Base Config

Nearly all of Rebar3’s configuration is done by modifying a rebar.config file at the root of your project or OTP application’s main directory. The values defined at the root of a project will apply to all applications declared there, and specific configuration files within an OTP application’s main directory will apply only to that application. The few exceptions to that rule are global configuration used for plugins and environment variables for changes to overall Rebar3 behaviour.

This page documents all of the standard options that can go in a rebar.config file, and the environment variables that can impact Rebar3’s behaviour.

Environment configuration

Rebar3 supports some options that will impact the behaviour of the tool wholesale. Those are defined as OS environment variables, as follows:

REBAR_PROFILE="term"         # force a base profile
HEX_CDN="https://..."        # change the Hex endpoint for a private one
QUIET=1                      # only display errors
DEBUG=1                      # show debug output
                             # "QUIET=1 DEBUG=1" displays both errors and warnings
DIAGNOSTIC=1                 # show maintainers output            
REBAR_COLOR="low"            # reduces amount of color in output if supported
REBAR_CACHE_DIR              # override where Rebar3 stores cache data
REBAR_GLOBAL_CONFIG_DIR      # override where Rebar3 stores config data
REBAR_BASE_DIR               # override where Rebar3 stores build output
REBAR_CONFIG="rebar3.config" # changes the name of rebar.config files
REBAR_GIT_CLONE_OPTIONS=""   # pass additional options to all git clone operations
                             # for example, a cache across project can be set up
                             # with "--reference ~/.cache/repos.reference"
http_proxy                   # standard proxy ENV variable is respected
https_proxy                  # standard proxy ENV variable is respected
TERM                         # standard terminal definition value. TERM=dumb disables color

Alias

Aliases allow for creating new commands out of existing ones, as if they were run one after the other:

{alias, [{check, [eunit, {ct, "--sys_config=config/app.config"}]}]}.

Arguments (as with a command line) can be passed by replacing Provider with {Provider, Args}.

Artifacts

Artifacts are a list of files that are required to exist after a successful compilation (including any compile hooks) other than Erlang modules. This is useful to let rebar3 figure out if a dependency with some non-Erlang artifacts was successfully built or not. Examples where this can be useful include identifying C code built for shared libraries, rendered templates, or that an escript was properly generated.

If a dependency is found to already be built (meaning its .app file’s list of modules matches its .beam files and all its artifacts exist) it will not have the compilation provider or its hooks called on it during a subsequent run of rebar3.

{artifacts, [file:filename_all()]}.

What the paths are relative to depends on if it is defined at the top level of an umbrella project or not. For example, let’s say we have a project my_project that contains an application my_app under apps/my_app/ that we build an escript from. Then we want to tell rebar3 to not consider the configuration in my_project/rebar.config, since it is the top level rebar.config of an umbrella. The artifact will be relative to the profile_dir, which by default is _build/default/:

{escript_name, rebar3}.

{provider_hooks, [{post, [{compile, escriptize}]}]}.

{artifacts, ["bin/rebar3"]}.

If instead it isn’t an umbrella but with my_app being the top level directory the artifact defined in rebar.config is relative to the application’s output directory, in this case _build/default/lib/my_app/ but we can use a template to define it from profile_dir as well:

{escript_name, rebar3}.

{provider_hooks, [{post, [{compile, escriptize}]}]}.

{artifacts, ["{{profile_dir}}/bin/rebar3"]}.

All available template key are listed in the table below.

One more example would be using artifacts within an override, in this case for eleveldb:

{overrides,
 [{override, eleveldb, [{artifacts, ["priv/eleveldb.so"]},
                        ...
                       ]
  }]}.

The artifact is define on the application eleveldb so it is relative to the output directory, meaning the path used above is the same as if we used "{{out_dir}}/priv/eleveldb.so".

Compilation

Compiler options can be set with erl_opts, available options are listed in the Erlang compile module’s documentation.

{erl_opts, []}.

Additionally it is possible to set platform specific options. The options run a regular expression against the OTP version joined with the OS details.

{erl_opts, [{platform_define,
               "(linux|solaris|freebsd|darwin)",
               'HAVE_SENDFILE'},
              {platform_define, "(linux|freebsd)",
                'BACKLOG', 128},
              {platform_define, "^18",
                'OTP_GREATER_THAN_18'},
              {platform_define, "^R13",
                'old_inets'}]
}.

The version string might look like "22.0-x86_64-apple-darwin18.5.0-64" so if you want to check for a specific OTP version (and avoid matching against an OS version), remember to prefix your regular expression with ^.

A separate compile option is one to declare modules to compile before all others:

{erl_first_files, ["src/mymodule.erl", "src/mymodule.erl"]}.

And some other general options exist:

{validate_app_modules, true}. % Make sure modules in .app match those found in code
{app_vars_file, undefined | Path}. % file containing elements to put in all generated app files
%% Paths the compiler outputs when reporting warnings or errors
%% relative (default), build (all paths are in _build, default prior
%% to 3.2.0, and absolute are valid options
{compiler_source_format, relative}.

Other Erlang-related compilers are supported with their own configuration options:

• Leex compiler with {xrl_opts, [...]}
• SNMP MIB Compiler with {mib_opts, [...]}
• Yecc compiler with {yrl_opts, [...]}

Rebar3 compiler options

Rebar3 ships with some compiler options specific to it.

Enable/Disable recursive compiling

Disable or enable recursive compiling globally:

{erlc_compiler,[{recursive,boolean()}]}.

Disable or enable recursive compiling on src_dirs:

{src_dirs, [{"src", [{recursive, true|false}]}]}
%% Or alternatively:
{erl_opts, [{src_dirs,[{string(),[{recursive,boolean()}]}]}]}.

Disable or enable recursive compiling on for extra_src_dirs:

{extra_src_dirs, [{"test", [{recursive, true | false}]}]}
%% or
{erl_opts, [{extra_src_dirs,[{string(),[{recursive,boolean()}]}]}]}.

Examples

All three options can be combined for granularity which should provide enough flexibility for any project. Below are some examples.

Disable recursive compiling globally, but enable it for a few dirs:

{erlc_compiler,[{recursive,false}]},
{erl_opts,[{src_dirs,["src",{"other_src",[{recursive,true}]}]}]}.

Disable recursive compiling on test and other dirs:

{erl_opts, [
            {extra_src_dirs,[
                    {"test", [{recursive,boolean()}]},
                    {"other_dir", [{recursive,boolean()}]}]}
            ]
}.

Common Test

{ct_first_files, [...]}. % {erl_first_files, ...} but for CT
{ct_opts, [...]}. % same as options for ct:run_test(...)
{ct_readable, true | false}. % disable Rebar3 modifying CT output in the shell

Reference of common test options for ct_opts: https://www.erlang.org/doc/man/ct.html#run_test-1

A special option allows to load a default sys.config set of entries using {ct_opts, [{sys_config, ["name.of.config"]}]}. From the command line, it is however specified as --sys_config name.of.config.

Options often exist mirroring those that can be specified in Commands arguments.

Cover

Enable code coverage in tests with {cover_enabled, true}. Then the cover provider can be run after tests to show reports. The option {cover_opts, [verbose]} can be used to force coverage reports be printed to the terminal rather than just in files. Specific modules can be blacklisted from code coverage by adding {cover_excl_mods, [Modules]} to the config file. Applications can be blacklisted as a whole with the {cover_excl_apps, [AppNames]} option.

Dialyzer

-type warning() :: dialyzer:warn_option().

{dialyzer, [{warnings, [warning()]},
            {get_warnings, boolean()},
            {plt_apps, top_level_deps | all_deps} % default: top_level_deps
            {plt_extra_apps, [atom()]},
            {plt_location, local | file:filename()},
            {plt_prefix, string()},
            {base_plt_apps, [atom(), ...]},
            {base_plt_location, global | file:filename()},
            {base_plt_prefix, string()}]}.

To find all possible dialyzer:warn_option() use dialyzer documentation.

For information on suppressing warnings in modules see the Requesting or Suppressing Warnings in Source Files section of the Dialyzer documentation.

Distribution

Multiple providers and plugins may demand to support distributed Erlang. Generally, the configuration for all such commands (such as ct and shell) respect the following configuration values:

{dist_node, [
    {setcookie, 'atom-cookie'},
    {name | sname, 'nodename'}
]}.

Directories

The following options exist for directories; the value chosen below is the default value

%% directory for artifacts produced by Rebar3
{base_dir, "_build"}.
%% directory in '<base_dir>/<profile>/' where deps go
{deps_dir, "lib"}.
%% where Rebar3 operates from; defaults to the current working directory
{root_dir, "."}.
%% where checkout dependencies are to be located
{checkouts_dir, "_checkouts"}.
%% directory in '<base_dir>/<profile>/' where plugins go
{plugins_dir, "plugins"}.
%% directories where OTP applications for the project can be located
{project_app_dirs, ["apps/*", "lib/*", "."]}.
%% Directories where source files for an OTP application can be found
{src_dirs, ["src"]}.
%% Paths to miscellaneous Erlang files to compile for an app
%% without including them in its modules list
{extra_src_dirs, []}.
%% Paths the compiler outputs when reporting warnings or errors
%% relative (default), build (all paths are in _build, default prior
%% to 3.2.0, and absolute are valid options
{compiler_source_format, relative}.

Furthermore, Rebar3 stores some of its configuration data in ~/.config/rebar3 and cache some data in ~/.cache/rebar3. Both can be overridden by specifying {global_rebar_dir, "./some/path"}.

EDoc

All options supported by EDoc can be put in {edoc_opts, [...]}.

Escript

Full details at the escriptize command. Example configuration values below.

{escript_main_app, AppName}. % specify which app is the escript app
{escript_name, "FinalName"}. % name of final generated escript
{escript_incl_apps, [App]}. % apps (other than the main one and its deps) to be included
{escript_emu_args, "%%! -escript main Module\n"}. % emulator args
{escript_shebang, "#!/usr/bin/env escript\n"}. % executable line
{escript_comment, "%%\n"}. % comment at top of escript file

Because of the structure of escript building, options at the top-level rebar.config file only are used to build an escript.

EUnit

{eunit_first_files, [...]}. % {erl_first_files, ...} but for CT
{eunit_opts, [...]}. % same as options for eunit:test(Tests, ...)
{eunit_tests, [...]}. % same as Tests argument in eunit:test(Tests, ...)

A special option allows to load a default sys.config set of entries using {eunit_opts, [{sys_config, ["name.of.config"]}]}. From the command line, it is however specified as --sys_config name.of.config.

Eunit Options reference: https://www.erlang.org/doc/man/eunit.html#test-2

Hex Repos and Indexes

Starting with Rebar3 version 3.7.0, multiple Hex repositories (or indexes) can be used at the same time. Repositories are declared in an ordered list, from highest priority to lowest priority.

When looking for a package, repositories are going to be traversed in order. As soon as one of the packages fits the description, it is downloaded. The hashes for each found packages are kept in the project’s lockfile, so that if the order of repositories changes and some of them end up containing conflicting packages definitions for the same name and version pairs, only the expected one will be downloaded.

This allows the same mechanism to be used for both mirrors, private repositories (as provided by hex.pm), and self-hosted indexes.

For publishing or using a private repository you must use the rebar3_hex plugin to authenticate, rebar3 hex auth. This creates a separate config file ~/.config/rebar3/hex.config storing the keys.

{hex, [
   {repos, [
      %% A self-hosted repository that allows publishing may look like this
      #{name => <<"my_hexpm">>,
        api_url => <<"https://localhost:8080/api">>,
        repo_url => <<"https://localhost:8080/repo">>,
        repo_public_key => <<"-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
        ...
        -----END PUBLIC KEY-----">>
      },
      %% A mirror looks like a standard repo definition, but uses the same
      %% public key as hex itself. Note that the API URL is not required
      %% if all you do is fetch information
      #{name => <<"jsDelivr">>,
        repo_url => <<"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/hex">>,
        ...
       },
       %% If you are a paying hex.pm user with a private organisation, your
       %% private repository can be declared as:
       #{name => <<"hexpm:private_repo">>}
       %% and authenticate with the hex plugin, rebar3 hex user auth
   ]}
]}.

%% The default Hex config is always implicitly present.
%% You could however replace it wholesale by using a 'replace' value,
%% which in this case would redirect to a local index with no signature
%% validation being done. Any repository can be replaced.
{hex, [
   {repos, replace, [
      #{name => <<"hexpm">>,
        api_url => <<"https://localhost:8080/api">>,
        repo_url => <<"https://localhost:8080/repo">>,
        ...
       }
   ]}
]}.

Minimum OTP Version

A minimum version of Erlang/OTP can be specified which causes a build to fail if an earlier version is being used to build the application.

{minimum_otp_vsn, "17.4"}.

Overrides

Overrides allow for modifying the configuration of a dependency from a higher level application. They are meant to allow quick fixes and workarounds, although we do recommend working on permanent fixes that make it to the target app’s configuration when possible.

Overrides come in 3 flavours: add, override on app, and override on all.

{overrides, [{add, app_name(), [{atom(), any()}]},
             {del, app_name(), [{atom(), any()}]},
             {override, app_name(), [{atom(), any()}]},
             {add, [{atom(), any()}]},
             {del, [{atom(), any()}]},
             {override, [{atom(), any()}]}]}.

These are applied to dependencies, and dependencies can have their own overrides as well that are applied in the following order: overrides on all, per app overrides, per app additions.

As an example, this can be used to force all the dependencies to be compiled with debug_info by default, and to force no_debug_info in case the production profile is used.

{overrides, [{override, [{erl_opts, [debug_info]}]}]}.

{profiles, [{prod, [{overrides, [{override, [{erl_opts,[no_debug_info]}]}]},
                    {relx, [{dev_mode, false},
                            {include_erts, true}]}]}
           ]}.

Another example could be to remove warnings_as_errors as a compiler option for all applications:

{overrides, [
    %% For all apps:
    {del, [{erl_opts, [warnings_as_errors]}]},
    %% Or for just one app:
    {del, one_app, [{erl_opts, [warnings_as_errors]}]}
]}.

Do note that overrides don’t work on the finalized flattened option, but on the configuration as you see it in the project’s rebar.config file. This means that if you want to replace the value of some configuration that is changed in a profile, you must override that profile’s entry.

🚧

Overrides For All Apps in Umbrella Projects

In an umbrella project, overrides that are specified in the top-level rebar.config file will also apply to applications within the `apps/` or `lib/` directory. By comparison, overrides specified in the `rebar.config` file at the application level will only apply to their dependencies.

Hooks

There are two types of hooks: shell hooks and provider hooks. They both apply to the same type of providers.

Shell Hooks

Hooks provide a way to run arbitrary shell commands before or after hookable providers, optionally first matching on the type of system to choose which hook to run. Shell hooks are run after provider hooks.

-type hook() :: {atom(), string()}
              | {string(), atom(), string()}.

{pre_hooks, [hook()]}.
{post_hooks, [hook()]}.

An example for building merl with Rebar3 by using pre_hooks:

{pre_hooks, [{"(linux|darwin|solaris)", compile, "make -C \"$REBAR_DEPS_DIR/merl\" all -W test"},
             {"(freebsd|netbsd|openbsd)", compile, "gmake -C \"$REBAR_DEPS_DIR/merl\" all"},
             {"win32", compile, "make -C \"%REBAR_DEPS_DIR%/merl\" all -W test"},
             {eunit, "erlc -I include/erlydtl_preparser.hrl -o test test/erlydtl_extension_testparser.yrl"},
             {"(linux|darwin|solaris)", eunit, "make -C \"$REBAR_DEPS_DIR/merl\" test"},
             {"(freebsd|netbsd|openbsd)", eunit, "gmake -C \"$REBAR_DEPS_DIR/merl\" test"},
             {"win32", eunit, "make -C \"%REBAR_DEPS_DIR%/merl\" test"}
            ]}.

🚧

Behaviour of post_hooks

A post_hooks entry will only be called if its hookable provider was successful. This means that if you add a post_hooks entry for eunit, it will only be called if your EUnit tests are able to finish successfully.

Provider Hooks

Providers are also able to be used as hooks. The following hook runs clean before compile runs. To execute commands in a namespace a tuple is used as second argument. Provider hooks are run before shell hooks.

{provider_hooks, [{pre, [{compile, clean}]}
                  {post, [{compile, {erlydtl, compile}}]}]}

Hookable Points in Providers

Only specific built-in providers support hooks attached to them. Control depends on whether the provider operates on the project’s applications (each application and dependency) or if it’s expected to only run on the project at large.

Provider hooks are run before shell hooks.

* These hooks are, by default, running for every application, because dependencies may specify their own hook in their own context. The distinction is that in some cases (umbrella apps), hooks can be defined on many levels (omitting overrides):

• the rebar.config file at the application root
• each top-level app’s (in apps/ or libs/) rebar.config
• each dependency’s rebar.config

By default, when there is no umbrella app, the hook defined in the top-level rebar.config is attributed to be part of the top-level app. This allows the hook to keep working for a dependency when the library is later published.

If however the hook is defined in rebar.config at the root of a project with umbrella applications, the hooks will be run before/after the task runs for all of the top-level applications.

To preserve the per-app behaviour in an umbrella project, hooks must instead be defined within each application’s rebar.config.

Relx

See Releases

Plugins

See Plugins. Use {plugins, [Dep]} for plugins required to make the project build when used as a dependency, and {project_plugins, [...]} for plugins that provide utilities that aren’t required for the project to build when used as a dependency.

Shell

The rebar3 shell REPL will automatically boot applications if a relx entry is found, but apps to be started by the shell can be specified explicitly with {shell, [{apps, [App]}]}.

Other options include:

XRef

{xref_warnings,false}.
{xref_extra_paths,[]}.
{xref_checks,[undefined_function_calls,undefined_functions,locals_not_used,
              exports_not_used,deprecated_function_calls,
              deprecated_functions]}.
{xref_queries,[{"(xc - uc) || (xu - x - b - (\"mod\":\".*foo\"/\"4\"))", []}]}.
{xref_ignores, [Module, {Module, Fun}, {Module, Fun, Arity}]}.

You can also ignore xref warnings for certain modules or functions by using the -ignore_xref(_). attribute in your modules. This is useful for ignoring functions that give you undesired warnings such as undefined_function_calls and exports_not_used, like so:

-ignore_xref({other, call, 0}).   % ignore warnings for calls to "external" module function
-ignore_xref([{other, call, 0}]). % equivalent to the previous declaration

-ignore_xref({function,0}).       % ignore warnings for locally exported function not used in the analysis scope
-ignore_xref([{function,0}]).     % equivalent to the previous declaration
-ignore_xref(function/0).         % equivalent to the previous declaration
-ignore_xref([function/0]).       % equivalent to the previous declaration

-ignore_xref(module).             % ignore warnings related to a given module
-ignore_xref([module]).           % equivalent to previous declaration