[Insight-developers] Problem with ITK_SOURCE_DIR var in ITKConfig.cmake.in

[Stephen R. Aylward]

However - you are right - we do need to fix bugs. :)

(sometimes I come across sounding too strong, i.e., like a stubborn 
idiot :) sorry)

Perhaps there is a way to devise a backward compatible solution - or 
throw a warning - or document the change?

Thanks for your patience with my occasional rant,
Stephen

Mathieu Malaterre wrote:
> Hi Stephen,
> 
>   As far as I understand removing bugs do not need to be backward
> compatible. ITK_SOURCE_DIR was pointing to non-existant directory
> anyway. I don't even understand in which case it was returning
> something useful.
> 
>   It was discussed on the dev mailing list right after 3.4 so this has
> never been part of any release. If you still feel that it should be
> back for 3.6, please let me know. But again this is undocumented
> 'feature' and high on the 'shoot yourself in the foot' list.
> 
> Regards,
> -Mathieu
> 
> On 10/18/07, Stephen R. Aylward <Stephen.Aylward at kitware.com> wrote:
>> Regardless, this broke backward compatibility.
>>
>> ITK's backward compatibility policy MUST also apply to its CMake files.
>>
>> Perhaps there was a really good reason for doing it, and it wasn't
>> removed just because it was "bad" - but regardless, this should have
>> been posted to the developers and users list, included in a CHANGES.txt
>> file, and announced in every viable way to keep these questions from
>> arising.
>>
>> Stephen
>>
>> Mathieu Malaterre wrote:
>>> On 10/18/07, Thomas Feuvrier <thomas.feuvrier at c-s.cnes.fr> wrote:
>>>> Hello,
>>>>
>>>> In the new version of ITK (3.4.0), we saw that the ITK_SOURCE_DIR
>>>> variable in ITKConfig.cmake.in has disapeared ! It's important for us,
>>>> becasue without this variable, my project (OTB) can't use the latest ITK
>>>> version. Is it an error ?
>>> Yes this is an error to use this variable. When importing an ITK
>>> build/install tree you should *not* rely on ITK_SOURCE_DIR since it
>>> would in general point to a non existant directory or worse to a
>>> different ITK than the one you are importing.
>>>
>>> HTH,
>> --
>> =============================================================
>> Stephen R. Aylward, Ph.D.
>> Chief Medical Scientist
>> Kitware, Inc. - Chapel Hill Office
>> http://www.kitware.com
>> Phone: (518)371-3971 x300
>>
> 
> 

-- 
=============================================================
Stephen R. Aylward, Ph.D.
Chief Medical Scientist
Kitware, Inc. - Chapel Hill Office
http://www.kitware.com
Phone: (518)371-3971 x300