PasBuild v1.4.0 release - flexibility and polish

PasBuild v1.4.0 Release Notes

Date: 2026-02-15

Overview

PasBuild v1.4.0 focuses on flexibility and polish. This release adds
the ability to use a custom Free Pascal compiler, improves the
behaviour of the -f project file flag, and refreshes the banner with a
more compact and personality-driven format.

New Features

Custom FPC Compiler Selection

PasBuild no longer assumes 'fpc' is on the system PATH. A custom FPC
compiler binary can now be specified via two mechanisms:

- --fpc <path> command-line flag
- PASBUILD_FPC environment variable

Precedence order: --fpc flag > PASBUILD_FPC environment variable >
default 'fpc' from PATH.

All internal references to the compiler now route through
TUtils.GetFPCExecutable, ensuring consistent behaviour across
compile, test-compile, and version detection.

Example usage:

pasbuild compile --fpc /opt/fpc-3.3.1/bin/fpc
export PASBUILD_FPC=/opt/fpc-3.3.1/bin/fpc
pasbuild compile

Project File Flag Now Changes Directory

The -f / --file flag now changes to the directory containing the
specified project file before executing the build. This allows all
relative paths in project.xml to resolve correctly, enabling builds
from any working directory.

Example usage:

pasbuild compile -f ../../../project.xml

New --license Flag

The full BSD-3-Clause license text has been moved from the default
banner to a dedicated --license flag. This keeps routine output
clean while still providing easy access to license information.

Example usage:

pasbuild --license

Changes

Enhanced --version Output

The --version flag now includes the build date and author alongside
the existing FPC executable and version information:

PasBuild version 1.4.0
Build automation tool for Free Pascal projects
Built: 2026/02/15
Author: Graeme Geldenhuys

FPC executable: fpc
FPC version detected: 3.2.2