Migrating from kmcomp to kmc

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kmcomp was the command-line compiler for Keyman Developer through version 16.0. Version 17.0 replaces kmcomp with kmc.

The lexical model command-line tooling, kmlmc, kmlmp, and kmlmi, are all still present in version 17, but are deprecated, as the same tasks can be performed with kmc.

Benefits

• Unlike kmcomp, which was a Windows-only console application, kmc is a cross-platform application, running on Windows, Linux, and macOS, built in node.js.
• kmc parameters have been redesigned to be more consistent, and easily extensible for new functionality.
• kmc can run in a batch mode that is up to 100x faster than kmcomp.
• kmc can be easily integrated into GitHub Actions and other continuous integration tooling.

Compiling a project

To compile a project, kmcomp used a command line such as:

kmcomp path\to\my_keyboard.kpj

With kmc, you would use:

kmc build path/to/my_keyboard.kpj
# or you can specify just the folder:
kmc build path/to/
# If you are in the same folder as the .kpj:
kmc build .

This is the recommended way of using kmc -- always build an entire project, rather than just the keyboard.

Compiling a keyboard

To compile a keyboard, kmcomp builds used command lines such as:

# building a .kmx
kmcomp my_keyboard.kmn my_keyboard.kmx
# building a .js (for KeymanWeb)
kmcomp my_keyboard.kmn my_keyboard.js

With kmc, you would use:

# building all outputs
kmc build my_keyboard.kmn
# or to specify output files (.js inferred from .kmx, and always built)
kmc build my_keyboard.kmn -o my_keyboard.kmx

Compiling a package

To compile a package, kmcomp builds used command lines such as:

kmcomp my_keyboard.kps

With kmc, you would use:

kmc build my_keyboard.kps
# to specify output file or path
kmc build my_keyboard.kps -o path/to/my_keyboard.kmp

Map of parameters

The following table lists common parameters in kmcomp, and the corresponding parameter in kmc:

kmcomp	kmc	notes
-h, -help	-h, --help	Note that kmc --help can be used for further detail on subcommands, e.g. kmc build --help
-s	-l warn, --log-level warn	Silent option, suppresses informational and hint-level messages
-ss	-l silent, --log-level silent	Super-silent option, suppresses all messages, except fatal internal errors
-nologo	not required	kmc does not emit a compiler description
-c	N/A	kmc does not currently support the clean command, this will be supported in future versions
-d	-d, --debug	Include debug information in output files
-w	-w, --compiler-warnings-as-errors	Causes warnings to fail the build; overrides project-level option
-cfc	not required	Filename convention checks are now standard hints/warnings in the build
-t	N/A	Build specified target from .kpj, not supported in kmc
-color	--color	Force colorization for log messages
-no-color	--no-color	No colorization for log messages
-no-compiler-version	--no-compiler-version	Exclude compiler version metadata from output files

Compiling a lexical model

kmlmc and kmlmp were separate tools in earlier versions of Keyman Developer, for compiling lexical models and lexical model packages. They have both been replaced with kmc.

Old method, using kmlmc and kmlmp:

kmlmc file.model.ts
# or specifying output filename
kmlmc -o output/path/file.model.js file.model.ts
kmlmp file.model.kps

New method, using kmc:

# recommended, build the model project:
kmc build .
# building single files:
kmc build file.model.ts
kmc build file.model.ts -o output/path/file.model.js
kmc build file.model.kps