How to see token values or debug premake scripts?

[ShaiAvr]

I am using premake for my project and one thing I find annoying is that it's hard to debug scripts or print values of tokens.
For example, how can I print the values of %{cfg.system} or %{cfg.architecture} in order to understand what their values are?

Also, the documentation seems incomplete about tokens. The only page about tokens is this. It lists a bunch of tokens without further explanations or examples. Let's look at %{cfg.system} for example. What values does it get for different platforms? I found in StackOverflow that it can be windows, linux, or macosx. Are there more values such as ios, android etc?

I'd like to see further explanations about each token and more examples. I'd also like to have a way to print these values or debug premake scripts in general. Is there a way to achieve this that I am missing?
Thanks in advance.

[Jarod42]

how can I print the values of %{cfg.system} or %{cfg.architecture}

Not necessary an ideal solution, but a

prebuildmessage "%{cfg.system} or %{cfg.architecture}"

would allow to have the message in prebuild step (So either run the given project or investigate on the generated solution)

Also, the documentation seems incomplete about tokens.

Most documentation is not complete ;-)

Let's look at %{cfg.system} for example.

I would say value from system api

I'd also like to have a way to print these values or debug premake scripts in general. Is there a way to achieve this that I am missing?

I would say take a small project and check the generated solution.
(I made a samples repo mostly for integration testing, but it might help if you are stuck with one of the tested api).

Some generator might be more appropriate/correct than others depending of your usage/knowledge.

Common mistakes when debugging are "scope" (configurations/filter):

• indentation might be misleading, it doesn't reflect the actual scope.
• they are not equivalent to an if.
• they should be reset

filter "some condition"
  print("some condition hit") -- (always) executed when running script (never in generated solutions)
  buildoptions("specific options")
buildoptions("general options") -- still in the filter, require a `filter {}` to actually be global