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People love ceremony. All the source files are written in lists in cmake files. [...] I love writing C because I do none of that overhead. The files to compile

People love ceremony. All the source files are written in lists in cmake files. [...] I love writing C because I do none of that overhead. The files to compile are whatever is on disk. I couldn't agree more. I can't stand build tools that don't take globs! I shouldn't need to list the same thing in multiple places just to make it work. Almost all the time, the files on disk should be the only list needed.

ndiddy 3y ago
The reason why people write all the source files in a list in a cmake file is that it means that when one developer adds a new file, everyone else's build system automatically regenerates the next time they try to build the project. When you use globs (which cmake does support), it means that the CMakeLists.txt file doesn't get modified when adding a new file, so the cmake generated makefiles/ninjafiles/whatever have no way of knowing that the build was modified. Instead of having the build system regenerate and then the build go through, they get a linker error and have to manually run "cmake -B build" or whatever to fix it.
- Filligree 3y ago
  Somehow this isn't a problem with Cargo.toml, however. What's cmake missing?
  - staunton 3y ago
    > What's cmake missing? Where to begin... Maybe let's start with "a build system". (I'm serious, CMake isn't a build system and doesn't have one. It supports a few...)
    - madduci 3y ago
      What are the alternatives?
      - staunton 3y ago
        I wish I new any good ones. Using CMake myself.
- humanrebar 3y ago
  CMake can detect when new source files are added and rerun itself. You need to know how to spell that option when globbing though.
  - ndiddy 3y ago
    From the cmake documentation: > The CONFIGURE_DEPENDS flag may not work reliably on all generators, or if a new generator is added in the future that cannot support it, projects using it will be stuck. Even if CONFIGURE_DEPENDS works reliably, there is still a cost to perform the check on every rebuild.
- xboxnolifes 3y ago
  Is this much of a problem if you just assume the mentality of having to run cmake every time you pull code?
humanrebar 3y ago
CMake supports globs. It just has notes in the reference docs about why that can lead to slower build times or even incorrect builds (like undetected new files) in some cases.

ndiddy 3y ago

The reason why people write all the source files in a list in a cmake file is that it means that when one developer adds a new file, everyone else's build system automatically regenerates the next time they try to build the project. When you use globs (which cmake does support), it means that the CMakeLists.txt file doesn't get modified when adding a new file, so the cmake generated makefiles/ninjafiles/whatever have no way of knowing that the build was modified. Instead of having the build system regenerate and then the build go through, they get a linker error and have to manually run "cmake -B build" or whatever to fix it.

Filligree 3y ago
Somehow this isn't a problem with Cargo.toml, however. What's cmake missing?
- staunton 3y ago
  > What's cmake missing? Where to begin... Maybe let's start with "a build system". (I'm serious, CMake isn't a build system and doesn't have one. It supports a few...)
  - madduci 3y ago
    What are the alternatives?
    - staunton 3y ago
      I wish I new any good ones. Using CMake myself.
humanrebar 3y ago
CMake can detect when new source files are added and rerun itself. You need to know how to spell that option when globbing though.
- ndiddy 3y ago
  From the cmake documentation: > The CONFIGURE_DEPENDS flag may not work reliably on all generators, or if a new generator is added in the future that cannot support it, projects using it will be stuck. Even if CONFIGURE_DEPENDS works reliably, there is still a cost to perform the check on every rebuild.
xboxnolifes 3y ago
Is this much of a problem if you just assume the mentality of having to run cmake every time you pull code?

humanrebar 3y ago

CMake supports globs. It just has notes in the reference docs about why that can lead to slower build times or even incorrect builds (like undetected new files) in some cases.