[CMake] Will CMP0003 OLD become deprecated?

[Brad King]

Adolfo Rodríguez wrote:
> I am currently migrating a project to CMake, and have been linking
> targets to project libraries using full paths (i.e., embracing the NEW
> CMP0003 policy of CMake >= 2.6). However, my co-workers are reluctant to
> embrace this because the old CMP0003 policy has not yet yielded
> incorrect results, and because of the extra hassle of specifying full
> paths or link_directories(...) . So, I wanted to ask this list if in the
> (probably distant) future the old behavior will be deprecated. This
> would serve as an extra leverage to support the adoption of the NEW
> CMP0003 style.

Yes, it may become deprecated in the (distant) future.  The internal
implementation of the policy mechanism defines a way to remove support
for the OLD behavior of a policy and convert attempts to use it to an error.

If you're looking for arguments:

  - Projects that need the OLD behavior technically have a bug.
    They specify a library to link without specifying the directory
    in which to search for the library.

  - Policies are for *compatibility* and are not intended as an API for
    selecting between two desirable behaviors.  No one should write
    *new* code that needs the OLD behavior.

-Brad