# NAME

`bdep-common-options` – details on common options

# SYNOPSIS

`bdep [common-options] ...`

# DESCRIPTION

The common options control behavior that is common to all or most of the `bdep` commands. They can be specified either before the command or after, together with the command-specific options.

# COMMON OPTIONS

`-v`
  Print essential underlying commands being executed. This is equivalent to `--verbose 2`.
`-V`
  Print all underlying commands being executed. This is equivalent to `--verbose 3`.
`--quiet`|`-q`
  Run quietly, only printing error messages. This is equivalent to `--verbose 0`.
`--verbose` `level`
  Set the diagnostics verbosity to `level` between 0 and 6. Level 0 disables any non-error messages while level 6 produces lots of information, with level 1 being the default. The following additional types of diagnostics are produced at each level:
  1. High-level information messages.
  2. Essential underlying commands being executed.
  3. All underlying commands being executed.
  4. Information that could be helpful to the user.
  5. Information that could be helpful to the developer.
  6. Even more detailed information.
`--stdout-format` `format`
  Representation format to use for printing to `stdout`. Valid values for this option are `lines` (default) and `json`. See the JSON OUTPUT section below for details on the `json` format.
`--jobs`|`-j` `num`
  Number of jobs to perform in parallel. If this option is not specified or specified with the `0` value, then the number of available hardware threads is used. This option is also propagated when executing package manager commands such as `bpkg-pkg-update(1)`, `bpkg-pkg-test(1)`, etc., which in turn propagate it to the build system.
`--progress`
  Display progress indicators for long-lasting operations, such as network transfers, building, etc. If printing to a terminal the progress is displayed by default for low verbosity levels. Use `--no-progress` to suppress.
`--no-progress`
  Suppress progress indicators for long-lasting operations, such as network transfers, building, etc.
`--diag-color`
  Use color in diagnostics. If printing to a terminal the color is used by default provided the terminal is not dumb. Use `--no-diag-color` to suppress.
`--no-diag-color`
  Don't use color in diagnostics.
`--bpkg` `path`
  The package manager program to be used for build configuration management. This should be the path to the `bpkg` executable. You can also specify additional options that should be passed to the package manager program with `--bpkg-option`.

  If the package manager program is not explicitly specified, then `bdep` will by default use `bpkg` plus an executable suffix if one was specified when building `bdep`. So, for example, if `bdep` name was set to `bdep-1.0`, then it will look for `bpkg-1.0`.

`--bpkg-option` `opt`
  Additional option to be passed to the package manager program. See `--bpkg` for more information on the package manager program. Repeat this option to specify multiple package manager options.
`--build` `path`
  The build program to be used to build packages. This should be the path to the build2 `b` executable. You can also specify additional options that should be passed to the build program with `--build-option`.

  If the build program is not explicitly specified, then `bdep` will by default use `b` plus an executable suffix if one was specified when building `bdep`. So, for example, if `bdep` name was set to `bdep-1.0`, then it will look for `b-1.0`.

`--build-option` `opt`
  Additional option to be passed to the build program. See `--build` for more information on the build program. Repeat this option to specify multiple build options.
`--curl` `path`
  The curl program to be used for network operations. You can also specify additional options that should be passed to the curl program with `--curl-option`.

  If the curl program is not explicitly specified, then `bdep` will use `curl` by default. Note that this program will also be used by the underlying `bpkg` invocations unless overridden.

`--curl-option` `opt`
  Additional option to be passed to the curl program. See `--curl` for more information on the curl program. Repeat this option to specify multiple curl options.

  Note that these options will also be used by the underlying `bpkg` invocations provided that curl is used.

`--offline`
  Do not attempt to download resources (packages, repository metadata, etc), instead taking them from the local fetch cache if available and failing otherwise. See `bpkg-common-options(1)` for details on the offline mode.
`--no-fetch-cache`
  Disable local caching of download resources (packages, repository metadata, etc). By default these are cached in a permanent local cache. See `bpkg-common-options(1)` for details on the fetch cache.
`--fetch-cache` `mode`
  Comma-separated list of local fetch cache modes. See `bpkg-common-options(1)` for details on the available modes. Note that the default for `bdep` is to enable sharing of cached source directories for dependencies during the configuration creation.
`--fetch-cache-session` `id`
  The local fetch cache session. Specifying the same session id across multiple `bdep` invocations allows eliminating repeated up-to-date checks of repository metadata. Any value, such as UUID, that is guaranteed not to clash with previous sessions can be used as a session id. See `bpkg-common-options(1)` for details on the fetch cache.
`--pager` `path`
  The pager program to be used to show long text. Commonly used pager programs are `less` and `more`. You can also specify additional options that should be passed to the pager program with `--pager-option`. If an empty string is specified as the pager program, then no pager will be used. If the pager program is not explicitly specified, then `bdep` will try to use `less`. If it is not available, then no pager will be used.
`--pager-option` `opt`
  Additional option to be passed to the pager program. See `--pager` for more information on the pager program. Repeat this option to specify multiple pager options.
`--options-file` `file`
  Read additional options from `file`. Each option should appear on a separate line optionally followed by space or equal sign (`=`) and an option value. Empty lines and lines starting with `#` are ignored. Option values can be enclosed in double (`"`) or single (`'`) quotes to preserve leading and trailing whitespaces as well as to specify empty values. If the value itself contains trailing or leading quotes, enclose it with an extra pair of quotes, for example `'"x"'`. Non-leading and non-trailing quotes are interpreted as being part of the option value.

  The semantics of providing options in a file is equivalent to providing the same set of options in the same order on the command line at the point where the `--options-file` option is specified except that the shell escaping and quoting is not required. Repeat this option to specify more than one options file.

`--default-options` `dir`
  The directory to load additional default options files from.
`--no-default-options`
  Don't load default options files.

# JSON OUTPUT

Commands that support the JSON output specify their formats as a serialized representation of a C++ `struct` or an array thereof. For example:

    struct package
    {
      string name;
    };

    struct configuration
    {
      uint64_t         id;
      string           path;
      optional<string> name;
      bool             default;
      vector<package>  packages;
    };

An example of the serialized JSON representation of `struct` `configuration`:

    {
      "id": 1,
      "path": "/tmp/hello-gcc",
      "name": "gcc",
      "default": true,
      "packages": [
        {
          "name": "hello"
        }
      ]
    }

This sections provides details on the overall properties of such formats and the semantics of the `struct` serialization.

The order of members in a JSON object is fixed as specified in the corresponding `struct`. While new members may be added in the future (and should be ignored by older consumers), the semantics of the existing members (including whether the top-level entry is an object or array) may not change.

An object member is required unless its type is `optional<>`, `bool`, or `vector<>` (array). For `bool` members absent means `false`. For `vector<>` members absent means empty. An empty top-level array is always present.

For example, the following JSON text is a possible serialization of the above `struct` `configuration`:

    {
      "id": 1,
      "path": "/tmp/hello-gcc"
    }

# DEFAULT OPTIONS FILES

See `bdep-default-options-files(1)` for an overview of the default options files. The following common options cannot be specified in the default options files:

    --fetch-cache-session

# BUGS

Send bug reports to the users@build2.org mailing list.