Compiling with libhandy: Handy Reference Manual

## Compiling with libhandy Compiling with libhandy — Notes on compiling |

### Using pkg-config

Like other GNOME libraries, libhandy uses pkg-config to provide compiler options. The package name is "`libhandy-0.0`". So in your `configure` script, you might specify something like:

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    PKG_CHECK_MODULES(LIBHANDY, [libhandy-0.0])
    AC_SUBST(LIBHANDY_CFLAGS)
    AC_SUBST(LIBHANDY_LIBS)

Or if using meson/ninja use a `dependency('libhandy-0.0')` dependency.

The "`0.0`" in the package name is the "API version" (indicating "the version of the libhandy API that first appeared in version 0.0") and is essentially just part of the package name.

When using the meson build system™ you can declare a dependency like

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    dependency('libhandy-0.0')

### Acknowledge the Unstability

Since the library is young and is still changing a lot, in order to use it you are required to acknowledge that your are using an unstable API. To do so, `HANDY_USE_UNSTABLE_API` must be defined for compilation to succeed.

From C code or any compatible language, you can prefix your inclusioin of the libhandy header like so:

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    #define HANDY_USE_UNSTABLE_API
    #include <handy.h>

Including individual headers rather than `handy.h` is not recommended.

You can also acknoledge this with the definition option of your C compiler, like `-DHANDY_USE_UNSTABLE_API`. This is required from Vala.

To use libhandy from Vala, you must define the acknowledgment in C via `-X -DHANDY_USE_UNSTABLE_API`. If your build system uses a two pass compilation and hence your Vala compiler outputs C (Meson, Automake, or using the `--ccode` Vala compiler option trigger that) then you must add `-DHANDY_USE_UNSTABLE_API` to your C compiler argments instead.