Hey Nimish, I'd like to help improve the Mac build system. It's ... painful. And I've been a developer for 25 years. Let me know if you've got a fork somewhere I can pull and help jam on. It shouldn't be this hard to build KiCad.
On Monday, March 20, 2023 at 11:26:04 PM UTC-4 Ajith N wrote: > If KiCad indeed becomes easier to package, we'll know what kind of spirit > to thank, besides the personal free time itself. > > Not the kind that comes in bottles, I hope 😊 > > Cheers! > > On Tue, 21 Mar 2023 at 00:16, Nimish Telang <nte...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> It's not the worst I've seen but it needs some maintenance. I’m going to >> see if I can make it better. >> >> >> >> > That's a pretty strong <expletive> statement to come in with. KiCad >> has used cmake since 2007. >> >> > CMake has changed A LOT in that time and it was actually a lot less >> capable in the past. >> >> > Not to mention just being a mess across platforms compared to how well >> it works now. >> >> >> >> Yep, but it’s hard to explain cmake script updates in the last, say, >> year ignoring basic cmake features. Cmake has only recently become OK, >> admittedly. >> >> >> >> It’s a strong statement since the system is in such a brittle state in >> contrast to Kicad itself which is better than ever. >> >> >> >> · (Heck honestly at work, we wouldn't bother wasting our paid >> labor on "zombie code" too unless it was an actual problem) >> >> >> >> Indeed, which is why it’s very, very odd that it’s being carried along. >> >> >> >> · The reason why we have forks of the find modules is because we >> need to support more than your personal build. >> >> >> >> Quite so, but after bumping the version this is no longer a constraint. >> Right now, kicad doesn’t support a native build on macOS without >> considerable hoop-jumping and an entire repo of patched (and subtly buggy >> in its own way, unfortunately) cmake code; it never supported my >> personal build 😊 >> >> >> >> · Typically, the problem was certain Linux distros >> running behind by quite a few years when it came to cmake versions. >> Ubuntu and Debian being the biggest culprits. >> >> We cannot force those distros to download newer cmakes outside of their >> package manager ecosystem. >> >> >> >> Given Kicad breaks user projects, scripts, and data with major upgrades, >> I have little sympathy for maintaining compatibility for distro >> maintainers. It’s their problem if they need to backport a modern cmake. >> >> >> >> · I'm just going to say you should invest in some liquor, but >> not the top shelf stuff since you'll want a bunch. >> >> >> >> I’m in too deep already >> >> >> >> Nimish >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> *From: *dev...@kicad.org <dev...@kicad.org> on behalf of Mark Roszko < >> mark....@gmail.com> >> *Date: *Sunday, March 19, 2023 at 9:59 PM >> *To: *dev...@kicad.org <dev...@kicad.org> >> *Subject: *Re: [kicad] Updating the build >> >> > . There's a lot of zombie code being carried in the Kicad repo for >> unclear gain >> >> >> >> Welcome to the world of stuff that works and is low hanging fruit for a >> bunch of people doing this out of their personal free time. >> >> (Heck honestly at work, we wouldn't bother wasting our paid labor on >> "zombie code" too unless it was an actual problem) >> >> >> >> However, be warned, zombies do bite and go for the brain. >> >> >> >> > It's clearly been accreted over the years without a lot of >> understanding of what cmake can do. >> >> >> >> That's a pretty strong <expletive> statement to come in with. KiCad has >> used cmake since 2007. >> >> CMake has changed A LOT in that time and it was actually a lot less >> capable in the past. >> >> Not to mention just being a mess across platforms compared to how well it >> works now. >> >> >> >> > This also helps other systems since fewer stuff is added globally, and >> there's less system-specific code in Kicad itself. >> >> >> >> The reason why we have forks of the find modules is because we need to >> support more than your personal build. >> >> Typically, the problem was certain Linux distros running behind by quite >> a few years when it came to cmake versions. Ubuntu and Debian being the >> biggest culprits. >> >> We cannot force those distros to download newer cmakes outside of their >> package manager ecosystem. >> >> >> >> Currently we have managed to bump that requirement to 3.21 luckily and >> that's a pretty recent and big jump from the previous 3.12 for last year. >> >> >> >> > Kicad should not be this difficult to package. >> >> >> >> I'm just going to say you should invest in some liquor, but not the top >> shelf stuff since you'll want a bunch. >> >> >> >> >> >> On Sun, Mar 19, 2023 at 4:11 PM Nimish Telang <nte...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Hi, >> >> >> >> The current Kicad build cmake code is a man-made horror beyond my >> comprehension. It's clearly been accreted over the years without a lot of >> understanding of what cmake can do. Admittedly cmake itself is the cause of >> most of the horror, but we can do better. >> >> >> >> I'm no cmake expert, but a few days of fixing the code has yielded some >> decent improvements. I expect more significant modularization changes to >> happen as well as the dependency graph is made more explicit. There's a lot >> of zombie code being carried in the Kicad repo for unclear gain, or for >> reasons that no longer apply in 2023. >> >> >> >> Having to use kicad-mac-builder is also another pain to get kicad >> building on a Mac, and it is gating my ability to improve Kicad itself. It >> works, but isn't actually needed if the cmake is written correctly. This >> also helps other systems since fewer stuff is added globally, and there's >> less system-specific code in Kicad itself. >> >> >> >> I'll also look into rebuilding the install/bundle/app code, as that's its >> own mess. Kicad should not be this difficult to package. >> >> >> >> Nimish >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "KiCad Developers" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to devlist+u...@kicad.org. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/490e5cea-ff23-4b23-948f-62e88876a916n%40kicad.org >> >> <https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/490e5cea-ff23-4b23-948f-62e88876a916n%40kicad.org?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> >> >> >> >> -- >> >> Mark >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the >> Google Groups "KiCad Developers" group. >> To unsubscribe from this topic, visit >> https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/topic/devlist/VLosAq7pSxY/unsubscribe >> . >> To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to >> devlist+u...@kicad.org. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/CAJjB1qLBD%2BcCmo-VOmwODYNdzGuoFefb2YixO7FT%3DyPDJ59iPg%40mail.gmail.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/CAJjB1qLBD%2BcCmo-VOmwODYNdzGuoFefb2YixO7FT%3DyPDJ59iPg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "KiCad Developers" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to devlist+u...@kicad.org. >> > To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/BL3PR04MB79310672B76BC4B3920860B9A7809%40BL3PR04MB7931.namprd04.prod.outlook.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/BL3PR04MB79310672B76BC4B3920860B9A7809%40BL3PR04MB7931.namprd04.prod.outlook.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "KiCad Developers" group. 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