[vtk-developers] VTK module system uplift to CMake 3.0 features

[Marcus D. Hanwell]

On Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 5:57 PM, David Thompson
<david.thompson at kitware.com> wrote:
>> ... My main objection is that Ubuntu LTS 14.04 has CMake 2.8.12.2, and
>> that is the most recent LTS (next is out next year I believe). CMake
>> is reasonably easy to obtain/install locally updated versions, but
>> LTS/distro CMake versions present an additional barrier.
>
> If it helps, I made a PPA:
>
>   https://launchpad.net/~dcthomp/+archive/ubuntu/smtk/+packages

I think it does help, I have been meaning to figure out how to do this
for a while for some of the stuff I am working on.
>
> for building some software (SMTK) on Travis that requires CMake 3.x. If you are going to install a modern VTK (instead of whatever version LTS comes with), then it seems reasonable to depend on a modern CMake.
>
It does if the features are really worth it. You are moving from git
clone, to add my PPA, upgrade these packages, git clone... Doable, but
raising the bar. I don't know enough about the advantages of the
upgraded features on VTK's build system, and don't feel strongly if
there is consensus that it's worth the cost. Just pointing out the
additional hoops (mostly don't exist on Mac OS X/Windows).

Personally, I would love to see us move to C++11 sooner rather than
later, remove more workarounds for ancient compilers/OpenGL versions.
I know compilers and OpenGL versions are far less self-contained than
CMake is, especially when considering supercomputers, NDKs, etc.

Marcus