kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 8/16/2014 6:28 PM, Michael Narigon wrote:
> All,
> I am actually pretty far along with this separation of build. Is there a recommended location I could post some files so you could see how I approached it? I basically expanded the kicad-install.sh script with additional steps. One of the main things I do is I work with completely clean setups in virtual machines. That lets me check for dependencies that the average user might not have installed. I am furthest along on OS X (I am working out how to build a signed, drag and drop package containing all of the new modular programs.) I have it working on Linux although I do not have the Debian and RPM installers running yet. I am furthest from finishing on Windows.

Feel free to post them to the mailing list so other developers can take
a look at them.  I prefer your build script solution what we are
currently doing.  If they prove to be useful, we could include them with
the other scripts that we provide.  If you have a nearly complete OSX
solution, I'm sure our OSX developers would like to take a look at what
you've done so far because they will be impacted the most by the changes
I am going to make.  Maybe your build scripts will help ease the
transition.  If you've modified any CMake files, please post the diffs
so I can see what you've changed and what impact the changes I am
planning to make will effect what you've done so far.

Thanks,

Wayne

> 
> Michael
> 
> On Aug 16, 2014, at 3:11 PM, Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
>> On 8/16/2014 3:07 PM, Jason Whiteman wrote:
>>> I'm not sure if I'm in the minority - but I have deferred work due to
>>> build issues with the dependencies.  I'm capable of sorting this out
>>> myself - but wasn't willing to invest the time beyond what I had already
>>> invested in order to move forward.  Your decoupling will lead to more
>>> burden on the developer for builds -- but perhaps the new structure will
>>> eventually change the paradigm and allow for easier management of
>>> platform-specific build requirements.
>>>
>>> Thumbs up on any work to arrive at this goal.
>>
>> That is one of the goals.  The current situation contains a bunch of
>> platform specific checks which break on other platforms or cross builds.
>> This in and of itself is just plain wrong and probably what you have
>> been experiencing.  I know that it has been a thorn in my side for some
>> time now.  Testing for platforms in build tools be it CMake, autoconf,
>> scons, etc. is broken by design.  The general rule of thumb for
>> configuration tools is test for features not platforms.  If you don't
>> understand how to configure you platform to build KiCad, it is your
>> responsibility as a developer to correct and should not be part of the
>> build configuration of KiCad.  While I can sympathize with the plight of
>> inexperienced developers, the only thing the KiCad build configuration
>> should do is make sure you have the appropriate dependencies installed
>> on your platform to build KiCad.
>>
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Jason
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Aug 16, 2014 at 11:44 AM, Wayne Stambaugh
>>> <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:stambaughw@xxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>>>
>>>    One of the tasks that I have committed to working on in the KiCad road
>>>    map is to clean up the current mess we have created by allowing
>>>    dependency libraries to be built as part of the KiCad source build.  The
>>>    only exception I see for the time being is Boost.  Although I am have my
>>>    reservations on that as well.  Why you ask?  I've spent several days
>>>    trying to get KiCad to build on Windows using MSYS2 as my build
>>>    environment and mingw64 as my target environment.  Every single library
>>>    dependency with the exception of our custom Boost and avhttp (which
>>>    could easily be build and installed using CMake) are already packaged
>>>    for me.  However, the current KiCad build insists on downloading and
>>>    building some libraries from source that are already installed.  This is
>>>    silly.  I can resolve the issues by passing all of the
>>>    PACKAGE_ROOT_PATHs when I run CMake but that is silly as well since my
>>>    build environment already points the correct path.
>>>
>>>    Originally I intended to create a separate project to build the KiCad
>>>    library dependencies but I have since changed my mind.  I do *not* think
>>>    it is asking too much of developers to learn how to build and/or install
>>>    libraries on their preferred platform.  If as a developer you must have
>>>    this done for you automatically, I am going to please ask that *you*
>>>    create a separate platform specific build tool such as the excellent
>>>    kicad-winbuilder that Brian has created.  This will significantly
>>>    simplify the KiCad CMake files and eliminate the situation I described
>>>    above.  My preference and goal is that the KiCad CMake files be used to
>>>    build KiCad, not library dependencies.
>>>
>>>    Initially, I plan to remove the dependencies that do not require any
>>>    patching to build which currently are avhttp, swig, cairo, libpng,
>>>    pixman, pcre, pkgconfig, and glew.  Then I will remove the dependencies
>>>    with platform specific patches which are openssl, wxwidgets and
>>>    wxpython.  Then I will try to figure out what to do with the problem
>>>    child that is Boost.  I would also suggest that all platform specific
>>>    library dependency build patches be remove as well leaving only the
>>>    Boost patches that are required for all platforms (except the context
>>>    switching patches).
>>>
>>>    My goal here is not to step on anyone's toes it is to get our build
>>>    system under control so that I can build *KiCad* rather than figure out
>>>    how to get the dependencies to build or not as the platform dictates.  I
>>>    expect our code to be well designed and I don't think expecting the same
>>>    from our build system design is out of line.  If any one has major
>>>    objections then we will have to figure something out because I am not
>>>    going to continue to spend valuable time fighting our build tools to get
>>>    them to properly use the dependencies already installed on my platform.
>>>
>>>    Wayne
>>>
>>>    _______________________________________________
>>>    Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
>>>    Post to     : kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>    <mailto:kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>    Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
>>>    More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
>> Post to     : kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
>> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
> 
>