-Python compiler (slice2py) supports the following additional options:

--build modules|index|all
Controls what type of Python files are generated from the compile Slice files.
- --build=modules Generates only the Python module files for the Slice definitions.
- --build=index Generates only the Python package index files (__init__.py).
- --build=all. Generates both module and index files (this is the default if --build is omitted).
--list-generated modules|index|all
Lists the Python files that would be generated for the given Slice definitions, without producing any output files.
- --list-generated=modules Generates only the Python module files for the Slice definitions.
- --list-generated=index Generates only the Python package index files (__init__.py).
- --list-generated=all. Generates both module and index files (this is the default if --build is omitted).