[PATCH 1/3] meson: introduce a "docs" alias to compile documentation only

From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Sep 11, 2025, 09:16 UTC
Message-ID: <20250911-b4-pks-meson-docs-target-v1-1-a92c666ecef9@pks.im>
In-Reply-To: <20250911-b4-pks-meson-docs-target-v1-0-a92c666ecef9@pks.im>

Meson does not currently provide a target to compile documentation, only. Instead, users needs to compile the whole project, which may be way more than they really intend to do.

Introduce a new "docs" alias to plug this gap. This alias can be invoked e.g. with `meson compile docs`.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
---
 Documentation/howto/meson.build     | 4 ++--
 Documentation/meson.build           | 8 ++++----
 Documentation/technical/meson.build | 4 ++--
 contrib/contacts/meson.build        | 4 ++--
 contrib/subtree/meson.build         | 4 ++--
 meson.build                         | 7 +++++++
 6 files changed, 19 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/howto/meson.build b/Documentation/howto/meson.build
index 81000028c0..ece20244af 100644
--- a/Documentation/howto/meson.build
+++ b/Documentation/howto/meson.build
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ howto_index = custom_target(
   output: 'howto-index.adoc',
 )
 
-custom_target(
+doc_targets += custom_target(
   command: asciidoc_html_options,
   input: howto_index,
   output: 'howto-index.html',
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ foreach howto : howto_sources
     capture: true,
   )
 
-  custom_target(
+  doc_targets += custom_target(
     command: asciidoc_html_options,
     input: howto_stripped,
     output: fs.stem(howto_stripped.full_path()) + '.html',
diff --git a/Documentation/meson.build b/Documentation/meson.build
index e34965c5b0..44f94cdb7b 100644
--- a/Documentation/meson.build
+++ b/Documentation/meson.build
@@ -377,7 +377,7 @@ foreach manpage, category : manpages
       output: fs.stem(manpage) + '.xml',
     )
 
-    custom_target(
+    doc_targets += custom_target(
       command: [
         xmlto,
         '-m', '@INPUT0@',
@@ -400,7 +400,7 @@ foreach manpage, category : manpages
   endif
 
   if get_option('docs').contains('html')
-    custom_target(
+    doc_targets += custom_target(
       command: asciidoc_common_options + [
         '--backend=' + asciidoc_html,
         '--doctype=manpage',
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ if get_option('docs').contains('html')
     depends: documentation_deps,
   )
 
-  custom_target(
+  doc_targets += custom_target(
     command: [
       xsltproc,
       '--xinclude',
@@ -481,7 +481,7 @@ if get_option('docs').contains('html')
   ]
 
   foreach article : articles
-    custom_target(
+    doc_targets += custom_target(
       command: asciidoc_common_options + [
         '--backend=' + asciidoc_html,
         '--out-file=@OUTPUT@',
diff --git a/Documentation/technical/meson.build b/Documentation/technical/meson.build
index a13aafcfbb..858af811a7 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/meson.build
+++ b/Documentation/technical/meson.build
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ api_index = custom_target(
   output: 'api-index.adoc',
 )
 
-custom_target(
+doc_targets += custom_target(
   command: asciidoc_html_options,
   input: api_index,
   output: 'api-index.html',
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ custom_target(
 )
 
 foreach article : api_docs + articles
-  custom_target(
+  doc_targets += custom_target(
     command: asciidoc_html_options,
     input: article,
     output: fs.stem(article) + '.html',
diff --git a/contrib/contacts/meson.build b/contrib/contacts/meson.build
index 73d82dfe52..c8fdb35ed9 100644
--- a/contrib/contacts/meson.build
+++ b/contrib/contacts/meson.build
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ if get_option('docs').contains('man')
     output: 'git-contacts.xml',
   )
 
-  custom_target(
+  doc_targets += custom_target(
     command: [
       xmlto,
       '-m', '@INPUT@',
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ if get_option('docs').contains('man')
 endif
 
 if get_option('docs').contains('html')
-  custom_target(
+  doc_targets += custom_target(
     command: asciidoc_common_options + [
       '--backend=' + asciidoc_html,
       '--doctype=manpage',
diff --git a/contrib/subtree/meson.build b/contrib/subtree/meson.build
index 98dd8e0c8e..46cdbcc30c 100644
--- a/contrib/subtree/meson.build
+++ b/contrib/subtree/meson.build
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ if get_option('docs').contains('man')
     output: 'git-subtree.xml',
   )
 
-  custom_target(
+  doc_targets += custom_target(
     command: [
       xmlto,
       '-m', '@INPUT@',
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ if get_option('docs').contains('man')
 endif
 
 if get_option('docs').contains('html')
-  custom_target(
+  doc_targets += custom_target(
     command: asciidoc_common_options + [
       '--backend=' + asciidoc_html,
       '--doctype=manpage',
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index b3dfcc0497..40b2a2dc54 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2101,11 +2101,18 @@ endif
 
 subdir('bin-wrappers')
 if get_option('docs') != []
+  doc_targets = []
   subdir('Documentation')
 endif
 
 subdir('contrib')
 
+# Note that the target is intentionally configured after including the
+# 'contrib' directory, as some tool there also have their own manpages.
+if get_option('docs') != []
+  alias_target('docs', doc_targets)
+endif
+
 exclude_from_check_headers = [
   'compat/',
   'unicode-width.h',

-- 
2.51.0.450.g87641ccf93.dirty