[CMake] Auto re-configuring until cache stops changing

[David Cole]

The "Generate" button should be enabled after the first configure.

It's not enabled because the prevailing theory of the day was that you
shouldn't allow generate unless there were *no* *new* cache entries after
the most recent configure... -- force users to pay attention to those new
red entries -- in other words, it's just history and reluctance to change
behavior that's "always been that way"...

I've always thought that you should be allowed to generate whenever you want
to: I'd go so far as to say that "Generate" should be enabled as soon as you
open cmake-gui, and that, if there have not been *any* configure steps, it
would do the same thing as command line cmake: configure once and generate,
all in one click.

Please reply with more feedback:

How many of you would:
- keep the current behavior exactly as is, it's good
- enable "Generate" unconditionally
- something in between


Thanks,
David


On Mon, Sep 6, 2010 at 12:37 AM, Michael Wild <themiwi at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> On 5. Sep, 2010, at 20:30 , David Doria wrote:
>
> > Lately I've been making a class full of students use CMake. Without
> > exception, I've had to explain why you have to configure twice to
> > build VTK. I imagine they are a representative sample of the "Level 0"
> > CMake user - they just want the project they are trying to build "to
> > work" with default options, etc.
> >
> > (The explanation is here:
> > http://www.cmake.org/cmake/help/runningcmake.html
> > under "Why do I have to edit the cache more than once for some projects?"
> > if anyone reading this is wondering)
> >
> > Since CMake knows if the cache has changed (it doesn't let you
> > generate if it has), when why can't there be a button called "Setup
> > project with default options" or "Really configure + generate" that
> > configures as many times as  necessary and generates all in one step?
> > I bet this button would get the most clicks by the general population.
> >
> > Just a suggestion - any thoughts?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > David
>
> Tell your students to run 'cmake' from the command line (the only sane way
> of running CMake) and you get the desired behavior. No need to spoil your
> students with GUIs and such trivia! ;-)
>
> But honestly, I always wondered at this strangeness, too. Why not configure
> until CMake can generate? I mean, it still could remember which new cache
> variables became available and highlight them for the user, but things would
> be much more intuitive.
>
> Michael
>
> --
> There is always a well-known solution to every human problem -- neat,
> plausible, and wrong.
> H. L. Mencken
>
>
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