[cmake-developers] fphsa capitalization

[Alexander Neundorf]

On Wednesday 11 August 2010, Brad King wrote:
> On 08/11/2010 04:02 PM, Eric Noulard wrote:
> > 2010/8/11 Alexander Neundorf <neundorf at kde.org>:
> >> Well, I still think the UPPERCASE_ prefix also has it advantages, I
> >> don't have to remember the exact case of the module (was it FindLibXml2
> >> or FindLibXML2 or Findlibxml2 or FindLibxml2, the variables are all just
> >> LIBXML_SOMETHING). It also makes them look more "consistent".
> >
> > The simplicity argument is a good one.
> > I was in favor of ExactCase because I found it more "coherent"
> > but I admit UPPERCASE is "easier to remember".
>
> ...but you need to remember the case anyway as the first argument to
> the find_package command:
>
>   find_package(ExactCase)
>
> I think it is much more intuitive to keep using the same case after that.
>
> > So in the end I would say "I don't care" but let's do it for good:
> >
> >  1) Chose between UPPERCASE and ExactCase
>
> ExactCase

I disagree.
Not because I think UPPERCASE is prettier or something, but because more than 
90% of the modules in cmake and kdelibs are using UPPERCASEONLY variable 
names.
I.e. the 10 modules in cmake which use ExactCase are the exceptions which 
should be fixed (and 6 in kdelibs).
Which to me seems much more reasonable than stating that 55 files in cmake are 
wrong (i.e. more than 50%) and 67 files in kdelibs are wrong (i.e. 75%).

And that the people used to UPPERCASE variable names (from 90% of all 
find-modules they are using) now have to get used to Exact case. These 90% of 
find-modules are existing and their variables are in use, so we have to 
continue to provide these variables.
Which means that if we would switch to Exact case, there would be a mixture of 
ExactCase and UPPERCASE for years, which would be even less standard than 
today.

This is also the reason why, when I wrote FindPackageHandleStandardArgs.cmake 
initially, I decided to set the UPPERCASE_FOUND there automatically, because 
this was what I saw in all find-modules I was aware of.

Alex