Package does not propagate public defines

[bugsnotabunny]

Xmake Version

v3.1.0+19800101

Operating System Version and Architecture

NixOS 26.05 (Yarara) x86_64

Describe Bug

I use add_defines to define myself a public macro to distinguish target OS in my c++ code. However, targets using my library package do not compile with those definitions on.

Expected Behavior

public definitions are inherited from within packaged libs

Project Configuration

Complete example may be found here
https://github.com/bugsnotabunny/comppath

xmake.lua

add_rules("mode.debug", "mode.asan", "mode.tsan", "mode.release", "mode.minsizerel")

option("tests")
    set_default(true)
    set_showmenu(true)
    set_description("Build tests")
option_end()

set_languages("c++20")
set_warnings("all", "extra", "pedantic")

if is_mode("release") then
    set_optimize("fastest")
    add_defines("NDEBUG")
    set_strip("debug")
elseif is_mode("minsizerel") then
    set_optimize("smallest")
    add_defines("NDEBUG")
    set_strip("debug")
else
    set_optimize("fast")
end

target("comppath")
    set_kind("headeronly")
    add_includedirs("include", { public = true })
    add_headerfiles("include/(**.hpp)")
    set_default(true)
    print(get_config("plat"))
    if is_plat("android", "appletvos", "applexros", "bsd", "cygwin",
                "haiku", "iphoneos", "linux", "macosx", "msys", "watchos") then
        add_defines("COMPPATH_PLATFORM_POSIX=1", { public = true })
    elseif is_plat("windows") then
        add_defines("COMPPATH_PLATFORM_WINDOWS=1", { public = true })
    end
target_end()


if has_config("tests") then
    add_requires("catch2 v3.10.0", { external = true, configs = { main = false, gmock = false, shared = true } })
end


for _, file in ipairs(os.files("test/cases/**.cpp")) do
    local rel_path = path.relative(file, "test/cases")
    local name = "test." .. rel_path:gsub("/", "."):sub(1, -5)
    target(name)
        set_enabled(has_config("tests"))
        set_kind("binary")
        add_deps("comppath")
        add_packages("catch2", { external = true, public = false })
        add_files(file)
        add_tests("default", { runargs = { "--skip-benchmarks" }, timeout = 120 })
        add_tests("norandord", { runargs = { "--skip-benchmarks", "--order=decl" }, timeout = 120 })
    target_end()
end

packages/c/comppath

package("comppath")
    set_description("comppath - Compile-time reflection over filesystem paths")
    set_homepage("https://github.com/bugsnotabunny/comppath")
    set_license("MIT")

    add_urls("https://github.com/bugsnotabunny/comppath.git")

    add_versions("experimental", "master")
    add_versions("v0.1.0", "v0.1.0")

    set_kind("library", {headeronly = true})

    on_install(function (package)
        import("package.tools.xmake").install(package, { tests = false })
    end)

    on_test(function (package)
        assert(package:has_cxxincludes("comppath/CompPath.hpp", {configs = {languages = "cxx20"}}))
    end)

Additional Information and Error Logs

This is what I get. I get the same results with package generated by xmake package CLI

Same thing as below on github: https://github.com/bugsnotabunny/comppath/actions/runs/33126974505/job/98707326401

banan@nixos [02:54:19] [~/repos/comppath] [master *]
-> % xmake config --project=.github/package_integrity --toolchain=clang --mode=release --comppath-version=experimental -vy
configure
{
    kind = static
    ccache = true
    host = linux
    builddir = build
    toolchain = clang
    mode = release
    comppath-version = experimental
    ndk_stdcxx = true
    plat = linux
    arch = x86_64
}
banan@nixos [02:54:22] [~/repos/comppath] [master *]
-> % xmake build --project=.github/package_integrity -vy
[ 23%]: <test> cache compiling.release main.cpp
/nix/store/n6iq0d21wjvl669j4srpppicpx3dc133-clang-wrapper-22.1.8/bin/clang++ -c -Qunused-arguments -m64 -Wall -Wextra -Wpedantic -std=c++20 -isystem /home/banan/.xmake/packages/c/comppath/experimental/fd7980d205a342f79bd86efee86abeb0/include -o ../../build/.objs/test/linux/x86_64/release/main.cpp.o main.cpp
error: main.cpp:6:27: error: no member named 'LEXICALLY_NORMAL' in namespace 'comppath'
    6 |   static_assert(comppath::LEXICALLY_NORMAL<"some/cool/../dir"> == "some/dir");
      |                           ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
main.cpp:6:64: error: expected expression
    6 |   static_assert(comppath::LEXICALLY_NORMAL<"some/cool/../dir"> == "some/dir");
      |                                                                ^
2 errors generated.

[waruqi]

You need to define them in the package configuration.

package("comppath")
    add_defines("XXXX")

[bugsnotabunny]

Yeah, this is a workaround. But anyway are there reasons why defines can't be propagated into a package? This is basically a code duplication in a place where it could be avoided. Maybe it is possible to make inheriting opt-in to avoid breaking of previous behaviour

[waruqi]

Yeah, this is a workaround. But anyway are there reasons why defines can't be propagated into a package? This is basically a code duplication in a place where it could be avoided. Maybe it is possible to make inheriting opt-in to avoid breaking of previous behaviour

This is not a workaround; this is how it's designed now, and all package configurations are like this.

The configuration of the user's xmake.lua is very complex, with option-based conditional control, making it difficult to simply synchronize with package configurations. This introduces a lot of uncertainty and implicit state, making it difficult to test and debug.