Having a building system #253
Description
As the repository of Gatekeeper grows, the need for a build system is growing as well. Right now, Gatekeeper has a makefile derived from DPDK that doesn't account for individual file changes (i.e. it requires make clean; make to compile after a single file change), side applications (e.g. generate_if_map.c and gkctl) do not have makefiles, and our makefile doesn't have an install target; this latter issue is currently mitigated with the Debian packages.
This issue should be solved in phases to avoid disrupting the development. The following is a general suggestion for the steps to follow:
- Fixing the bug in the makefile that makes it ignore dependencies during incremental compilation;
- Adding makefiles to side applications;
- Adding an install target and adjust the Debian packages to use it;
- Identifying immediate building problems that should be addressed at this point;
- Adopting a build system.
DPDK uses the meson build system, but one should look for alternatives before committing to a build system.