(0036703)
Brad King (manager)
2014-09-02 15:28

FWIW, the current behavior is as intended. The DOWNLOAD_DIR is just a staging directory for source tarballs. The SOURCE_DIR is always the top of the source tree, whether it is pre-populated, generated by extraction of a (downloaded) tarball, or generated by checkout from version control. The documentation could be clarified on this point.

You could specify a full CONFIGURE_COMMAND that spells out the full CMake command-line explicitly so the custom source directory can be specified.

> projects who's CMakeLists.txt files are not in the root folder

Perhaps there should be a SOURCE_SUBDIR option to specify a location underneath SOURCE_DIR to be treated as the top of the source tree for purposes of the configure step.

(0036704)
Umar Arshad (reporter)
2014-09-02 15:49

I think the SOURCE_SUBDIR directory would work. The documentation should list the SOURCE_DIR under the Download step instead of the Configure step. I assumed SOURCE_DIR was the location of the CMakeList.txt as CMake defines CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR as the location of that file.

I ended up using CONFIGURE_COMMAND in my project, but I wanted to bring this issue up with you guys.

(0036705)
Daniele E. Domenichelli (developer)
2014-09-02 16:30

+1 for the SOURCE_SUBDIR, I have the same issue, at the moment I solved it by re-implementing all the commands.
I can work on this next week if nobody wants to do it, it shouldn't be hard to implement.

(0036706)
David Cole (manager)
2014-09-02 16:41

-1 for SOURCE_SUBDIR

SOURCE_DIR should be defined as the location of the top level CMakeLists.txt file. (to match CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR in a "normal" non-ExternalProject CMake invocation)

The problem is that SOURCE_DIR is used as both the location of the source tree (top level CMakeLists.txt file), *and* as the default place to extract downloaded tarballs or to put repo checkout results, making the assumption that the top level CMakeLists file is in the top level of the extracted tarball or repo...

I would prefer to see the current "download" be separated into two phases finally: download and extract. Then... this new parameter would naturally be named EXTRACT_DIR, (where tarball extraction, and repo checkouts would occur), and then SOURCE_DIR could point down inside the EXTRACT_DIR.

But..... I don't have time to contribute such a change at the moment, and will be happy with whatever anybody else is able to contribute.

(0036711)
Brad King (manager)
2014-09-03 09:54

Re 0015118:0036705: Thanks for volunteering to work on this.

Re 0015118:0036706: IIRC the SOURCE_DIR is also used as the directory for the Update step, and is the root version-controlled source directory. The proposed EXTRACT_DIR would supersede SOURCE_DIR for that role too. Anybody have an idea for a more general name than "EXTRACT_DIR"?

(0036713)
David Cole (manager)
2014-09-03 10:06

Possible other names: CONFIGURE_SOURCE_DIR, CONFIGURE_DIR, CMAKELISTS_DIR

Naming is always the hardest thing...

(0036714)
Brad King (manager)
2014-09-03 10:15

Re 0015118:0036713: Okay, so SOURCE_DIR would then remain the top version-controlled or tarball-extracted directory, and CONFIGURE_SOURCE_DIR would be the directory containing the configure script or top CMakeLists.txt file?

(0036721)
David Cole (manager)
2014-09-03 11:11

Re 0015118:0036714: yeah... but then that still violates my original objection that SOURCE_DIR should be analogous to a non-EP CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR... so I don't know.

None of these ideas seem satisfactory yet, for me, at the moment.

(0036740)
Daniele E. Domenichelli (developer)
2014-09-08 06:27

Could it be a relative path that will be appended to both SOURCE_DIR and BUILD_DIR? In this way one could also use this argument to share a version-controlled source directory containing several projects between different external projects.

The big problem would be the "TAG" though, if tags are different this could cause issues. Maybe it could be a list of directories?

(0036819)
Daniele E. Domenichelli (developer)
2014-09-17 06:40

Bump. I can work on this, but I'm not sure what to implement...

(0036820)
David Cole (manager)
2014-09-17 07:12

First: I would vote for *not* changing ExternalProject at all in this case, and telling people to customize CONFIGURE_COMMAND when this happens.

But: if you really really think a change like this is commonly needed, i.e., *most* people have to customize CONFIGURE_COMMAND because this happens so much, then I would vote for naming the new parameter CONFIGURE_SOURCE_DIR.

(0042616)
Kitware Robot (administrator)
2016-06-10 14:29

Resolving issue as `moved`.

This issue tracker is no longer used. Further discussion of this issue may take place in the current CMake Issues page linked in the banner at the top of this page.

Issue History
Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
2014-08-30 00:49	Umar Arshad	New Issue
2014-08-30 00:49	Umar Arshad	File Added: BuildCLBLAS.cmake
2014-09-02 15:28	Brad King	Note Added: 0036703
2014-09-02 15:49	Umar Arshad	Note Added: 0036704
2014-09-02 16:30	Daniele E. Domenichelli	Note Added: 0036705
2014-09-02 16:41	David Cole	Note Added: 0036706
2014-09-03 09:50	Brad King	Assigned To	=> Daniele E. Domenichelli
2014-09-03 09:50	Brad King	Status	new => assigned
2014-09-03 09:54	Brad King	Note Added: 0036711
2014-09-03 10:06	David Cole	Note Added: 0036713
2014-09-03 10:15	Brad King	Note Added: 0036714
2014-09-03 11:11	David Cole	Note Added: 0036721
2014-09-08 06:27	Daniele E. Domenichelli	Note Added: 0036740
2014-09-17 06:40	Daniele E. Domenichelli	Note Added: 0036819
2014-09-17 07:12	David Cole	Note Added: 0036820
2016-06-10 14:29	Kitware Robot	Note Added: 0042616
2016-06-10 14:29	Kitware Robot	Status	assigned => resolved
2016-06-10 14:29	Kitware Robot	Resolution	open => moved
2016-06-10 14:31	Kitware Robot	Status	resolved => closed

Notes
(0036703) Brad King (manager) 2014-09-02 15:28	FWIW, the current behavior is as intended. The DOWNLOAD_DIR is just a staging directory for source tarballs. The SOURCE_DIR is always the top of the source tree, whether it is pre-populated, generated by extraction of a (downloaded) tarball, or generated by checkout from version control. The documentation could be clarified on this point. You could specify a full CONFIGURE_COMMAND that spells out the full CMake command-line explicitly so the custom source directory can be specified. > projects who's CMakeLists.txt files are not in the root folder Perhaps there should be a SOURCE_SUBDIR option to specify a location underneath SOURCE_DIR to be treated as the top of the source tree for purposes of the configure step.

(0036704) Umar Arshad (reporter) 2014-09-02 15:49	I think the SOURCE_SUBDIR directory would work. The documentation should list the SOURCE_DIR under the Download step instead of the Configure step. I assumed SOURCE_DIR was the location of the CMakeList.txt as CMake defines CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR as the location of that file. I ended up using CONFIGURE_COMMAND in my project, but I wanted to bring this issue up with you guys.

(0036705) Daniele E. Domenichelli (developer) 2014-09-02 16:30	+1 for the SOURCE_SUBDIR, I have the same issue, at the moment I solved it by re-implementing all the commands. I can work on this next week if nobody wants to do it, it shouldn't be hard to implement.

(0036706) David Cole (manager) 2014-09-02 16:41	-1 for SOURCE_SUBDIR SOURCE_DIR should be defined as the location of the top level CMakeLists.txt file. (to match CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR in a "normal" non-ExternalProject CMake invocation) The problem is that SOURCE_DIR is used as both the location of the source tree (top level CMakeLists.txt file), and as the default place to extract downloaded tarballs or to put repo checkout results, making the assumption that the top level CMakeLists file is in the top level of the extracted tarball or repo... I would prefer to see the current "download" be separated into two phases finally: download and extract. Then... this new parameter would naturally be named EXTRACT_DIR, (where tarball extraction, and repo checkouts would occur), and then SOURCE_DIR could point down inside the EXTRACT_DIR. But..... I don't have time to contribute such a change at the moment, and will be happy with whatever anybody else is able to contribute.

(0036711) Brad King (manager) 2014-09-03 09:54	Re 0015118:0036705: Thanks for volunteering to work on this. Re 0015118:0036706: IIRC the SOURCE_DIR is also used as the directory for the Update step, and is the root version-controlled source directory. The proposed EXTRACT_DIR would supersede SOURCE_DIR for that role too. Anybody have an idea for a more general name than "EXTRACT_DIR"?

(0036713) David Cole (manager) 2014-09-03 10:06	Possible other names: CONFIGURE_SOURCE_DIR, CONFIGURE_DIR, CMAKELISTS_DIR Naming is always the hardest thing...

(0036714) Brad King (manager) 2014-09-03 10:15	Re 0015118:0036713: Okay, so SOURCE_DIR would then remain the top version-controlled or tarball-extracted directory, and CONFIGURE_SOURCE_DIR would be the directory containing the configure script or top CMakeLists.txt file?

(0036721) David Cole (manager) 2014-09-03 11:11	Re 0015118:0036714: yeah... but then that still violates my original objection that SOURCE_DIR should be analogous to a non-EP CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR... so I don't know. None of these ideas seem satisfactory yet, for me, at the moment.

(0036740) Daniele E. Domenichelli (developer) 2014-09-08 06:27	Could it be a relative path that will be appended to both SOURCE_DIR and BUILD_DIR? In this way one could also use this argument to share a version-controlled source directory containing several projects between different external projects. The big problem would be the "TAG" though, if tags are different this could cause issues. Maybe it could be a list of directories?

(0036819) Daniele E. Domenichelli (developer) 2014-09-17 06:40	Bump. I can work on this, but I'm not sure what to implement...

(0036820) David Cole (manager) 2014-09-17 07:12	First: I would vote for not changing ExternalProject at all in this case, and telling people to customize CONFIGURE_COMMAND when this happens. But: if you really really think a change like this is commonly needed, i.e., most people have to customize CONFIGURE_COMMAND because this happens so much, then I would vote for naming the new parameter CONFIGURE_SOURCE_DIR.

(0042616) Kitware Robot (administrator) 2016-06-10 14:29	Resolving issue as `moved`. This issue tracker is no longer used. Further discussion of this issue may take place in the current CMake Issues page linked in the banner at the top of this page.

Relationships