Originally posted by Alliancemd
View Post
Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Meson: A Next-Gen Build System Showing Promise
Collapse
X
-
Originally posted by emblemparade View PostIt is exactly true that it's ridiculous to try to incorporate a dedicated programming language into a build system when there already are terrific dynamic languages out there, such as Python. With Waf, it's a pleasure to be able to do everything I need to do in my build script. And of course its built-in API handles so many important (and complicated) build tasks for me. What would Meson do differently?
Groovy (Gradle) is a pleasure to use in the build system, and so is Clojure (Leiningen). Not coincidentally, given the choice I would rather work on Groovy or Clojure projects than on pure Java.
I can't imagine scripting my C or C++ builds in those languages. Yikes. But for example the attempted replacements Go and D both compile very rapidly and make a lot of common tasks syntactically simpler than equivalent C++ code, so I bet scripting your Go or D builds in those respective languages is feasible.
Comment
-
While we're on the topic of build systems I haven't really played with it yet I kinda like the ideas behind Qbs
Comment
-
SCons suxx. And this is python crap as well?
Scons proven to be really unusable and bugged piece of shit when it comes to building programs. Its my least favorite of all build systems at all. And this one is some python crap too?
And to be honest, when it comes to building software, my favorite would be autotools. While they are mindblasting and really crappy from dev's side, it shines when it comes to building software. So, 10 years old program still can usually be built (good luck to achieve this with Python) and if something goes wrong, build system only takes shell interpreter to start and give overall idea what's wrong with my environment. Then it is usually trivial to correct and there is very convenient logging which would tell what's wrong. SCons on other hand matches absolutely worst expectations each time you stumble into some trouble. So all this python crap must die by horrible death. Especially in build systems which are not supposed to be borked every year or two.
Comment
-
Originally posted by 0xBADCODE View PostAnd to be honest, when it comes to building software, my favorite would be autotools. While they are mindblasting and really crappy from dev's side, it shines when it comes to building software. So, 10 years old program still can usually be built
Sure, you can build a 10-year-old autotools Makefile, but you will likley need to install a 10-year-old autotools stack. And, you know, you can equally as easily install a 10-year-old Python if you have to.
I actually used to think exactly like you, but life has taught me differently. In particular, Waf/Python made my work so much more pleasant. No turning back for me!
Comment
-
Originally posted by emblemparade View PostSure, you can build a 10-year-old autotools Makefile, but you will likley need to install a 10-year-old autotools stack.
The whole point of autotools is, when use them, they drop a "configure" file (and co) in your source that is entirely written in shell script and has mostly no other external dependency.
Autotools are use to prepare the build system. Not actually to build it. When you run "./configure" on your source to configure and build it, you don't need autotools any more. You can ship your source in a .tar.bz2 and people will be able to use it directly. (as opposed to, e.g.: CMake, qmake, etc. where the user also needs them in order to build/compile).
I DO HAVE several real world example of old, outdated and not supported anymore application, whose build system is autotools based, and the "./configure" script still runs 10 years later (well, of course, it's easy. It being written in pure shell and thus relying only on the single piece that has been more or less stable for the last couple of decades of Unix history).
And, you know, you can equally as easily install a 10-year-old Python if you have to.
I actually used to think exactly like you, but life has taught me differently. In particular, Waf/Python made my work so much more pleasant. No turning back for me!
Comment
-
Originally posted by DrYak View PostWTF?! Have you ever used autotools?
I have plenty of example projects that do not build with recent versions of autotools. Recent ones I've worked on: libogg, pixman. For the following projects, I had to patch libtool due to limitations on portability: sdlmixer, libvorbis, cairo. Again, these are things I've just worked with recently, my history with autotools problems is long and painful.
I'm glad things are working great for you. No build system is bulletproof, definitely not with version changes.
Comment
Comment