[Gtk-sharp-list] Migrating to CMake?

[Mike Kestner]

On Sat, 2008-10-11 at 13:37 +0200, Christian Hoff wrote:

> in my opinion the current build process does not suit Gtk# and a 
> cross-platform project in general. The autotools/make build system is 
> simply not portable; Windows users have to install either a Cygwin build 
> environment or create their own Makefiles(as I finally did).

I just installed cygwin on my new laptop for an installer summit we're
having this weekend and had things set up and building with little
effort.  I spent more time downloading and setting up .Net framework
than anything related to cygwin/gtk+.  I am _far_ from a windows
development guru.  The wiki articles at mono-project.com and medsphere
document the wrinkles.  I don't see the problem.

> I think we need a cross-platform build process and thought about 
> migrating to CMake. CMake runs natively on all important 
> platforms(including MacOS) and seems to fulfill our needs(it does even 
> support cross-platform compilation!). The gapi-cdecl-insert script can 
> be replaced by a sed command as I did in the MinGW makefiles already. 
> What do you think? Is my idea actually possible? I would start working 
> on it if you want.

My kneejerk reaction is: not interested.  It would take a more
compelling argument to talk me into it.  The vast majority of hacking on
the project occurs on linux, and automake, love it or hate it, is king
on linux.  As long as it's possible to build on win32 and mac with
auto*, that's good enough in my opinion, especially if the alternative
requires me to learn a new build system.

There just aren't a lot of people interested in building the project on
win32 or mac.  They want installers.  I'm meeting with Brad and Cody
this weekend at the GNOME summit to try to upstream the win32 installer
process so we are more responsive with those.  The mac installers are
already handled responsively by the project.

I still think auto* is the correct choice.

-- 
Mike Kestner <mkestner at gmail.com>