[CMake] CMake

[Alexander Neundorf]

On Thursday 30 September 2010, Nicola Brisotto wrote:
> I use Qt creator with cmake for desktop application and it work well. It
> has support for out of source build, it populate the project browser with
> you source and header, etc My main issue is not a full Qt Creator
> integration. My first need is build with cmake from console.
>
> Currently Qt support 2 toolchain: abdl and raptor.
>
>
>
> I
>
> > http://www.paraview.org/Wiki/CMake_Cross_Compiling
>
> After reading Wiley - "Porting to the Symbian Platform Open Mobile
> Development in C and C++", chapter 2.5.2 and 2.5.3 and some tutorial I
> understand that abdl uses 3 kind of file: 1) one bdl.inf
> 2) one or more *.mpp file
> 3) optionally a pkg file
>
> You process these files with a tool named 'bldmake' and will obtain a batch
> file ('ABLD.BAT') and some makefiles that will build the application for
> you.
>
> This tool exists mainly because a Symbian application is usually built for
> many platforms: the emulator, using a Microsoft X86 compiler,
> as well as the real device using a gcc-derived ARM compiler.
>
> The bldmake saves you from writing specially crafted makefiles for these
> compilers and make utilities; also it allows for building many targets with
> just a single command.
>
> From the bld.inf, type:
>      > bldmake bldfiles
>
> Of course, you must have the PATH set correctly for the installation of the 
SDK you are using. This command will look for the bld.inf, process it and the 
related *.mmp, then generate a BATCH file named ABLD.BAT. Now you have all 
you need to build your applications. Simply type:
>      > abld build
>
> This will build your application in all the available flavors.
> Note that the target files are stored in a very deep directory structure,
> and you are building both in debug and release versions for WINS (windows),
> ARM4 (plain arm), ARMI (speed optimized arm), THUMB (size optimized ARM)!
>
> But you can choose to build for only one target, and since it take less 
time, you usually build ONLY for one version of one target. For example, to 
build for the emulator only in the debug version, or for the device, 
optimized for size, in release version, you type:
>      > abld build wins udeb
>      > abld buind thumb urel
>
> Building for Windows is enough to start the emulator and run the
> application in the emulated environment. Application files are compiled and
> placed straight where the emulator can run it: no need to copy them in the
> right location.
>
> But for real devices, you have to pack everything in a .sis file for 
installation, send it to the phone and install the application. You are 
required to write a .pkg file to describe the installer, and then create it 
with:
>      > makesis file.pkg
>
> this is a small example:
> Here is a simple example of a bld.inf file:
>
> PRJ_PLATFORMS
> DEFAULT
> PRJ_EXPORTS
> ..\inc\SoundTouch.h
> ..\inc\FIFOSamplePipe.h
> ..\inc\FIFOSampleBuffer.h
> ..\inc\STTypes.h
> PRJ_MMPFILES
> SoundTouch.mmp
>
> This specifies that the project should generate makefiles for the default
> platforms (currently WINSCW, ARMV5 and GCCE), export four header files and
> build a single component which is specified in SoundTouch.mmp. The
> corresponding MMP file looks like this:
>
> TARGET         SoundTouch.dll
> TARGETTYPE   dll
> UID               0x1000008D 0x0839739D
> CAPABILITY     None
> USERINCLUDE         ..\inc
> SYSTEMINCLUDE     \epoc32\include \epoc32\include\stdapis
> SYSTEMINCLUDE     \epoc32\include\stdapis\sys
> SYSTEMINCLUDE     \epoc32\include\stdapis\stlport
> SOURCEPATH         ..\src
> SOURCE                 SoundTouch.cpp AAFilter.cpp
> SOURCE                FIFOSampleBuffer.cpp FIRFilter.cpp
> SOURCE                RateTransposer.cpp TDStretch.cpp
> LIBRARY                euser.lib
> LIBRARY                libc.lib libm.lib libstdcpp.lib

Thanks for that summary, that's great.

> Do we need a custom generator to recreate this process with cmake?

I started creating Symbian cmake files so that cmake can generate Makefiles 
for Symbian, and got so far that I was able to compile and link a hello world 
app.
The patch is from January and attached here:
http://public.kitware.com/Bug/view.php?id=8486
It's the one called "Symbian.patch". 

You can start and have a look at it.
It currently supports only one version of Symbian (the one I have), for 
compiling for Symbian under Linux.
The detection of the version happens in Symbian-GNU-Common.cmake. If you 
follow from there on, you should be able to figure out what needs to be done 
for other versions of symbian.

The main thing left is the processing of the executable after it has been 
linked.

For the beginning probably add_custom_command()/add_custom_target() should be 
good enough.

> > http://www.itk.org/Wiki/Symbian_Carbide_Generator

> I'm not sure but this generator produce a project for carbide so I need
> carbide to build a project. Is it right?
>
> Now there is alternative tool chains called Raptor that claim to be
> compatible with the bld/mmp interface. When take a look at will advice.


Alex