[webkit-dev] CMake as a build system?

[Adam Treat]

On Friday 16 April 2010 05:10:25 pm Bill Hoffman wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Adam Treat (treat at kde.org) suggested that I join this list to talk about
> CMake as an option for a unified cross platform build solution.  My name
> is Bill Hoffman.  I am the lead CMake developer.  My company Kitware
> created and supports CMake.  I think CMake would have a lot to offer the
> WebKit developers.
> 
> If you are not familiar with CMake, I did a google tech talk in December
> which can be found here:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ut9o4OdSC0&feature=youtube_gdata
> 
> Another article about how KDE switched to CMake can be found here:
> "Why the KDE project switched to CMake -- and how"
> http://lwn.net/Articles/188693/
> 
> If you are interested in moving to CMake, I would be interested in
> helping.  If you have any questions about CMake, fire away!
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> -Bill

I asked Bill to introduce himself here because I think CMake represents the 
best hope for WebKit to find a way out of the current build system 
proliferation we are experiencing.  Of the meta-buildsystems in existence I 
think CMake is by far the most powerful and mature.  CMake is by far the most 
widespread and supported.  It is already used successfully by Open Source 
projects of a comparable scope to WebKit and with similar cross-platform 
needs: LLVM, KDE, Boost.

I know that WebKit already has GYP and QMake meta-buildsystems, but to my 
knowledge both are inferior to CMake.  In fact, I do not think CMake is 
lacking in any important way to the features of GYP.

What's more, the WebKit project has already had a CMake based buildsystem.  
This is what the 'Unity' nascent QtWebkit port used originally.  I think we 
should re-introduce it and seriously consider using CMake as a cross-platform 
solution to our build system proliferation issues.

I highly encourage you all to view the google tech talk above as it gives a 
great introduction to CMake.

Cheers,
Adam