MESON(1)

📦
version 1.12.1 · 16 versions
, in arch rolling, nixpkgs unstable

💅 MESON(1) 💅 — a high productivity build system, fr fr

🌸 NAME 🌸

meson — a high productivity build system. That's the name, bestie; she's iconic. 👑

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

Okay so meson is a build system designed to optimize programmer productivity. It's giving simple, out-of-the-box support for modern software development tools and practices — think unit tests, coverage reports, Valgrind, Ccache, and the like. ✨

The main meson executable provides many subcommands to access all the functionality. Main character energy, honestly. 👑

🛠️ The setup command 🛠️

Using Meson is simple and follows the common two-phase process of most build systems. First you run Meson to configure your build:

meson setup [ options ] [ build directory ] [ source directory ]
⚠️ Bestie, the build directory must be different from the source directory. Meson does not support building inside the source directory, and attempting to do that leads to an error. No cap. 💀

After a successful configuration step you can build the source by running the actual build command in the build directory. The default backend of Meson is Ninja, which can be invoked like this:

ninja [ target ]

You only need to run the Meson command once: when you first configure your build dir. After that you just run the build command. Meson will autodetect changes in your source tree and regenerate all files needed to build the project. Literally so convenient. 🫶

Meson includes many built-in options that can be used to tweak the configuration of a build directory; projects can also add their own options. To set values for the options, use the -D command line argument like this:

meson setup -Dopt1=value1 -Dopt2=value2 rest of the command line...

✨ options: ✨

  • --version — print version number 🌈
  • --help — print command line help 🎀

⚙️ The configure command ⚙️

meson configure provides a way to configure a Meson project from the command line. Its usage is simple:

meson configure [ build directory ] [ options to set ]

If build directory is omitted, the current directory is used instead. 🦋

If no parameters are set, meson configure will print the value of all build options to the console. 👀

To set values, use the -D command line argument like this:

meson configure -Dopt1=value1 -Dopt2=value2

📦 The dist command 📦

meson dist generates a release archive. She's serving packaged realness. 💅

meson dist [ options ]

🎁 options: 🎁

  • -h, --help — show this help message and exit ✨
  • -C WD — directory to cd into before running 🧚
  • --allow-dirty — Allow even when repository contains uncommitted changes. 🙈
  • --formats FORMATS — Comma separated list of archive types to create. Supports xztar (default), gztar, and zip. 📚
  • --include-subprojects — Include source code of subprojects that have been used for the build. 🫶
  • --no-tests — Do not build and test generated packages. 🚫

🧸 The install command 🧸

meson install installs the project. Slay, put it where it belongs. 💖

meson install [ options ]

🌟 options: 🌟

  • -h, --help — show this help message and exit ✨
  • -C WD — directory to cd into before running 🧚
  • --no-rebuild — Do not rebuild before installing. 🚫
  • --only-changed — Only overwrite files that are older than the copied file. 🕰️
  • --quiet — Do not print every file that was installed. 🤫
  • --destdir DESTDIR — Sets or overrides DESTDIR environment. (Since 0.57.0) 📁
  • --dry-run, -n — Doesn't actually install, but print logs. (Since 0.57.0) 👀
  • --skip-subprojects [SKIP_SUBPROJECTS] — Do not install files from given subprojects. (Since 0.58.0) 🚫
  • --tags TAGS — Install only targets having one of the given tags. (Since 0.60.0) 🏷️
  • --strip — Strip targets even if strip option was not set during configure. (Since 0.62.0) ✂️

🔍 The introspect command 🔍

Meson introspect is a command designed to make it simple to integrate with other tools, such as IDEs. The output of this command is in JSON. Very demure, very machine-readable. 🤖✨

meson introspect [ build directory ] [ option ]

If build directory is omitted, the current directory is used instead. 🦋

💫 options: 💫

  • --targets — print all top level targets (executables, libraries, etc) 🎯
  • --target-files — print the source files of the given target 📄
  • --buildsystem-files — print all files that make up the build system (meson.build, meson.options, meson_options.txt etc) 🧱
  • --tests — print all unit tests 🧪
  • --help — print command line help 🎀

🌱 The init command 🌱

meson init creates a new project. Baby's first Meson moment, we love to see it. 🍼💖

meson init [ options ] [ sourcefile...  ]

🎀 positional arguments: 🎀

  • sourcefile... — source files. default: all recognized files in current directory 📂

🌈 options: 🌈

  • -h, --help — show this help message and exit ✨
  • -C WD — directory to cd into before running 🧚
  • -n NAME, --name NAME — project name. default: name of current directory 📛
  • -e EXECUTABLE, --executable EXECUTABLE — executable name. default: project name 🏃
  • -d DEPS, --deps DEPS — dependencies, comma-separated 🧩
  • -l {c,cpp,cs,cuda,d,fortran,java,objc,objcpp,rust,vala}, --language {c,cpp,cs,cuda,d,fortran,java,objc,objcpp,rust,vala} — project language. default: autodetected based on source files 🗣️
  • -b, --build — build after generation 🏗️
  • --builddir BUILDDIR — directory for build 📁
  • -f, --force — force overwrite of existing files and directories. 💥
  • --type {executable,library} — project type. default: executable based project 🎯
  • --version VERSION — project version. default: 0.1 🏷️

🧪 The test command 🧪

meson test is a helper tool for running test suites of projects using Meson. The default way of running tests is to invoke the default build command:

ninja [ test ]

meson test provides a richer set of tools for invoking tests. She ate. 💅

meson test automatically rebuilds the necessary targets to run tests when used with the Ninja backend. Upon build failure, meson test will return an exit code of 125. This return code tells git bisect run to skip the current commit. Thus bisecting using git can be done conveniently like this:

git bisect run meson test -C build_dir

🔥 options: 🔥

  • --repeat — run tests as many times as specified 🔁
  • --gdb — run tests under gdb 🐞
  • --list — list all available tests 📋
  • --wrapper — invoke all tests via the given wrapper (e.g. valgrind) 🧸
  • -C — Change into the given directory before running tests (must be root of build directory). 📂
  • --suite — run tests in this suite 🎯
  • --no-suite — do not run tests in this suite 🚫
  • --exclude — do not run named tests 🙅
  • --no-stdsplit — do not split stderr and stdout in test logs 🧾
  • --benchmark — run benchmarks instead of tests ⏱️
  • --logbase — base of file name to use for writing test logs 📝
  • --num-processes — how many parallel processes to use to run tests 🏃‍♀️
  • --verbose — do not redirect stdout and stderr 🔊
  • -t — a multiplier to use for test timeout values (usually something like 100 for Valgrind) ⏳
  • --setup — use the specified test setup 🛠️
  • --slice SLICE/NUM_SLICES — Split tests into NUM_SLICES slices and execute slice number SLICE. (Since 1.8.0) 🍰

🎁 The wrap command 🎁

Wraptool is a helper utility to manage source dependencies using the online wrapdb service. 🌐

meson wrap < command > [ options ]

You should run this command in the top level source directory of your project. 🫶

💖 Commands: 💖

  • list — list all available projects 📋
  • search — search projects by name 🔍
  • install — install a project with the given name 📦
  • update — update the specified project to latest available version ⬆️
  • info — show available versions of the specified project ℹ️
  • status — show installed and available versions of currently used subprojects 📊

🧩 The subprojects command 🧩

meson subprojects is used to manage subprojects. 🧚

meson subprojects [ options ] [ command ]

🌸 options: 🌸

  • -h, --help — show this help message and exit ✨

🦋 commands: 🦋

  • update — Update all subprojects from wrap files 🔄
  • checkout — Checkout a branch (git only) 🌿
  • download — Ensure subprojects are fetched, even if not in use. Already downloaded subprojects are not modified. This can be used to pre-fetch all subprojects and avoid downloads during configure. ⬇️
  • foreach — Execute a command in each subproject directory. 🔁
  • purge — Remove all wrap-based subproject artifacts 🧹
  • packagefiles — Manage the packagefiles overlay 📁

✏️ The rewrite command ✏️

meson rewrite modifies the project definition. Glow-up for your build files. 💅

meson rewrite [ options ] [ command ]

🎀 options: 🎀

  • -h, --help — show this help message and exit ✨
  • -s SRCDIR, --sourcedir SRCDIR — Path to source directory. 📂
  • -V, --verbose — Enable verbose output 🔊
  • -S, --skip-errors — Skip errors instead of aborting 🙈

🌟 commands: 🌟

  • target (tgt) — Modify a target 🎯
  • kwargs — Modify keyword arguments 🧩
  • default-options (def) — Modify the project default options ⚙️
  • command (cmd) — Execute a JSON array of commands 🧾

🏗️ The compile command 🏗️

meson compile builds the project. Let's get constructing, bestie. 🧱

meson compile [ options ] [ TARGET...  ]

🌈 positional arguments: 🌈

  • TARGET — Targets to build. Target has the following format: [PATH_TO_TARGET/]TARGET_NAME.TARGET_SUFFIX[:TARGET_TYPE]. 🎯

💜 options: 💜

  • -h, --help — show this help message and exit ✨
  • --clean — Clean the build directory. 🧹
  • -C WD — directory to cd into before running 🧚
  • -j JOBS, --jobs JOBS — The number of worker jobs to run (if supported). If the value is less than 1 the build program will guess. 🏃‍♀️
  • -l LOAD_AVERAGE, --load-average LOAD_AVERAGE — The system load average to try to maintain (if supported). ⚖️
  • -v, --verbose — Show more verbose output. 🔊
  • --ninja-args NINJA_ARGS — Arguments to pass to ninja (applied only on ninja backend). 🥷
  • --vs-args VS_ARGS — Arguments to pass to msbuild (applied only on vs backend). 🪟
  • --xcode-args XCODE_ARGS — Arguments to pass to xcodebuild (applied only on xcode backend). 🍎

🌿 The devenv command 🌿

meson devenv runs commands in the developer environment. It's giving cozy dev cave. 🫶

meson devenv [ options ] [ command ]

🍓 positional arguments: 🍓

  • command — Command to run in developer environment (default: interactive shell) 💻

🧚 options: 🧚

  • -h, --help — show this help message and exit ✨
  • -C BUILDDIR — Path to build directory 📁
  • --workdir WORKDIR, -w WORKDIR — Directory to cd into before running (default: builddir, Since 1.0.0) 🚪
  • --dump [DUMP] — Only print required environment (Since 0.62.0) Takes an optional file path (Since 1.1.0) 🖨️
  • --dump-format {sh,export,vscode} — Format used with --dump (Since 1.1.0) 🎨

🌸 The env2mfile command 🌸

ok so meson env2mfile is literally the glow-up command — it takes your current environment and turns it into a cross file or a native file. no cap, it just vibes off whatever your machine already has going on.

meson env2mfile [ options ]

✨ options:

  • -h, --help — shows this help message and dips, classic.
  • --debarch DEBARCH — the dpkg architecture you want generated, that's the one.
  • --gccsuffix GCCSUFFIX — if you need a particular gcc version suffix, this is where you put it.
  • -o OUTFILE — the output file, bestie. where the magic lands.
  • --cross — generate a cross compilation file 🦋
  • --native — generate a native compilation file 🏠
  • --system SYSTEM — define system for cross compilation.
  • --subsystem SUBSYSTEM — define subsystem for cross compilation.
  • --kernel KERNEL — define kernel for cross compilation.
  • --cpu CPU — define cpu for cross compilation.
  • --cpu-family CPU_FAMILY — define cpu family for cross compilation.
  • --endian {big,little} — define endianness for cross compilation. pick a side 💅

🎀 The format command 🎀

meson format formats a meson source file. it's the makeup bag for your code — makes everything all neat and pretty.

meson format [ options ] [ sources... ]

🌈 positional arguments:

  • sources... — meson source files. the ones getting the glow-up.

✨ options:

  • -h, --help — show this help message and exit.
  • -q, --check-only — exit with 1 if files would be modified by meson format. it's giving "just checking, not touching" energy.
  • -i, --inplace — format files in-place. yes, right there, directly on them.
  • -r, --recursive — recurse subdirs (requires --check-only or --inplace option). like, it will not go wandering without one of those two, ok?
  • -c meson.format, --configuration meson.format — read configuration from meson.format.
  • -e, --editor-config — try to read configuration from .editorconfig. it'll try, no promises past that, that's literally what the page says.
  • -o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT — output file (implies having exactly one input). so like, one input only — that's the deal 🔥

💀 When no command is specified 💀

if you run meson without a subcommand, it will assume you meant meson setup. which is lowkey convenient but…

it's deprecated!! meson will print a warning message if you use it. always use meson setup explicitly instead of relying on the default. periodt. don't make it warn you, it's embarrassing for everyone 😭

⭐ EXIT STATUS ⭐

  • 0 — Successful. slay 💖
  • 1 — Usage error, or an error parsing or executing meson.build.
  • 2 — Internal error.
  • 125 — meson test could not rebuild the required targets.

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

go touch grass on the internet, these are the links:

and that's the whole page bestie, we ate 🍓 this was meson 1.12.1, dated September 2026 — iconic version, iconic month, iykyk 🫶✨

📦 where this page comes from