[Chicken-users] CMake now compiles from Darcs

[Brandon J. Van Every]

CMake CMakeLists.txt will now build Chicken from Darcs .scm sources, if 
you already have a Chicken compiler installed.  It detects any Chicken 
installation, tests whether it's a high enough version number, does all 
configurations, compiles .scm to .c, and then .c to chicken.exe and 
company.  It can also be installed with "make install."  I've installed 
the results, and verified that I get the Chicken banner when I type 
"chicken."  I haven't done any more extensive testing than that.

My test platform is MinGW / MSYS file generation.  I doubt it's going to 
"work clean" on other platforms yet, but there's a good possibility the 
support is 90% done for other platform needs.  If you try it, expect a 
headache or two, but it's probably easily remedied.  I'll be happy to 
work with you to incorporate any changes.

I have not yet implemented a full bootstrap.  This would encompass (1) 
getting the compiler to recompile itself (2) generating a .c archive 
that can be used on platforms that don't already have chicken.exe.  At 
this point these problems should be straightforward, however.  Knock on 
wood!  I'll get to them in coming weeks but at present, I have to go 
turn the signature gathering money pump on full blast again.  Actually I 
lost a lot of money this weekend working on this stuff, but I was 
determined to kick this milestone out the door.  That and I got caught 
flat-footed, a new measure came out and I had no prior warning.  Wasn't 
gonna drop what I was doing.

I'm not yet generating documentation.  I need to learn how to use 
CMake's Makeinfo detector.  This won't be hard.

I believe it can all be built with CMake 2.4.1 beta, available at 
http://cmake.org/HTML/Download.html .  However, my actual CMake is the 
2.5 development version.  It contains some LIST commands which I'm not 
sure are present or identical in 2.4.1.  If you try 2.4.1 and it goes 
bzzzt, let me know and I'll change CMakeLists.txt accordingly.

I have not updated the "How To Build Chicken Using CMake" instructions 
to reflect the current state.  I won't be doing that until I reach a 
stable state.  The drill should be simple enough: set up local Chicken 
Darcs repository, then run CMake 2.4.1 on it.  Darcs has its own minor 
learning curve, feel free to ask questions.


Cheers,
Brandon Van Every