Addition of a build system generator

[elfring]

I suggest to reuse a higher level build system than your current small make file so that powerful checks for software features will become easier.

• CMake
• Autotools

[sdhand]

This would probably be a good idea, I'll give it a look. (I've never worked with either system so it might take me a bit of time to figure out how they work, thank you).

[elfring]

• Does a tool like "autoscan" show any software dependencies that you find worth for further considerations?
• How do you think about to support more development environments by the reuse of build system generators?

[HalosGhost]

I disagree. This is a really small project that is inherently tied to POSIX code (so cross-platform building isn't really an issue—and even if it were, a simple Makefile can handle that case just fine). I do not see any significant benefit in using a build system instead of just a Makefile for this (especially not something as giant and horrid as autotools).

[ralsei]

• CMake is a bloated piece of shit that can't create standalone Makefiles.
• Autotools is a bloated piece of shit.
• This is a very small project and there's no benefit from CMake or Autotools. A simple Makefile is fine.

[sdhand]

Whilst I think I agree that a build system other than a makefile probably isn't needed for this particular project, "bloated piece of shit" is not an objective reason to not use a particular tool.

[ralsei]

It's simply not needed for a small project like this. For larger codebases, it's (CMake or Autotools) a large and complex tool, with many features to facilitate large projects. However, in this context, it'd be unnecessary when a Makefile would be just fine.

[HalosGhost]

I wouldn't go so far as to call either autotools or cmake such things. But I will say that, for a small project, any build system is adding a dramatically larger amount of complexity than is needed.

In addition, I would say that autotools and cmake both are incredibly complex (though some of the complexity is necessary; not even remotely all of it is), to the point where I never use either. I would be much more likely to use tup or waf than either cmake or autotools. But, again, for this small of a project, a single makefile handles it just fine.

[yggdr]

Please don't. I just had the very nice experience of being able to compile this via (GNU) make here on FreeBSD on first try, so cross-platform seems no issue not only theoretically. Don't overthrow yourself with unneeded complexity.

[sdhand]

OK, I've given this some thought, and the popular consensus seems to agree with me that a build system is likely not needed. Closing for now.