[feature request] Switch toolchain or corss-file on GUI

[ZZH-Finalize]

I hope there is a select box on vscode GUI to select the toolchain or cross-file to use, and this selected file should be appended as an argument to meson command line, just like the "CMake Tools" does(extension id: ms-vscode.cmake-tools)

[tristan957]

The problem with that is, Meson machine files aren't recognizable in the sense that they don't have a special file name or anything.

[ZZH-Finalize]

"CMake Tools" extension uses a specific Json file to record all the toolchains and "toolchain files". When we select a toolchain, it is actually selecting an object from that Json file, "CMake Tools" will load that object and parse the information. I think this is also applicable to the "vscode-meson".

[tristan957]

In CMake that file is well known. It has a specific name. We don't enforce names for machine files, for better or for worse.

[ZZH-Finalize]

The file I mentioned does NOT belong to cmake, it is created by the "CMake Tools", in my PC, the path to it is "C:\Users\zzh\AppData\Local\CMakeTools\cmake-tools-kits.json" . It is neither a "CMakeUserPresets.json" nor a "CMakePresets.json", it is just a configuration file specific for the "CMake Tools" extension.

What I mean is, could we create a "meson-crossfile.json" file specific for "vscode-meson" extension, in this file we write something like this

{
    "gcc": "/home/zzh/toolchains/gcc.ini",
    "clang": "/home/zzh/toolchains/clang.ini"
}

The "gcc" and "clang" are custom names for GUI items, the "/home/zzh/toolchains/gcc.ini" is the path to the machine file, the "meson-crossfile.json" is a specific name. There is no need to enforce the name for machine files.

[tristan957]

Could you provide a screenshot/video of the CMake extension doing this? I am having trouble understanding.

[xclaesse]

I like the idea of having a set of cross files and an easy way to click which platform to build for. Meson itself should probably install/provide some of its cross files: https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/tree/master/cross. The list could then be extended by user entering full path to its custom cross files.

An extra step meson-vscode can take is to append arch/platform to the builddir, e.g. selecting mingw cross file will automatically build into builddir_x86_64_windows.

[tristan957]

Meson itself should probably install/provide some of its cross files

I like this idea quite a bit. Doesn't Meson itself also look in some XDG dir for machine files?

[ZZH-Finalize]

Could you provide a screenshot/video of the CMake extension doing this? I am having trouble understanding.

unknown_2023.08.19-10.49_2.mp4

This is a demo for "CMake Tools".

[ZZH-Finalize]

I like the idea of having a set of cross files and an easy way to click which platform to build for. Meson itself should probably install/provide some of its cross files: https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/tree/master/cross. The list could then be extended by user entering full path to its custom cross files.

An extra step meson-vscode can take is to append arch/platform to the builddir, e.g. selecting mingw cross file will automatically build into builddir_x86_64_windows.

@tristan957 I like this solution too. It is not necessary to do everything like "CMake Tools" does.