README instructions could be improved

[rhogan82]

As someone still learning different aspects of computer science, such as cmake, I was pretty stuck with your instructions to get yaml-cpp built and linked correctly.

Specifically, when you mention to make a build directory, and cd to it, you cmake from that directory but did not mention to use ../ in order to tell cmake that the CMakeFiles.txt was in the previous directory.

It could be more clear with a bit more details, I would suggest a quick pass-over to help newer coders! Thanks for all the work!

[JoseGonzalez84]

I'm in the same situation. The steps provided for installing are too cryptic for beginners. There is possible make a documentation in 'easy mode'? :)

However, the tutorial is easy to understand and give examples very valuables.

[Crypthead]

It sounds like you should familiarize yourself with Cmake before actually trying to use it.
Furthermore, it does mention the use of ../, if you look at step 3 the given command is:
cmake [-G generator] [-DYAML_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON|OFF] ..
(notice the .. at the end)

Try reading the "Building" section of this article for an example to familiarize yourself with the build process of a project using cmake, it's always the same.

[therise3107]

I'm new to C++ and I need to parse YML for a practice project, I find it confusing to use. The good point is I have learned a lot about CMake but I'm still not able to use this library.
I'm using CLion on osX and have tried following to include the file but for some reason, yaml-cpp.h is not found

this is my CMakeLists.txt

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
project(automator)

set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 14)

find_library(yaml_cpp yaml-cpp)
message("lib: ${yaml_cpp}")

add_executable(automator main.cpp Docs.cpp Docs.h)

target_link_libraries(automator ${yaml_cpp})

I know this is pretty much a dead thread but if I find the solution I will come back here and try to improve the readme from a complete beginner standpoint. Thanks in advance for the help :)