1.3 Dependency Files

In addition to a bytecode file, raco make creates a file "compiled/‹name›_‹ext›.dep" that records dependencies of the compiled module on other module files and the source file’s SHA-1 hash. Using this dependency information, a re-compilation request via raco make can consult both the source file’s timestamp/hash and the timestamps/hashes for the bytecode of imported modules. Furthermore, imported modules are themselves compiled as necessary, including updating the bytecode and dependency files for the imported modules, transitively.

Continuing the raco make a.rkt example from the previous section, the raco make command creates "compiled/a_rkt.dep", "compiled/b_rkt.dep", and "compiled/c_rkt.dep" at the same time as the ".zo" files. The "compiled/a_rkt.dep" file records the dependency of "a.rkt" on "b.rkt", "c.rkt" and the racket library. If the "b.rkt" file is modified (so that its SHA-1 hash changes), then running

  raco make a.rkt

again rebuilds "compiled/a_rkt.zo" and "compiled/b_rkt.zo".

For module files that are within library collections, raco setup uses the same ".zo" and ".dep" conventions and files as raco make, so the two tools can be used together.

As long as the PLT_COMPILED_FILE_CHECK environment variable is not set or is set to modify, then raco make updates the timestamp on a compiled bytecode file if it is older than the source, even if the file does not need to be recompiled.