The depend tool helps to visualize import dependencies.
Moreover, it allows to check them against a UML model of target dependencies.
Using the depend tool on the code of the popular vibe.d repository gives an overview of the package dependencies:
package diagram
Use dub to build the depend tool:
dub build --build=release
Run the depend tool like you run dmd (most arguments are just passed to dmd).
For example, run the depend tool on its own code:
depend --compiler dmd src/*.d
Consider switching to module dependencies instead of package dependencies:
depend --detail src/*.d
The output is a package diagram in the PlantUML language:
@startuml
package check {}
package deps {}
package graph {}
package imports {}
package main {}
package model {}
package settings {}
package uml {}
check ..> model
deps ..> model
graph ..> model
imports ..> model
main ..> check
main ..> deps
main ..> graph
main ..> imports
main ..> settings
main ..> uml
settings ..> model
uml ..> model
@enduml
Copy and paste the output to the PlantUML Server for visualization:
For checking, specify the target dependencies in the PlantUML language.
For example, create a text file target.uml.
Use the depend tool to check the import dependencies against the target dependencies:
depend --detail src/*.d --check target.uml
Then, the check will complain about violations:
error: unintended dependency main -> deps
error: unintended dependency main -> graph
error: unintended dependency main -> uml
error: unintended dependency uml -> graph
You will also get warnings about cyclic dependencies.
Alternatively, run dmd up front and pass the extracted dependencies explicitly:
dmd -deps=dependencies ...
depend --deps dependencies