[webkit-dev] Build system complexity

[Adam Barth]

Eric and I discussed this recently.  We think the easiest path forward
is to try to remove build systems incrementally.  Each build system we
remove makes it easier to hack on the project because you have one
less build system to worry about.  The easiest build system to remove
is probably the Visual Studio build system.  There's some complexity
there because several ports use the vcproj files (e.g., apple-win,
win-cairo, and wince as I recall).  My understanding (based on past
emails) is that either CMake or GYP would be workable.

I'm not sure there's anything blocking this work.  We just need
someone to be interested enough in making it happen to do it.

Adam


On Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 2:53 AM, Jeremy Orlow <jorlow at chromium.org> wrote:
> Are there currently any plans for simplifying the situation regarding build
> systems?  I haven't seen any threads for a while, which I assume means no.
> Is there any low hanging fruit out there?  Since many of the build systems
> are little more than lists of files, it really seems like we should be able
> to do some sort of consolidation.  Or reduce the process down to updating
> one file and then running a script that updates/generates the rest.
>  Currently, I cringe every time I find out I need to add a new file.
> In addition, has anyone ever looked at simplifying the mac port's xcode
> project?  It's _by far_ the heaviest burden on the project given that you
> pretty much need to use xcode (which is mac only...no other port requires
> this), exported linker symbols are in a separate file, extra effort to
> expose a new file in WTF to WebCore, extra effort to expose a new file in
> WebCore to WebKit, etc.  Has anyone recently looked at how the mac build
> could be simplified--especially from the perspective of contributors whose
> main development platform isn't a mac?
> Thanks!
> Jeremy
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