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Radovan Bast 2015-06-02 21:46:35 +02:00
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About Autocmake
===============
CMake typically generates Makefiles based on CMakeLists.txt files. Autocmake
assembles CMake modules, generates ``CMakeLists.txt`` as well as ``setup.py``,
which serves as a front-end to ``CMakeLists.txt``. All this is done based on a
lightweight ``autocmake.cfg`` file::
You typically want to use CMake when you are tired of manually editing
Makefiles. Autocmake is for people who are tired of editing CMake files.
Autocmake assembles CMake modules, generates ``CMakeLists.txt`` as well as
``setup.py``, which serves as a front-end to ``CMakeLists.txt``. All this is
done based on a lightweight ``autocmake.cfg`` file::
autocmake.cfg
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Build/install/test targets
CMake cons
----------
Why Autocmake
-------------
- More complexity (not because CMake is complex but because of another layer)
- Yet another thing to learn: requires learning and training
- Typically many files instead of one file
- Documentation ("Which file do I need to edit to achieve X?")
CMake pros
----------
- Makes it possible and relatively easy to download, configure, build, install, and link external modules
- Cross-platform system- and library-discovery
- CTest uses a Makefile (possible to run tests with -jN)
Motivation to create a CMake framework library
----------------------------------------------
- Simplify CMake code transfer (scientific projects typically have very similar requirements)
- FC, CC, CXX
The main motivation for us to create Autocmake as a CMake framework library was
to simplify CMake code transfer between codes. We got tired of manually diffing
and and copy-pasting boiler-plate CMake code and watching it diverge while
maintaining the CMake infrastructure in many scientific projects which
typically have very similar requirements:
- Fortran and/or C and/or C++ support
- Compiler flags
- Front-end script (setup.py)
- MPI, OMP, CUDA
- Math libraries
- Make it easy for people who know CMake well to create well defined configurations
- Make it easy for people who do not know CMake to generate a CMake infrastructure within minutes
- Philosophy
- Support for parallelization: MPI, OMP, CUDA
- Math libraries (BLAS, LAPACK)
Our other motivation for Autocmake was to make it easier for developers who do
not know CMake to generate a CMake infrastructure within minutes.
Autocmake is a chance to provide well documented and tested set of CMake
plug-ins. With this we want to give also users of codes which use Autocmake the
opportunity to introduce the occasional tweak without the need to read lengthy
manuals.
We try to follow two design principles:
- Explicit is better than implicit
- Convention over configuration
- Well documented set of plug-ins