Sub sub modules.

[andrewd207]

I think it would be really useful if a “super” parent project could target nested modules directly, something like:

pasbuild --module mymodule.submodule

Where mymodule is a pom-style module, and you can keep going deeper (mymodule.submodule.child, etc.).

Right now it feels like you can only really target top-level modules easily, which gets a bit awkward once a project starts having more structure. Being able to point directly at a nested module from the root would make things a lot smoother, especially for scripting or quick builds.

Why this helps

• Easier to work from the root of larger projects
• Makes automation/scripts cleaner when dealing with deeper module trees

Idea in short

• Let --module accept dot-separated paths
• Resolve them recursively from the root
• Allow targeting modules at any depth

[graemeg]

It's already supported. Just you don't need to dot-notation. Simply reference the module you want to compile, and PasBuild will figure our any dependencies and compile everything in order so your selected target module compiles.

Looking at fpGUI as an example:

graemeg@graeme-linux-desktop:/data/devel/fpgui (develop)$ pasbuild dependency-tree --all
[INFO] PasBuild 1.9.0-git — Born 2026-05-14. Raised by Graeme Geldenhuys.
[INFO] Compiler: FPC (fpc)
[INFO] Executing goal: dependency-tree
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Dependency Tree
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-svg2hvif 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   (no dependencies)
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-framework 2.1.0 [library]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-svg2hvif [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-ide 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-docview 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-uidesigner 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-vertex 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-examples 2.1.0 [aggregator]
[INFO]   (no dependencies)
[INFO] 
[INFO] examples-gui 2.1.0 [aggregator]
[INFO]   (no dependencies)
[INFO] 
[INFO] examples-gui-aboutdialog 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] examples-gui-alignment 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] examples-gui-lmborder 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] examples-gui-lmflow 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] examples-gui-lmmig 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] examples-gui-stdimages 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] examples-gui-treeview 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] pasbuild-docs-compile 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   (no dependencies)
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-hvif-dump 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-imgcnv 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-vertex-canvas-demo 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
graemeg@graeme-linux-desktop:/data/devel/fpgui (develop)$ pasbuild compile -m examples-gui-lmmig -p unix
[INFO] PasBuild 1.9.0-git — Born 2026-05-14. Raised by Graeme Geldenhuys.
[INFO] Compiler: FPC (fpc)
[INFO] Executing goal: reactor-compile
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Reactor Build Order (selected: examples-gui-lmmig):
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-svg2hvif
[INFO] fpgui-framework
[INFO] examples-gui-lmmig
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] 
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building fpgui-svg2hvif [1/3]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Executing goal: process-resources
[INFO] No resources directory found (src/main/resources), skipping
[INFO] Executing goal: compile
[INFO] Compiling project...
[INFO] Found 2 source file(s)
[INFO] Activating profile: unix
[INFO] Build successful (see target/pasbuild-status/compile/compiler.log for details)
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS [  1.148 s]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] 
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building fpgui-framework [2/3]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Executing goal: process-resources
[INFO] Processing resources from src/main/resources...
[INFO]   Filtering enabled
[INFO] Resources processed successfully
[INFO] Executing goal: compile
[INFO] Compiling project...
[INFO] Generating bootstrap program for library...
[INFO] Discovered 259 units
[INFO] Bootstrap program generated: target/bootstrap_program.pas
[INFO] Found 275 source file(s)
[INFO] Found 62 include file(s)
[INFO] Activating profile: unix
[INFO] Build successful (see target/pasbuild-status/compile/compiler.log for details)
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS [  6.278 s]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] 
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building examples-gui-lmmig [3/3]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Executing goal: process-resources
[INFO] No resources directory found (src/main/resources), skipping
[INFO] Executing goal: compile
[INFO] Compiling project...
[INFO] Found 9 source file(s)
[INFO] Activating profile: unix
[INFO] Build successful (see target/pasbuild-status/compile/compiler.log for details)
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS [  1.218 s]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Reactor Summary:
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-svg2hvif ........ SUCCESS [  1.148 s]
[INFO] fpgui-framework ....... SUCCESS [  6.278 s]
[INFO] examples-gui-lmmig .... SUCCESS [  1.218 s]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 8.644 s
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

[andrewd207]

[INFO] fpgui-svg2hvif 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   (no dependencies)
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-framework 2.1.0 [library]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-svg2hvif [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-ide 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-docview 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-uidesigner 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-vertex 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-examples 2.1.0 [aggregator]
[INFO]   (no dependencies)
[INFO] 
[INFO] examples-gui 2.1.0 [aggregator]
[INFO]   (no dependencies)
[INFO] 
[INFO] examples-gui-aboutdialog 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] examples-gui-alignment 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] examples-gui-lmborder 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] examples-gui-lmflow 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] examples-gui-lmmig 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] examples-gui-stdimages 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] examples-gui-treeview 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] pasbuild-docs-compile 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   (no dependencies)
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-hvif-dump 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-imgcnv 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]
[INFO] 
[INFO] fpgui-vertex-canvas-demo 2.1.0 [application]
[INFO]   └─ fpgui-framework [module]

Is it too late to request that this is json as well which is easy to parse? I can do it either way but json makes it super easy and I think it's still pretty human readable.

[andrewd207]

ohhhh that's good to know 🤣 sorry for the noise. I need to update pb-editor then. since currently it can't do moduledependancy that are deeper than it's immediate parent. I'm deep in the weeds making termui examples and have two levels of modules. but I accessed the top level as an external module dependancy

[andrewd207]

Yes it's on the list. I'm so deep into this I don't remember what I started with. lol I wanted an easy way to edit project files for some some project but I forget what it was . Oh well this is fun too. Currently working on an example editor that has syntax highlighting

[graemeg]

Aggregator modules inside aggregator modules wasn't strictly needed for fpGUI, but I did it to test PasBuild dependency tree.

I could have referenced all modules (even examples/gui/lm-mig) directly from the root aggregator. But that would become a rather large project.xml with all the examples and tools added.

[graemeg]

Yes it's on the list. I'm so deep into this I don't remember what I started with. lol

That's my problem with Blaise too. I have a Long Term plan, which I split into smaller Short Term goals. Then each Short Term goal is split into Phases. Each Phase is composed of Steps. 🤣

Then I start with a Step and realise Blaise has a gap in it's language or lexer support blocking that step. Then instead of adding work-arounds (which I did in the beginning), I diverge and start implementing those gaps. It totally messes with my plan and my todo lists are looking a bit crazy at the moment.

But it's a huge amount of fun designing language features. I've hit 2000 tests today, and noticing it's taking longer and longer to compile and run. So soon I'll have to divert again and look at performance and parallel running tests. At least it will make use of my 16 CPU cores. :-D

[graemeg]

Today was another case in point. I wanted to build out a DateUtils unit. I decided FPC & Delphi date/time/datetime features are crap (for 2026!). Redesigned it, but it uses records with methods. Blaise only supported basic records. Records with Methods was a lot larger work than I expected. 🙄

[andrewd207]

I'm actually pretty excited to see what this becomes. I love fpc very much. I always use the trunk version so unreleased features don't bother me : ) but this can bo cool to. I actualy really like kotlin but I don't like the ide's and project managment as much as Lazarus which I also love. I spent a lot of time in the past improving it.