On Mon, 18 May 2020 at 23:59, Werner LEMBERG wrote:
> > - Meson as the primary build system for FreeType developers, which
> > includes the ability to run tests, sanitizers, coverage analysis,
> > etc.
>
> It seems that Meson can create cmake package files, and probably build
> scripts, too. Wouldn't that be the best solution? I can also imagine
> that Meson builds `configure.ac`...
Is there any opportunity to avoid modifying ftoption.h directly to
enable, say, subpixel rendering with a new build system? Carrying
permanent patches for downstream packaging is annoying.
Personally, I'd like to be able to enable various options via
configure flags or a configurable file (JSON, anyone?) that's not a C
header. Python could do nicely here.
I think there is an opportunity here. The current customization scheme was designed for
embedded system development where you could not assume anything fancy in the
development environment (e.g. developing on DOS or Win9x), so modifying header files
and relying on GNU Make was the sanest possible option at the time. The auto-tools
scripts came after that, which shows.
We probably want to introduce that gradually though (i.e. add the configure option while
still supporting custom ftoption.h in a first step, and warning about the fact that the latter
will change in the future, probably with some judicious use of #warning and macros).
But for now, I'd rather work on removing the modules/driver system from the implementation,
which also touches the subject of customizability of the build, which is still very important to me.
Other than that, the removal of RPATHs should be revisited. That's a
topic for another thread.
Yes, please start a thread about the issue and why you think it's a good/bad idea.