Re: Why Jam?

From: braden_mcdaniel (braden_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-02-20 11:26:29

--- In boost_at_y..., "bill_kempf" <williamkempf_at_h...> wrote:
> --- In boost_at_y..., "Steve M. Robbins" <steven.robbins_at_v...> wrote:
> > On Wed, Feb 20, 2002 at 08:16:22AM -0500, nbecker_at_f... wrote:
> > > Portability.  autoconf+automake require lots of support tools 
> that may
> > > not be present on non-unix systems.
> > 
> > True, but: "jam" is only a build system, while "autoconf+automake" 
> is
> > a *configure* and build (and install) system.  They are vastly
> > different in scope.
> > 
> > As for the support tools: newer apples (MacOSX) have them, cygwin is
> > available for MSwin, I believe that BeOS has them, and of course all
> > unix systems have them.  That covers the systems listed in
> > http://www.boost.org/status/compiler_status.html.
> 
> Many of us work in shops that restrict what can be installed on a 
> system.  It's easier to convince them to let us install a single, 
> small executable (jam.exe), or in some cases just boot strap Jam with 
> out their knowledge, then it is to convince them we need to install a 
> monolithic system such as cygwin.  More over, why force a Unix 
> interface (cygwin) on non-Unix programmers?
> 
> The reality is, many of us simply can't use autoconf+make, so we 
> don't need other reasons such as the other benefits of Jam (recursive 
> make problems don't exist, easier to write then Make files, etc).

On the other hand...

Though jam may purport to be an improvement over make, automake gives
make a significant advantage by providing a number of useful build
targets, notably "dist" and "install". Having the latter target
available in particular greatly facilitates the creation of
installable packages as you find in the popular Linux distributions.
There is no doubt in my mind that the lack of these targets in the
Boost build setup has hampered Boost's penetration into this space.
You don't *have* to use the autotools to fix this problem; it's just a
lot more work without them.

Braden