[vtk-developers] Re: VTK Python Installation [was: VTK 5.0 branch in mid-August]

[Brad King]

Prabhu Ramachandran wrote:
> So, I'd vote for versioned VTK libs.  I'd also like to reach a
> consensus on what to do about the Python modules.
> 
>  1. Does rpath/soname work with '.' under all platforms supported?

I think it is but I'm not sure.  Either way I'm planning to just remove 
rpath altogether from installations.  There will be a new VTK_USE_RPATH 
option (off by default) that is available when BUILD_SHARED_LIBS is on. 
  This option if enabled will use rpath for the build tree but disable 
the install target completely.  This way developers can run from the 
build tree while users can install without rpath.  It will also be hard 
to accidentally install with an rpath pointing at the build tree.

>  2. If the answer to 1 is yes, do we go with this or still go with the
>     Apple solution?  If not I think we should just go for the Apple
>     solution.

I think we should use the "apple" solution either way because it allows 
the python modules to be in site-packages while the shared libraries are 
in PREFIX/lib.  It will also be nice to not have special behavior on OSX.

>  3. How hard would it be to add version numbers for the VTK libraries?
>     Should we wait till this happens?

I now have a working implementation of shared library version numbers. 
It is pretty simple and doesn't seem to have any compatibility issues. 
Once we require CMake 2.0 I can commit these changes.  After that I'll 
look at moving the libraries into PREFIX/lib instead of PREFIX/lib/vtk.

-Brad