[feature] Provide a 'premake_multi' generator

I’m trying to use the new experimental premake generator with premake5 based on these guides: https://docs.conan.io/en/latest/reference/generators/premake.html https://docs.conan.io/en/latest/integrations/build_system/premake.html#premake

But I can’t figure out how to hook up multiple configurations in premake.

If I use conan install . -s built_type=Debug -if ./debug to install Debug/Release builds into separate directories, then I end up with two conanbuildinfo.premake.lua files in two separate directories (debug and release).

If I then have this in premake5.lua:

include "debug/conanbuildinfo.premake.lua"

That’ll include the debug configuration. But then what about the release configuration?

If I do this:

include "debug/conanbuildinfo.premake.lua"
include "release/conanbuildinfo.premake.lua"

Then I’m just loading two different tables on top of each other. Is this just not supported on premake, or am I doing something wrong? Any help on this would be appreciated.

• I’ve read the CONTRIBUTING guide.

[Zeenobit]

I managed to get this working using a simple function in Lua. Instead of using include, use include_conan:

local function include_conan(filename)
    include(filename)
    local buildinfo = { }
    local prefix = 'conan_'
    for k, v in pairs(_G) do
        if k:sub(1, #prefix) == prefix then
            buildinfo[k:sub(#prefix + 1)] = v
        end
    end
    return buildinfo
end

Then, use the following to install Conan files into separate directories:

conan install .. -if ./conan_debug   -s build_type=Debug
conan install .. -if ./conan_release

And then call include_conan at the beginning of your premake script:

conan_debug   = include_conan "conan_debug/conanbuildinfo.premake.lua"
conan_release = include_conan "conan_release/conanbuildinfo.premake.lua"

Projects can reference Conan variables like so:

        libdirs {
            conan_debug.libdirs
        }

It’s not the most elegant solution, but it’s working for me so far. Not sure if I should close the issue.

[memsharded]

Yes, what @Zeenobit exposed above is more or less what the xxx_multi generators are doing internally, so seems indeed possible. Actually, for xxx_multi generators, it might be possible that in Conan 2.0 they become the default (and only?) ones. If this functionality is important to you @Zeenobit, would you like to try to contribute such premake_multi generator to Conan? It seems a valid issue, but our backlog is huge, so contributions would be appreciated here.