Comment on how `file_deps` works

src/dds/build/file_deps.hpp

@@ -1,5 +1,32 @@
 #pragma once
 
+/**
+ * The `file_deps` module implements the interdependencies of inputs files to their outputs, as well
+ * as the command that was used to generate that output from the inputs.
+ *
+ * For a given output, there is exactly one command that was used to generate it, and some non-zero
+ * number of input relations. A single input relation encapsulates the path to that input as well as
+ * the file modification time at which that input was used. The modification times are specifically
+ * stored on the input relation, and not associated with the input file itself, as more than one
+ * output may make use of a single input, and each output will need to keep track of the
+ * outdated-ness of its inputs separately.
+ *
+ * A toolchain has an associated `file_deps_mode`, which can be deduced from the Compiler-ID. The
+ * three dependency modes are:
+ *
+ * 1. None - No dependency tracking takes place.
+ * 2. GNU-Style - Dependencies are tracked using Clang and GCC's -M flags, which write a
+ * Makefile-syntax file which contains the dependencies of the file that is being compiled. This
+ * file is generated at the same time that the primary output is generated, and does not occur in a
+ * pre-compile dependency pass.
+ * 2. MSVC-Style - Dependencies are tracked using the cl.exe /showIncludes flag, which writes the
+ * path of every file that is read by the preprocsesor to the compiler's output. This also happens
+ * at the same time as main compilation, and does not require a pre-scan pass. Unfortunately, MSVC
+ * localizes this string, so we cannot properly track dependencies without knowing what language it
+ * will emit beforehand. At the moment, we implement dependency tracking for English, but providing
+ * other languages is not difficult.
+ */
+
 #include <dds/util/fs.hpp>
 
 #include <string>
@@ -8,39 +35,108 @@
 
 namespace dds {
 
+/**
+ * The mode in which we can scan for compilation dependencies.
+ */
 enum class file_deps_mode {
+    /// Disable dependency tracking
     none,
+    /// Track dependencies using MSVC semantics
     msvc,
+    /// Track dependencies using GNU-style generated-Makefile semantics
     gnu,
 };
 
+/**
+ * The result of performing a dependency scan. A simple aggregate type.
+ */
 struct file_deps_info {
-    fs::path              output;
+    /**
+     * The primary output path.
+     */
+    fs::path output;
+    /**
+     * The paths to each input
+     */
     std::vector<fs::path> inputs;
-    std::string           command;
-    std::string           command_output;
+    /**
+     * The command that was used to generate the output
+     */
+    std::string command;
+    /**
+     * The output of the command.
+     */
+    std::string command_output;
 };
 
 class database;
 
+/**
+ * Parse a compiler-generated Makefile that contains dependency information.
+ * @see `parse_mkfile_deps_str`
+ */
 file_deps_info parse_mkfile_deps_file(path_ref where);
+
+/**
+ * Parse a Makefile-syntax string containing compile-generated dependency
+ * information.
+ * @param str A Makefile-syntax string that will be parsed.
+ * @note The returned `file_deps_info` object will only have the `output` and
+ * `inputs` fields filled in, as the other parameters cannot be deduced from
+ * the Makefile. It is on the caller to fill these fields before passing them
+ * to `update_deps_info`
+ */
 file_deps_info parse_mkfile_deps_str(std::string_view str);
 
+/**
+ * The result of parsing MSVC output for dependencies
+ */
 struct msvc_deps_info {
-    struct file_deps_info deps_info;
-    std::string           cleaned_output;
+    /// The actual dependency information
+    file_deps_info deps_info;
+    /// The output from the MSVC compiler that has had the dependency information removed.
+    std::string cleaned_output;
 };
 
+/**
+ * Parse the output of the CL.exe compiler for file dependencies.
+ * @param output The output from `cl.exe` that has had the /showIncludes flag set
+ * @param leader The text prefix for each line that contains a dependency.
+ * @note The returned `file_deps_info` object only has the `input_files` field set, and does not
+ * include the primary input to the compiler. It is up to the caller to add the necessary fields and
+ * values.
+ * @note The `leader` parameter is localized depending on the language that `cl.exe` will use. In
+ * English, this string is `Note: including file:`. If a line begins with this string, the remainder
+ * of the line will be assumed to be a path to the file that the preprocessor read while compiling.
+ * If the `leader` string does not match the language that `cl.exe` emits, then this parsing will
+ * not see any of these notes, no dependencies will be seen, and the `cleaned_output` field in the
+ * return value will still contain the /showIncludes notes.
+ */
 msvc_deps_info parse_msvc_output_for_deps(std::string_view output, std::string_view leader);
 
-void update_deps_info(database& db, const file_deps_info&);
+/**
+ * Update the dependency information in the build database for later reference via
+ * `get_rebuild_info`.
+ * @param db The database to update
+ * @param info The dependency information to store
+ */
+void update_deps_info(database& db, const file_deps_info& info);
 
+/**
+ * The information that is pertinent to the rebuild of a file. This will contain a list of inputs
+ * that have a newer mtime than we have recorded, and the previous command and previous command
+ * output that we have stored.
+ */
 struct deps_rebuild_info {
     std::vector<fs::path> newer_inputs;
     std::string           previous_command;
     std::string           previous_command_output;
 };
 
+/**
+ * Given the path to an output file, read all the dependency information from the database. If the
+ * given output has never been recorded, then the resulting object will be empty.
+ */
 deps_rebuild_info get_rebuild_info(const database& db, path_ref output_path);
 
 }  // namespace dds