in the last few years we've moved to a number of new project tools such as bugzilla and subversion to support new needs due to growth and dissatisfaction with the existing tools that were used. few people really enjoyed working with autotools, either, but they were what was available.
in prep for kde4, we had no less than 4 different build tools supported in the code base. two (make and unsermake) used autotools, but the other two didn't: scons and cmake. due to developer interest in cmake (e.g. people were doing the work to make cmake support a reality) and the active support of the cmake development team, it now appears that we're moving to cmake for kde4.
now, i hate build systems. like popcorn kernel husks that get stuck between my teeth, they've always somehow found a way to annoy me. hopefully cmake eases that pain, but i have to admit i have been hesitant to spend the time learning this new system. fortunately, alexander neundorf has written a nice intro text using cmake to build kde4 code. it looks pretty straightforward, though i'm sure there'll be more details to add to that howto over time...
in any case, thank-you to all those who are working hard at liberating us from autohell.
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7 comments:
So what about scons and bksys? :S
> So what about scons and bksys?
the kde devs working on support for scons/bksys ended up having very limited time to do so while the cmake people were more numerous and had more time to devote to getting things into proper shape.
furthermore, the cmake project developers are really supportive of our efforts and actively involved in making it a success. the scons project really didn't get involved at all when issues arose that could have benefitted from their attention. obviously it's better for us to use tools from people who actively help us in our attempts to integrate those tools into our workflows.
this is rather similar to the svn experience in many ways, really =)
Slightly offtopic:
I know some of the things Arthur and KDE4 will be capable of, but have you seen what the gnomes are able to do TODAY with latest Xorg and cairo?:
http://macslow.thepimp.net/?page_id=23
Regards,
MT
You mean like this http://www.kdedevelopers.org/node/1559 ?
> Slightly offtopic
just a little ;)
> but have you seen what the gnomes
> are able to do TODAY with latest
> Xorg and cairo
... and librsvg.
which we can do today as well (well, for months now, actually =) using qt and COMPOSITE.
it seems you were concerned qt was somehow behind here? because it's not =)
we're putting out a complete desktop framework for these kinds of things, rather than individual trinkets here and there. that approach takes longer, but the foundations-on-up method pays off as can be seen by the successful evolution from kde 2.0->3.5
Do not hesitate to learn!
I'd wonder about the sanity of anyone who enjoyed build systems.
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