C++Talk.NET C++ language newsgroups   Archives   FAQ   Search   Memberlist   Usergroups   Register   Profile   Log in to check your private messages   Log in  standardized unified build system for C++          C++Talk.NET Forum Index -> C++ Language (Moderated) View previous topic :: View next topic   Author Message Guest Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 12:21 pm    Post subject: standardized unified build system for C++ Hi, are there any effords in the C++ community to create an unified standardized build system ? I know there are a lot build systems available, like GNU build tools, boost build system, cmake..., but wouldn't it be a good idea to harmonize them (I know a nearly impossible task) ? I know, this is not a language question, but where to ask such a question otherwise ? Thomas [ See http://www.gotw.ca/resources/clcm.htm for info about ] [ comp.lang.c++.moderated. First time posters: Do this! ] Back to top kanze Guest Posted: Sat May 13, 2006 11:21 am    Post subject: Re: standardized unified build system for C++ thomas.porschberg@osp-dd.de wrote: Quote: are there any effords in the C++ community to create an unified standardized build system ? Not that I know of. I rather question whether such a thing would be even possible: take a look at the options g++ offers, and see how many change from one platform to the next. Quote: I know there are a lot build systems available, like GNU build tools, boost build system, cmake..., but wouldn't it be a good idea to harmonize them (I know a nearly impossible task) ? The problem is that the vendors what to offer the best, most flexible product possible. So they need special options for any number of different reasons. It's possible to wrap a large amount of this, so that, once the environment has been ported, the rest is pretty portable. Boost does this, and I know of three or four others -- including at least two (mine and one other) which use nothing more fancy that GNU make. (My experience is that writing a portable makefile is even more difficult than writing portable C++. GNU make is available pretty much everywhere, and is easy to install. Which solves that problem.) -- James Kanze GABI Software Conseils en informatique orientée objet/ Beratung in objektorientierter Datenverarbeitung 9 place Sémard, 78210 St.-Cyr-l'École, France, +33 (0)1 30 23 00 34 [ See http://www.gotw.ca/resources/clcm.htm for info about ] [ comp.lang.c++.moderated. First time posters: Do this! ] Back to top Jorgen Grahn Guest Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 11:21 am    Post subject: Re: standardized unified build system for C++ On 13 May 2006 07:07:22 -0400, kanze <kanze@gabi-soft.fr> wrote: Quote: thomas.porschberg@osp-dd.de wrote: are there any effords in the C++ community to create an unified standardized build system ? Not that I know of. I rather question whether such a thing would be even possible: take a look at the options g++ offers, and see how many change from one platform to the next. Or if people would want one. C++ is (in my experience) like C, in that people treat it as inferior to the platform. The platform, not the programming language or even the compiler, dictates the build environment. And besides, such a build system would also have to be able to build things like documentation, C programs, Python programs ... Quote: I know there are a lot build systems available, like GNU build tools, boost build system, cmake..., but wouldn't it be a good idea to harmonize them (I know a nearly impossible task) ? Harmony between different C++ environments would, IMHO, mean disharmony (dissonance?) between different languages in one environment. I always work in Unix, but not always with C++, so C++-internal harmony is less important to me. This isn't Java, after all ;-) /Jorgen -- // Jorgen Grahn <grahn@ Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu \X/ snipabacken.dyndns.org> R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn! [ See http://www.gotw.ca/resources/clcm.htm for info about ] [ comp.lang.c++.moderated. First time posters: Do this! ] Back to top Bob Hairgrove Guest Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 3:47 am    Post subject: Re: standardized unified build system for C++ On 29 May 2006 09:58:39 -0400, thomas.porschberg@osp-dd.de wrote: Quote: Jorgen Grahn schrieb: On 13 May 2006 07:07:22 -0400, kanze <kanze@gabi-soft.fr> wrote: thomas.porschberg@osp-dd.de wrote: are there any effords in the C++ community to create an unified standardized build system ? Not that I know of. I rather question whether such a thing would be even possible: take a look at the options g++ offers, and see how many change from one platform to the next. Or if people would want one. C++ is (in my experience) like C, in that people treat it as inferior to the platform. The platform, not the programming language or even the compiler, dictates the build environment. It's a pity. E.g. there is a lot of C++ (open source) software developed at Linux or say *n*x with autoconf/automake as build system which can be also compiled at windows. However, on windows for the same source code another build system is used quite often. This means developer have to maintain two build systems which costs time. As long as the standard library is relatively small (please do not misunderstand, STL is ingenious) external libraries are important and should be easy to integrate. Obviously, the STL is the least of one's worries here. At least THAT is platform-independent, which is the only reason it can be supported by different build systems at all. But I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "build system". If you are only interested in having a make file which would work on either Linux or Windows, for example, there are already different versions of the "make" program for both platforms which understand more or less the same syntax. And it works because make is just a shell which calls other external programs. Of course, there are also those major players who insist on having their own versions of make...but you don't have to use them if you don't want to. There are alternatives. For a fine example of cross-platform development -- as long as you mention the STL --, look at the STLport distribution and how the IOStream libraries are built on all the different systems supported there, and think about why they are different and what parts the different make files have in common. It is an education in cross-platform development all by itself! Once you have done that, you will realize that there are many other things besides external libraries, beginning with lowly project #defines and (perhaps) ending with things such as highly platform-dependent resource files which mean that you will always need separate build systems for each platform. Also, the #include files will vary greatly depending on your platform, so I am not sure that this is even remotely possible. As you see, I am quite a pessimist here because there are just too many fundamental differences between platforms. But with standard "make", and a few shell scripts ("batch files" in DOS-speak), almost anything is possible! -- Bob Hairgrove NoSpamPlease (AT) Home (DOT) com [ See http://www.gotw.ca/resources/clcm.htm for info about ] [ comp.lang.c++.moderated. 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