unikernel/duniverse/dune_/doc/dev/directory-targets.md

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+# Directory targets
+
+A **directory target** corresponds to a file tree rooted at a specified root
+directory, for example, `docs/*`. Typical examples of rules producing directory
+targets are: unpacking an archive, running `make` in a vendored package, and
+building files with non-deterministic names (e.g. including the current date).
+
+## Declaring a directory target
+
+To declare a directory target `docs/*`, use the syntax `(target (dir docs))` in
+a rule stanza. The corresponding rule should create the directory `docs` and is
+free to populate it with an arbitrary number of files and/or subdirectories.
+
+Like file targets, directory targets can be promoted to the source tree by
+adding `(mode promote)` to the rule stanza.
+
+## Depending on a directory target
+
+There are two ways to depend on a directory target:
+
+* An **opaque dependency** on the whole file tree `docs/*`. Opaque dependencies
+  are invalidated if the contents of the tree is changed in any way. To declare
+  an opaque dependency on `docs/*`, use the syntax `(dep (dir docs))` in a rule
+  stanza.
+
+* A **projection dependency** on a specific file in the tree, e.g.
+  `docs/html/index.html`. A projection dependency is declared using the standard
+  syntax `(dep docs/html/index.html)` and works like a dependency on a normal
+  file target. For example, if the `docs/*` directory is rebuilt and only
+  `docs/html/logo.png` is modified, then the dependency on `docs/html/index.html`
+  is considered to be up-to-date. Note that it is easy to make a mistake with
+  such projection dependencies, for example, by forgetting that `index.html`
+  actually does include the image `docs/html/logo.png`. In such cases,
+  sandboxing will help since only the requested projection dependencies will be
+  available in the sandbox (i.e., not the whole directory target).
+
+## Building a directory target
+
+Users can request building whole directory targets or individual files via
+`dune build docs` and `dune build docs/html/index.html` commands.
+
+## Current limitations
+
+* It is not allowed to have two rules with the same directory target. That is,
+  like file targets, directory targets are **exclusive** (but see _shared
+  directory targets_ below).
+
+* Directory targets cannot have nested file or directory targets, i.e. other
+  rules are not allowed to declare targets within the file tree of a directory
+  target.
+
+## Possible future extensions
+
+Here are some possible extensions to consider:
+
+* **Opaque directory targets**: a rule may declare that its directory target is
+  opaque, in which case projection dependencies on its content will be
+  disallowed. One can also consider only partially opaque directory targets,
+  where the contents of the directory is only partially visible.
+
+* **Shared directory targets**: we can allow multiple rules to write to the same
+  directory target, as long as they do not write to the same files. In this
+  case, depending on a directory target would mean depending on all of the rules
+  that declare it as a target.