Determining a Build System for TopMod
Stuart Tett
user customization for not only different platforms, but different
machines and different users. We need to select a build system for
TopMod so that it can easily be compiled anywhere without much
(hopefully no) tweaking.
My first choice would be the GNU build system:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_build_system
This includes autoconf, automake utilities that generate the makefile.
It is very commonly used on Linux and other unices. If someone is
running Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, they almost certainly have it already
installed. But for windows it's a different story. It'll work under
cygwin, maybe with DevC++? Might be hard or impossible to use with
Visual Studio. However, most windows users will just be downloading a
binary anyway.
There is also CMake:
http://www.cmake.org
Which is a cross-platform make utility. CMake generates native
makefiles and workspaces that can be used in the compiler environment
of your choice. It looks easy to use. I have heard of it being used
before, but probably most people don't have it installed (on unices or
windows). It's not installed in the vizlab. It takes a while to
compile.
So from a Linux/Mac OS X point of view, GNU build system is the best.
So let's find out how difficult both of these options would be on
windows.
Stuart
David Morris
http://tools.devchannel.org/devtoolschannel/03/12/15/2139255.shtml?tid=46
The best alternative seems to be CMake: http://www.cmake.org/HTML/Index.html
With CMake, we will be able to build TopMod on any platform with no extra hardcoding in any makefiles. This should definitely be considered in the decision process. CMake is compatible with Visual Studio and Dev-C++, as well.
dave
mathieu
[Why the KDE project switched to CMake -- and how (continued)]
http://lwn.net/Articles/188693/
If you look at the CMake mailing list you'll see how many people are
happy going away from autotools and such.
2 cents
-M
David Morris
dave