[vtkusers] Meanings of all VTK configuration parameters ??

[François Bissey]

Perspectives from a Gentoo (that help fixing bugs in the Gentoo package).
I do not know the answers to all of these. Documentation on building is 
non-existent which is a shame. 

On Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:01:05 JIA Pei wrote:
> Hi, all:
> 
> Sorry for my newbie questions. Hope this won't disturb you.
> 
> I'm trying to build current VTK cvs (wondering why there is no svn or git
> support ?? ), say VTK cvs 12/09/2009 .
> 
> However, I really wanna make myself understood of all the meanings of
> configuration parameters before I go on for compilation.
> So, I enumerate some of the doubtful parameters down here, and a detailed
> explanation is extremely expected.
> 
> 
> 
> CMAKE_HP_PTHREADS
>    OFF                         // what is HP_PTHREADS ??  It seems there
>  are several types of pthreads.

I suppose this is if you build on HP-UX unix.


> CMAKE_USE_SPROC                  OFF                           // yes,
> sorry, till now, I've got no idea what is SPROC ? what for? See this many
> times in various packages
> 
No idea either.

> FFMPEG_INCLUDE_DIR               FFMPEG_INCLUDE_DIR-NOTFOUND
> 
> // using Ubuntu 9.10, it looks like VTK only supports FFMPEG <= 0.5. the
> default FFMPEG in current Ubuntu 9.10 now doesn't afford an single
>  "include" directory.
>
It is for the vtk dev to move on that one, with just switch it off in Gentoo,
I guess it is patchable. 
 
>  FFMPEG_dc1394_LIBRARY            FFMPEG_dc1394_LIBRARY-NOTFOUND
>  FFMPEG_dts_LIBRARY               FFMPEG_dts_LIBRARY-NOTFOUND
> // why FFMPEG_dc1394 and FFMPEG_dts?  I installed libdc1394-22-dev , but it
> seems this has nothing to do with FFMPEG ???
> 
Firewire support, if you build ffmpeg with firewire support you need the 
userland tools for it. 

>  MEMORYCHECK_COMMAND              MEMORYCHECK_COMMAND-NOTFOUND
> // Couldn't find any package related to MEMORYCHECK ? which package is
> required for this package?
> 
no idea

> OPENGL_xmesa_INCLUDE_DIR         OPENGL_xmesa_INCLUDE_DIR-NOTFOUND
> // strange tha under Ubuntu 9.10, this can not be found.
> All mesa related packages have been installed including
> libgl1-mesa-dev
> libglu1-mesa-dev
> libglw1-mesa-dev
> libosmesa6-dev
> mesa-common-dev
> xlibmesa-gl-dev
> xlibmesa-glu
> 
> Only except package "libgl1-mesa-swx11-dev". However, if I tick this up,
> package "ubuntu-desktop" will be removed, as well as some conflicted mesa
> packages listed above.
> So, what is "OPENGL_xmesa_INCLUDE_DIR" for?
> 
Not sure it is for linux, could be cygwin.

> 
>  LIBPROJ4_INCLUDE_DIR             LIBPROJ4_INCLUDE_DIR-NOTFOUND
>  LIBPROJ4_LIBRARIES               LIBPROJ4_LIBRARIES-NOTFOUND
> // In fact, I installed libproj-dev from current Ubuntu 9.10 repository.
> But,
> 
> 
>  PROJ_LIST_EXTERNAL               OFF
>  PROJ_USE_GSL                     OFF
>  PROJ_USE_PTHREADS                OFF
> // What are these three choices for? If I picked ON for any of the three, I
> will obtain the following error message:
>  CMake Error at Utilities/vtklibproj4/CMakeLists.txt:28 (message):
>    You may not define both PROJ_LIST_EXTERNAL and BUILD_SHARED_LIBS.  Turn
> one
>    off and re-run CMake.
> Therefore, it's better I turn off these 3 choices right?
> 

Pain, I do not think vtk should offer you this choice as, as far as I can tell, 
libproj4 shipped in vtk is a distinct fork of proj4 and has different headers
(filenames at least) unless I haven't found the correct upstream for this.

>  VERDICT_BUILD_DOC                OFF
>  VERDICT_ENABLE_TESTING           OFF
>  VERDICT_MANGLE                   ON
>  VERDICT_MANGLE_PREFIX            vtk
>  VERDICT_USE_FLOAT                OFF
> // What are VERDICT for? Always meet this in many packages.  Something is
> even more strange. If I enable "VERDICT_ENABLE_TESTING           ON", after
> the configuration, it will be automatically change back to
> "VERDICT_ENABLE_TESTING           OFF" !!! Amazing.... The same thing
> happens to "VERDICT_USE_FLOAT                OFF" as well.
> 
> VLI_LIBRARY_FOR_VP1000           VLI_LIBRARY_FOR_VP1000-NOTFOUND
> // what is this for? It seems nothing is related with this choice in Ubuntu
> 9.10?
> 
I think it is related to special hardware.

> 
>  X11_XTest_LIB                    X11_XTest_LIB-NOTFOUND
>  X11_Xaccessrules_INCLUDE_PATH    X11_Xaccessrules_INCLUDE_PATH-NOTFOUND
> // Strange that in ubuntu 9.10, these 2 packages are not able to be found.
> What are these 2 packages for?
> 
> 
> 
> Finally, I really hope all VTK_  settings can be carefully explained
>  because all these parameters are specifically for VTK !!
> Here, I enumerate all I'm interested in as follows:
> 
>  VTK_LARGE_DATA_ROOT              VTK_LARGE_DATA_ROOT-NOTFOUND
> // what is LARGE_DATA?  is it VTKData? My directory tree is just like
> some folder
> ----------- VTK
> ----------- VTKData
> How should I arrange these 2 directories "VTK" and "VTKData"?
> 
> VTK_LEGACY_REMOVE                OFF
>  VTK_LEGACY_SILENT                OFF
> // What are VTK_LEGACY for?
> 
>  VTK_OPENGL_HAS_OSMESA            OFF
> // what is OSMESA? what's the relationship between opengl and osmesa?
> 

OS, here is Off-Screen it is an option to enable off=screen rendering if your 
hardware is capable. One of the option with a tip that I can understand.

>  VTK_TESTING_USE_FPE              ON
> // what does FPE refer to??

Floating point Exceptions, numerical check features.

>  VTK_TESTING_USE_LOCALE           OFF
> // what does LOCALE refer to?
> 
Language localization, you know not-English.

>  VTK_USE_FFMPEG_ENCODER           OFF
> // As you may see above, FFMPEG_INCLUDE_DIR
> FFMPEG_INCLUDE_DIR-NOTFOUND , so it's better for me to turn off
> VTK_USE_FFMPEG_ENCODER  .
> 
> VTK_USE_MANGLED_MESA             OFF
> // OPENGL_xmesa_INCLUDE_DIR         OPENGL_xmesa_INCLUDE_DIR-NOTFOUND , so
> it seems i'd better turn off VTK_USE_MANGLED_MESA
> 
yes, old stuff.

> VTK_USE_MPEG2_ENCODER            OFF
> // This seems to be specific for vtkmpeg2encode, right?
> which one should be installed first? vtk or vtkmpeg2encode? why not afford
>  a standard installation for vtkmpeg2encode?  Or just integrate VTK and
>  vtkmpeg2encode??
> 
I didn't know there was a separate package for it. Is it separation you have 
on ubuntu?


>  VTK_USE_TDX                      ON
> // What is TDX for?
>  VTK_USE_TEXT_ANALYSIS            ON
> // What is TEXT_ANALYSIS for?
> 
>  VTK_USE_VOLUMEPRO_1000           OFF
> // What is VOLUMEPRO_1000?
> 
related to VP1000 above?

> 
> Hope anybody can afford a detailed explanation on all the above
> VTKconfiguration settings.
> 
> 
won't comment on the rest.

Francois