[CMake] cmake -E create_symlink for Windows

[David Cole]

On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 9:18 AM, Marcel Loose <loose at astron.nl> wrote:

> On Fri, 2009-12-11 at 14:51 +0100, Michael Wild wrote:
> > On 11. Dec, 2009, at 14:27 , Marcel Loose wrote:
> >
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > I was browsing the CMake sources for a problem I was facing with the
> > > creation of symlinks (on Unix that is) and I noticed that the
> > > SystemTools::CreateSymlink function simply returns false when building
> > > on a Windows platform.
> > >
> > > Does that mean that I cannot use 'cmake -E create_symlink' on Windows.
> > > If that's the case I consider it a bug, because the documentation
> > > suggests that 'cmake -E create_symlink' provides a platform independent
> > > way of creating symbolic links. So, if the OS and/or filesystem does
> not
> > > support symbolic links, IMHO, it should just copy the file.
> > >
> > > Best regards,
> > > Marcel Loose.
> > >
> >
> > Simply copying the file might be just as bad if people assume it really
> IS a symlink... IMHO, if the OS can't create a symlink, cmake -E
> create_symlink should fail loudly, not just silently ignore it. And somebody
> should implement this function for Windows >= Vista/2008 (i.e. WINVER >=
> 0x0600):
> >
> > http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa363866(VS.85).aspx
> >
> > Michael
>
> Hi Michael,
>
> I think it depends. Failing loudly may not always be desirable, just as
> failing silently.
>
> In my particular case, I was just creating a bunch of symlinks to
> directories; no need to discern these symlinks from the actual
> directories, but I need to be able to access the directory contents.
>
> When it comes to symlinks to files, there may be situations where you
> would really like it to be a link, e.g. when editing the file. Would
> that be a CMake usage scenario??
>
> I don't know what's the best way to deal with this issue. What do the
> CMake developers think of this?
>

I can't speak for the rest of the CMake developers, but personally, I just
simply avoid symlinks at all costs in projects that are meant to be
cross-platform. If I'm working on a Mac-or-Linux-only project, symlinks can
sometimes be useful... but they are simply not useful on Windows.

Just my opinion,
David
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.cmake.org/pipermail/cmake/attachments/20091211/323c21a4/attachment.htm>