Library build/make indirection question

From: Beman Dawes (beman_at_[hidden])
Date: 2000-12-17 11:01:23

IIRC, the key reason we originally decided not supply library build scripts 
for various platforms was because we thought adding a new library meant 
modifying build scripts and makefiles for platforms the developer knew 
nothing about and had no way of testing.

Could this be solved by adding a level of indirection?

If the names (and relative paths) of the .ccp files to be built were 
supplied in a text file in an agreed upon boost format, don't most 
platforms have some kind of native scripting language capable of doing the 
build?  Even Windows batch files can handle this.

Thus when a new boost library is added, only the single text file has to be 
modified.  The scripts (or makefiles or whatever) don't have to be 
modified.  A developer can test on his or her usual platform and compiler 
without worrying about other platforms or compilers.

Some integration of the library build process and the regression test 
process would be enough to detect specific platform or compiler problems.

While in theory such an approach would mean maintaining an ever larger 
number of build scripts, I'm not sure that is a practical problem. Many of 
the practical problems are already being addressed now that we run 
regression tests for a number of platform/compiler combinations.

Comments?

--Beman