[TOPIC 08/11] Modern Build Systems

Modern Build System ===================

(moderator: Patrick; notetaker: brian)

* Patrick: three different build system; should get rid of at least one
  of them
  * Should delete autoconf because it's not really maintained
  * Think about a proper build system
  * Obvious choice: cmake
* Taylor: What's the problem with Makefiles
* Patrick: Non-standard
  * Meson is nicer than cmake as an alternative
* Jonathan: xz compromise shows autoconf is a risk
* Autoconf isn't a problem for distro
* Taylor: distro builds that can't handle "make" without configure are a
  distro problem
* Jonathan: Modern build system can reflect the structure of how your
  code is set up
  * Declared dependencies
* Brian: Rust will make the decision for us: cargo
  * BSDs use Make (granted, not GNU make) for building
* Patrick: Is anyone else in favour of a proper build system
  * Ninja is way faster than make to build the projects
* Taylor: Feels odd to build with a fancy tool that might have a
  dependency on Git
* Dscho: --help is a autoconf feature and removed features are detected
* Patrick: Isn't that an argument for cmake over autoconf? Dscho: yes
* Kyle: Editor integration is useful
* brian: standard structure is helpful for LSPs
* Emily: libification has shown that makefile is cumbersome
* Jonathan: Should we do a comparison of build systems in terms of what
  we need from them on the list? Similar to
  Documentation/technical/unit-tests.txt
  * Patrick: I can write such a thing.
* Patrick: Are their any features we need to consider?
* Johannes Sixt: Consider supported platforms
* Patrick: Want to verify that cmake is up to the task by testing in CI?
  * Will volunteer to post something to the list