Re: [AD] cmake reorganization (was: 4.9 on OSX)

[Milan Mimica <milan.mimica@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Peter Wang wrote:
> If you didn't know, pretty much everything is in the top-level
> CMakeFiles.txt file.  I will try to answer any questions about it.

I want to discuss this. I had to modify CMakeFiles.txt when adding MSVC 
support and I've had some hard time to understand how it works. Besides 
cmake syntax being very ugly IMO, I think there is something that could 
be done to improve readability.

First, there is this set(CMAKE_ALLOW_LOOSE_LOOP_CONSTRUCTS TRUE) 
directive which supposedly allows more standard
if(VAR)
   ...
else()
   ...
endif() style.

if(VAR)
   ...
else(VAR)
   ...
endif(VAR) is confusing and unconventional. Perhaps it is easier to see 
which "endif" belongs to which condition, but that should not be in the 
syntax. We should force ourselves to add a comment: endif() #VAR.

Another thing I'd propose is to split CMakeFiles.txt into multiple 
files. I haven't thought of the structure yet in detail, but I think 
that each platform should have its own main file (something we used to 
have with makefiles) and a file(s) containing some common routines.

Should also mention that I haven't spent a single moment on reading 
cmake docs, and have never worked with cmake before, so I might be 
missing a point.


--
Milan Mimica
http://sparklet.sf.net