[CMake] [cmake-developers] Bug fix requests for the *next* release of CMake...

[Michael Wild]

On 29. Jul, 2010, at 23:22 , Olaf van der Spek wrote:

> On Thu, Jul 29, 2010 at 11:13 PM, Michael Wild <themiwi at gmail.com> wrote:
>> The problem is that there IS NO CONVENTION on name decoration.
> 
> Why is that a problem?

If CMake made the choice, somebody (i.e. exactly ONE person) would be a happy camper, all the others would have froth in front of their mouths... It is trivial to add the decoration yourself, if you must wrap add_executable and add_library in a custom function which sets the properties appropriately.

> 
>> And yes, especially as a library developer you have to be aware of things.
> 
> Why?

A library developer has to think of everything. Otherwise the library is useless. Good libraries are carefully crafted pieces of art, where the developer tried to mold the interface and the functionality in a way that allows for greatest flexibility, trying very hard not to do it the easy way and just hack it together so it works for just this single application. He is an enabler, the creator of all the infrastructure, the very heart of a software project. He has to know every detail and all the implications of the actions he takes. So, as a library developer you pretty damn well care about everything, even naming of the libraries, because you don't just provide an application, you create a whole development kit which you intend to be used by others in ways you couldn't imagine.

On the other hand, the application programmer "just" assembles the pieces in new, often ingenious ways ;-)

Michael