[Chicken-users] CMake status

[Brandon J. Van Every]

John.Cowan wrote:

> The mkdir command in Unix is a thin wrapper over the mkdir() system call,
> and creates only the final directory mentioned in an argument pathname;
> all others must exist.  However, the standard -p option will create all
> the directories mentioned if they do not exist already.
>  
The replies from the CMake list were speedy; it appears that CMake is 
indeed supposed to pave over these various issues I've raised, and that 
I have found bugs.  They say it is not surprising given that CMake 
hasn't gotten too much MinGW / MSYS use, and they're glad to have a test 
case.  I'd say I've gotten over the main hump of the CMake learning 
curve now.  I find the documentation leaves a lot to be desired, but the 
mailing list archives do contain answers, and more importantly the 
mailing list is responsive.  Also there's nothing about CMake that a 
seasoned hacker can't get through; it is simple, and I do think it is 
easier going than Autoconf.  Also, Bill Hoffman from Kitware generously 
provided us a working basic CMakeLists.txt that does reliably build on 
MinGW and VC++.  I am merely kicking installation functionality into 
shape, which wasn't present.

After that, the more exotic task will be to get different compilers and 
environments to build from the same source tree.  This is not so 
important from a single end user's standpoint, as generally people only 
need 1 build.  But it is rather important for Chicken maintenance.  As 
it stands, I have all these directories for MinGW, VC++, and VCToolKit 
permuted over my file system, and I could of course add Cygwin, Borland, 
and other culprits if I really wanted to test everything.  It's easy to 
see how testing, source control, and error reporting discipline can get 
lost among all the directories.  Easier all around if everyone is 
working with The One True Tree.  I am sure this will come along, 
although Thanksgiving is of course on most Americans' agendas right now.


Cheers,
Brandon Van Every
"The pioneer is the one with the arrows in his back."
                         - anonymous entrepreneur