[cmake-developers] Request for Comments: Will implementing an interactive CMake debugger be welcome?

[Stephen Kelly]

Shlomi Fish wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> following a discussion we had on ##llvm on irc.oftc.net (the main LLVM
> channel, because LLVM+clang can be built using CMake), I've been wondering
> if you would like someone (like me) to implement an interactive debugger
> (or debugging "mode") for cmake invocations, similar to gdb, "perl -d",
> pdb.py, etc.? I saw this thread:
> 
> http://www.cmake.org/pipermail/cmake/2009-July/030728.html
> 
> Where it was recommended to use cmake --trace, and I've been using MESSAGE
> ( ... ) and MESSAGE (FATAL_ERROR ...) for most of my debugging, but I'm
> interested in something better.
> 
> I can try working on it given the time and motivation (in a separate git
> branch on a GitHub/Bitbucket repository), but I want to get a green light
> for it, because once introduced, it naturally should be supported in the
> future (and if I'm going to write it, I am willing to help support it).
> 

Hi there,

I'm sure such an addition would be welcome, but it would be a lot of work.
 
Before writing such a feature, do you have enough familiarity with the cmake 
codebase already to describe how much work it would be?

Thanks,

Steve.