[Bf-committers] CVS, Make & MSVC

[Ton Roosendaal]

Hi,

Great! Activity at the bf-committers list!
To summarize what has been discussed:

- we definitely want to support MSVC project files!

- we're not the first open source project out there with this problem, 
there *has* to be a little tool to turn Makefiles into project files?
But that would still give troubles, because committing changes in CVS by 
windows developers then still should be Makefile compatible...

- An alternative is:
Is it possible to 'mark CVS dirty' or so, meaning that when someone 
commits a change in projectfiles or makefiles, he also sends a (well 
documented!) message to CVS marking it "MAKE_NEEDS_UPDATE" or 
"MSVC_NEEDS_UPDATE". Someone else then can fix it, and mark CVS clean 
again.
This requires a discipline; the Unix guys never commit into a 
"MAKE_NEEDS_UPDATE" CVS, but agree to fix it first. The Windows guys 
never commit into a "MSVC_NEEDS_UPDATE" CVS, but fix that first as well.
Also: a strict rule is that you never commit BEFORE having updated to 
the latest CVS status, and compiled & tested that version.
This way we can also comminicate about the status to non-committing 
people who want the latest CVS update.

- lib directory: we will offer all GPL and LPGL and Blender libs 
compiled for all platforms. According to me only the FMOD audio library 
has to be downloaded externally.

- autoconf: I have no opinion about that. Maintaining makefiles was 
never my competence. :)

- CVS backup: we are moving to a new server this week. It only has a 
single disk now, but another will be added soon. That will be the 
permanent mirror. With the new provider I'll also make a deal for a 
regular tape backup... I keep you informed about that.

A few points that have not been discussed yet:

1. The general directory structure. Does this need to be changed?
2. Is there still a lot of NAN (define, env. variable) stuff that should 
be renamed?
3. Is there a need for a different 'develop' and 'release' version of 
Blender? I can remember a discussion that Blender should compile with 
dynamic libs for developers, and with static libs for release.
4. We need a very clear howto doc for new developers doing a first checkout.
5. We need a disciplined set of CVS commit rules... :-)


Thanks!

-Ton-




Laurence Bourn wrote:
> Hello everyone,
> 
>>Hi,
>>
>>It is nice to see that the build structure we used at NaN is 
>>coming back again. 
>>I think the solution with Makefiles and M$VC project files 
>>was a bit cumbersome 
>>at times but the best of both worlds. Also, it worked for us 
>>at NaN for over a 
>>year. Some projects even have project files for other 
>>development environments, 
>>like Apple's Project Builder.
>>
> 
> It would be very nice to have project files for this project. Say what
> you like but MSVC is an excellent development environment. The biggest
> problem at NaN was with synchronization of Makefiles and projectfiles. 
> This will become a bigger problem here mainly because not everyone has
> access to a windows box with MSVC or a linux type box. 
> 
> There are 2 solutions for now . Either keep them seperate and it's up
> to MSVCers to maintain the projectfile structure, and unix bods to manage
> the makefile structure. This in general will probably lead to massive
> amounts
> of frustration. 
> 
> I dont think it's a solution to bypass MSVC in favour of cygwin. Although I
> don't know if its the best compiler around anymore for windows? However it
> would
> be acceptable to keep the project structure seperate from the build
> structure under 
> MSVC. In this way it might be possible to use the makefile or template to
> generate 
> the windows build structure. MSVCers should be responsible for maintaining
> the 
> project structure. 
> 
> For now Id suggest just getting the thing compiling happily under all
> platforms. Although
> we should try and maintain the old build structure whilst doing this. At the
> same time we
> should investigate how to get the makefiles or templates working under MSVC.
> Someone must
> have done this before right?
> 
> 
>>>>Right now I am concentrating my efforts on organizing the 
>>>
>>VC++ project
>>
>>>>file settings correctly.
>>>
> 
> I have the intern libraries (save python) building nicely under MSVC if you
> are interested. 
> If you would like this then please lobby the gods on my behalf for CVS write
> access. 
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Laurence.(LoZaR)
> _______________________________________________
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> Bf-committers@blender.org
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> 


-- 
_______________________________________________________
Ton Roosendaal | ton@blender3d.com | Blender Foundation
Amsterdam | The Netherlands |  http://www.blender3d.com