CMake (was More about x-packages)

[Alan W. Irwin]

On 2007-12-22 10:09+0100 Kai-Uwe Behrmann wrote:

> CMake feels not like unix:
> (1) no make uninstall target by default as with autotools
> (2) no environment variables
> (3) no config.site scripts(?)
> (4) omitting the fun of posix scripting

These comments (which I have numbered for clarity) should be answered.

(1) is true, but see
http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/CMake_FAQ#Can_I_do_.22make_uninstall.22_with_CMake.3F
for an easy alternative using install_manifest.txt.

(2) CMake has complete support for environment variables.  There are standard
CMake-specific environment variables it interprets which are documented at
http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/CMake_Useful_Variables  Furthermore, from within
the CMake environment you can get and set arbitrary environment variables.

(3) Not sure exactly what you mean here, but you can tailor cmake to your
exact needs using the cmake -C option.

(4) You can specifically run any command you like (including shell scripts)
at cmake (configuration) time using the execute_process CMake command.  As I
noted before, full scripting is also available at build time from within the
Makefile generated by CMake.

> One question: What is the difference of installing Cmake in opposite to
> MinGW in order to compile a software project?

MinGW with MSYS and MinGW without MSYS are two possible windows platforms. 
CMake can be used to help build software on both those platforms. Autotools
can be used to build software on MinGW but MSYS is required in that case.

Alan
__________________________
Alan W. Irwin

Astronomical research affiliation with Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University of Victoria (astrowww.phys.uvic.ca).

Programming affiliations with the FreeEOS equation-of-state implementation
for stellar interiors (freeeos.sf.net); PLplot scientific plotting software
package (plplot.org); the libLASi project (unifont.org/lasi); the Loads of
Linux Links project (loll.sf.net); and the Linux Brochure Project
(lbproject.sf.net).
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Linux-powered Science
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