SCons Output in Build directory

Question

I'm trying to modify my SCons files so that they put the generated files into a build directory. Initially I though VariantDir could be an option but judging from all I read and the examples it does not do what I want.

Is there any easy way to force SCons to put the output in a certain directory without having to rewrite all the sources and scripts?

Answer 1

After struggling with VariantDir for a while (it wasn't doing anything at all), I ended up using variant_dir parameter in the top level SConscript call, which causes all downstream build outputs end up in a parallel 'build' tree: SConscript(['subdirs/SConscript'], variant_dir='build', duplicate=0) My build structure is a hierarchy of SConscripts in subdirs/sub-subdirs, etc. With this call the outputs end up in build/sub-subdirs at the same level as they would in the source.

This eats up one level, though (subdirs), and using "../build" does not help. The solution is to have a SConscript file at the same level as SConstruct and call SConscript(['SConscript'], variant_dir='build', duplicate=0)

See also Force Scons output (exe, obj, lib & dll) to specific build directory - it has a similar answer