[Bf-committers] to make or not to make

[Ryan C. Stallings (beergeek)]

Priority #1 is getting the build system put in place.  The cmake discussions 
seem to have stagnated, I thought I would recap where we stand and what are 
the pros/cons of the situation.  Then I vote that we make a decision and move 
along.

cmake pros:
-Works on all the platforms we use
-Open source so it can be distributed freely and/or modified if needed
-Allows parallel building (build/object files in a different directory from 
the source)
-simple to use.  not as complex as full makefiles/autoconf (which means not as 
powerful)

cmake cons (and possible solutions)
-Another tool to throw in the mix.
  -we could provide nightly snapshots with the makefiles/project files      
  pre-generated
-Uses absolute paths in the build files
   - we could write a script that goes through the make files and subs the   
   absolute path for the relative one
-It might not be powerful enough to do everything we want/need
  -It may be possible to expand cmake to do what we need
-its not the "standard" way to compile on any platform
-Chris Want reported of a negative experience using cmake.
  -I tried compiling vtk on both Windows and OSX and did not have any 
problems.  

I am willing to do the work to get cmake going, but I don't want to do it 
unless there is a good chance it will be accepted.  My main fear with going 
with the parallel autoconf/msvc solution is that windows users will feel left 
behind.  There seem to be more developers for the Unix varieties, and the 
last thing we want to do is alienate windows/osx developers/users by making 
their platform feel like an afterthought.

Also on an unrelated note I think we need some sort of CVS policy (at least 
until we get module owners).  CVS patches should be sent to the list for 
review before committing.  Group consensus should be achieved before commits 
occur (or at least no large opposition).   Peer review is an important part 
of keeping the quality of an open source project high.

ryan


On Monday 28 October 2002 01:57 pm, Kent Mein wrote:
> In reply to Ton Roosendaal (ton@blender.org):
>
> Well since no one is committing anything I was wondering if someone would
> give me access? :)
> While I don't have a ton to contribute I have a couple of small things,
> and I'm willing to work on submitting things others have done.
>
> Kent