[CMake] An observation about CTest

[Alok Govil]

Hi all,

I tend to agree to this observation in general about CMake too.  I had to do a lot of reading and experimentation to make it do what I wanted, even though at the end of the day, the resulting CMakeList.txt file is very simple.

I do understand why this is so.  As can be seen by the type of requests on this list and your responses to them, Cmake is supporting a LOT of different types of projects and needs.

So while it won't be possible to reduce the number of commands and variables, it would help to have better documentation -- with examples for each
 command and variable, examples for "typical" stuff people need, etc.  I had to struggle even to do simple things like specifying custom compiler and linker flags for Visual Studio and GCC.

Thanks and best regards - Alok

> Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:59:56 -0400
> From: christian.convey at navy.mil
> To: cmake at cmake.org
> Subject: [CMake] An observation about CTest
> 
> Hi guys,
> 
> First off, I'd like to give my heartfelt thanks to everyone who's helped me figure out how to use CTest in the past few weeks.  I'm very grateful to you and to those who develop CTest.
> 
> I'd like to offer one piece of constructive criticism about ctest.  If found learning how to use it to be very difficult, in part because controlling ctest involves setting a lot of variables whose purposes aren't clearly documented.  But the bigger concern I have is that it's not clear which of those variables are meant to be used by people like me, and which are meant to be treated as implementation details that may change from one release to the next of CTest.  This makes it hard for me (and perhaps others) to control ctest, because I don't want to rely on a variable or behavior that's considered "internal" and likely to change in the next release.
> 
> I guess what I'm arguing for is a clearer delineation of CTest's public interface vs. its internal implementation details, so that users like me don't accidentally cross that line.
> 
> Thanks again,
> Christian
> 
> P.S. My final solution was to set the "BUILDNAME" cmake variable on a cmake command-line, and later on to just run "ctest -D NightlyStart ... -D NightlySubmit".  Works like a charm.
> 
 		 	   		  
_________________________________________________________________
The New Busy is not the old busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox.
http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_3
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.cmake.org/pipermail/cmake/attachments/20100625/7c9f2578/attachment.htm>