How does the compiler look for the files of imports?

[Kirk McDonald]

Jakob wrote:
> I have the following files:
> 
> foo/bar.d
>     module foo.bar;
>     import lol.rofl;
> 
> lol/rofl.d
>     module lol.rofl;
> 
> 
> If i change to the directory where "foo" and "lol" are in, and do
>     gdc foo/bar.d lol/rofl.d
> it finds all the files.
> 
> If i change to the directory "foo/" and do
>     gdc bar.d ../lol/rofl
> it doesn't compile:
> bar.d:3: module rofl cannot read file 'lol/rofl.d'
> 
> 
> IMHO, the compiler should notice that the module name is 'foo.bar' (and 
> not only 'bar') and so the directory to search for imports is the parent 
> directory. Or what do you think about that?

I think it requires too much magic.

/
+-foo/
| +-lol/
| | +-rofl.d - module lol.rofl (1)
| +-bar.d - module foo.bar
+-lol/
   +-rofl.d - module lol.rofl (2)

If the current directory is the root of the above, then:

$ gdc -c foo/bar.d

That will find the lol.rofl marked (2). But if the current direcrory is 
foo/:

$ gdc -c bar.d

This will (currently) find the lol.rofl marked (1).

To answer the question in the subject line, the compiler looks in the 
current directory and then any directories provided by the -I option. To 
get your second example working, you just need to add "-I .." to the 
command-line:

$ gdc bar.d ../lol/rofl.d -I ..

There are too many subtleties involved for the compiler to be able to 
guess where modules should be.

-- 
Kirk McDonald
http://kirkmcdonald.blogspot.com
Pyd: Connecting D and Python
http://pyd.dsource.org