[Chicken-users] CMake testing and support

[Brandon J. Van Every]

John Cowan wrote:

Hey, you got me all wrong.  I have nothing but appreciation for your
efforts; I simply report things as I find them.  I am not impatient
or especially frustrated right now either -- the only time I started
screaming for help was when *both* the CMake *and* the autoconf builds
were broken on Cygwin.  And that was only because I needed things for
development that weren't in 2.315.
  

Well, you type things like "groan" and "stupid" and "brilliant!" [meaning not] and "there is something very, very wrong here."  To me, such comments are like water off a duck's back, because I've been subjected to far worse, and have given plenty of inflammatory comments on open source mailing lists before.  It does not particularly bother me.  But I do point out, when you use such language, you make it easy for people to interpret your remarks as either hostility or disdain.  I am glad to see this is not the case, as without you saying so, I wouldn't know.  I would suggest, you may wish to choose your words according to how you want others to take them.  Previous to Bigloo and Chicken, I had melted down several open source mailing lists using a similar communication style.

It's not like I've 
announced a 100% rock solid build to the world; that's the goal I'm 
working towards, and I believe nearly in sight of.  
    

I'm looking forward to it.  When you give the go-ahead, I can try
using the CMake build on x86_64-suse-linux, sparc-sun-solaris2.8, and
i486-linux-gnu as well:

Nothing stops you from trying.  It's a matter of how you want to spend your time.  It's reasonable for people to wait for someone else to do the testing and bugfixing before trying something out.  I understand that allocation of personal energy all too well; a lot of open source stuff sucks.  On the other hand, waiting for others to do the testing does not help shake out problems.

  I figure if it works on Cygwin, my personal box
as well as the most "difficult" target, it'll probably work on most of
the others as well.
  

It's likely.  CMake is pretty robust as far as building on multiple platforms.  The real issue is whether Chicken itself has correct internal logic for all platforms.  I don't generally expect perfection on OSes + compilers that have little or no testing history.  Such was MinGW before I came along, and to this day, only the CMake build works for it.

I really wish someone had the energy and wherewithal to learn how CTest and the Kitware Dart Dashboard work.  It's some kind of automated build and test thingy.  I can't prioritize that kind of work right now, as OpenGL support is way more important to my career agenda.  Also I would like to goad other people into taking on CMake support burdens.  I have no problem stewarding the main build, but I would like other people to learn how to use CMake and test with it, if they are so inclined.  Rather than assume I'm just going to crank out better CMake stuff both full-time and indefinitely.  I really can't sustain that, I have to go make money.  Things I'd like to see done, but I can't afford to prioritize right now:

- install the benchmarks, integrate them with CMake testing scripts and CTest
- set up a Dart Dashboard and a nightly build

FYI, _Linux Magazine_ has headlined CMake in its July (current) issue;
CMake will be the build process for the next version of KDE, one of the
two major desktop environments for Linux and other Unixes.
  

Yeah if KDE goes through, it's the CMake crown jewel.  I instigated the cmake_promote mailing list.  In principle, I'm supposed to be spearheading guerrilla marketing for CMake.  In practice, I don't have time.  Too busy kicking Chicken into shape, and next I'll be too busy kicking OpenGL into shape.  But once I've got some 3D demos, those will serve as marketing materials for Chicken, CMake, and also the nascent LispSea users group in Seattle.

Sure I'd like an automated nightly build that tests every permutation.  
That takes time to develop; you up to it?
    

Sourceforge.net does provide a "compile farm" that provides the ability
to build on multiple platforms, though Felix would have to move Chicken
there to take advantage of it.  It doesn't do Windows, though.

  

Useless.  The conversation that needs to take place is with the Kitware guys, particularly William Hoffman.


Cheers,
Brandon Van Every