[Cmake] Re: CMake Apple XCode support?

[Eric Wing]

Very interesting approachs you two have...However,
having CMake generate native Xcode projects would
still be the best solution for me. I have to maintain
Windows (multiple compilers), Linux, and FreeBSD
builds in addition to OS X, and I just don't want to
have to muck around with more stuff. Since CMake
already generates native projects for so many other
systems, it seems appropriate to handle Xcode too.

Out of curiosity, does the Xcode using Makefiles
automatically give you access to all the files and do
indexing through the IDE? And is it able to distribute
builds to other computers on the network since Xcode
is not directly managing the dependency information?


As for Applescript, it sounds like an interesting
idea, but I don't know anything about Applescript. And
being bogged down with supporting so many platforms
already, I wouldn't have time to fiddle with it. I
really need a one step solution. 

Also, I don't know Applescript well enough to know
this, but will Applescript break if the Xcode UI
designers reorganize or rename some of the menu or
setup interfaces? I think the front-end is more likely
to go through cosmetic changes than the actual file
format. Apple will still have to support legacy file
formats (as they currently do with Project Builder)
for at least awhile, to give developers a chance to
switch. However, the modifications to UI's seem to be
fair game from Apple's recent behavior.

I think building native Xcode support for today's
format would not risk becoming unusable anytime soon.
I think they would have to give developers at least a
year after they hypothetically change it to switch,
but most likely longer. 

Thanks,
Eric

--- Zachary Pincus <zpincus at stanford.edu> wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I also just filled out a bug form with Apple.
> 
> More to the point here, I have been using XCode with
> the CMake 
> generated makefiles for some time. This approach
> works quite well, and 
> would be easy (though almost unnecessary) to
> automate with Applescript. 
> Unnecessary because it is already so easy to add a
> Make-based project 
> to XCode.
> 
> However, a different approach might be to attempt to
> use Applescript to 
> generate full-fledged XCode build files *instead* of
> the makefiles. 
> Instead of trying to generate an Xcode project file
> based on an 
> unstable spec, it might be easier to use Applescript
> to tell XCode to 
> build the project file itself.
> 
> XCode has a fairly complete Applescript dictionary,
> which looks like 
> enough to procedurally generate a project. (Open
> Script Editor, and 
> choose "Open Dictionary..." from the file menu, and
> then choose XCode 
> form the list, to see the XCode Applescript
> dictionary.)
> 
> I don't know if this is an overall more or less
> preferable way to 
> generate project files than trying to write the
> files directly. I 
> suspect that for the time being, the Applescript
> method will be both 
> more accessible, better documented, and better
> supported, than the 
> other. However, I'm not sure if this is best for an
> ultimate solution.
> 
> I'm happy to look more into this and help where I
> can; however, I know 
> relatively little about CMake's internals.
> 
> Zach Pincus
> 
> Department of Biochemistry and Program in Biomedical
> Informatics
> Stanford University School of Medicine
> 
> On Apr 22, 2004, at 11:23 AM, Chris Scharver wrote:
> 
> > On Apr 22, 2004, at 12:58 PM, Eric Wing wrote:
> >
> >> In conclusion, I suggest that everybody
> interested in
> >> seeing CMake build native Xcode projects file a
> >> Bug/Enhancement request with Apple to release the
> >> Xcode file format documentation with the
> understanding
> >> we use at our own risk.
> >
> > Thank you very much for the additional
> information, Eric! Could you 
> > provide the bug tracking numbers for those entries
> that have already 
> > been filed? It could make one less step for the
> engineers to track 
> > down when reading new requests.
> >
> > In the meantime, it looks like the way to
> integrated CMake projects 
> > with XCode is to create a new XCode project that
> uses the makefiles. I 
> > have done it a few times, but maybe something like
> AppleScript could 
> > automate that process.
> >
> > Chris
> > --
> > Chris Scharver
> > Electronic Visualization Laboratory
> > The University of Illinois at Chicago
> > Ph: 312-996-3002   FAX: 312-413-7585
> > <http://www.evl.uic.edu/scharver/>
> >
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>