CLI helper improvements

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ _When adding new entries to the changelog, please include issue/PR numbers where
 - Improved progress reporting during working-copy checkout. [#738](https://github.com/koordinates/kart/pull/738)
 - Support for changing the primary key column of an existing dataset. [#238](https://github.com/koordinates/kart/issues/238)
 - Help for the user get the working copy back into a valid state if a crash or similar causes it to become out of sync with the Kart repo. [#751](https://github.com/koordinates/kart/pull/751)
+- Enable the background CLI helper on Linux & macOS in CI builds. The helper improves CLI performance significantly. [#776](https://github.com/koordinates/kart/pull/776)
 
 ## 0.11.5
 

CMakeLists.txt

@@ -55,7 +55,11 @@ message(STATUS "Kart build version: ${KART_VERSION}")
 #
 
 option(USE_VCPKG "Use vcpkg for vendor dependencies")
-option(CLI_HELPER "Default to the CLI helper on macOS & Linux")
+
+if(MACOS OR LINUX)
+  option(CLI_HELPER "Enable the CLI helper on macOS & Linux" OFF)
+endif()
+
 set(VENDOR_ARCHIVE
     ""
     CACHE
@@ -215,6 +219,7 @@ if(BUILD_TESTING)
       NAME e2e-1
       COMMAND tests/scripts/e2e-1.sh
       WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
+    set_tests_properties(e2e-1 PROPERTIES ENVIRONMENT "KART_USE_HELPER=0")
 
     if(CLI_HELPER)
       # Run the same test under Linux & Mac using the cli helper

CMakePresets.json

@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@
             "displayName": "CI: Linux",
             "inherits": "ci-base",
             "generator": "Unix Makefiles",
+            "cacheVariables": {
+                "CLI_HELPER": "ON"
+            },
             "condition": {
                 "type": "equals",
                 "lhs": "${hostSystemName}",
@@ -36,6 +39,7 @@
             "inherits": "ci-base",
             "generator": "Unix Makefiles",
             "cacheVariables": {
+                "CLI_HELPER": "ON",
                 "MACOS_SIGN_BUNDLE": "$env{MACOS_SIGN_BUNDLE}",
                 "MACOS_SIGN_PKG": "$env{MACOS_SIGN_PKG}",
                 "MACOS_NOTARIZE": "$env{MACOS_NOTARIZE}"

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -71,6 +71,10 @@ $ cmake --build build --target bundle
 $ cmake --install build
 ```
 
+Kart includes a background helper for improved command-line performance, but this
+feature is disabled by default in development builds. To enable it, configure
+Kart with `-DCLI_HELPER=ON`.
+
 ### Downloading vendor dependencies from CI
 
 If you're having issues with VCPKG in the above, you can download a recent master-branch vendor CI artifact for your platform (eg: `vendor-macos-X64-py3.10.zip`).

cli_helper/CMakeLists.txt

@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
 add_executable(kart_cli_helper kart.c cJSON.c)
 
 set_property(TARGET kart_cli_helper PROPERTY OUTPUT_NAME kart)
+set_property(TARGET kart_cli_helper PROPERTY C_STANDARD 11)
+
+target_compile_options(kart_cli_helper PRIVATE -Wall -Werror)
+target_compile_definitions(kart_cli_helper PRIVATE "$<$<CONFIG:DEBUG>:DEBUG>")