2021.01.03 14:48 "Re: [Tiff] Autotools (was: Enabling and requiring C99 language support)", by Bob Friesenhahn

after trying several build systems, my feeling tends to meson:

faster than autotools, especially on Windows with MSYS 2

a bit faster than cmake

syntax is so much nicer than autotools and cmake, and lighter. One can run python scripts for specific purposes, python being widely used

cross compilation is nicer than with cmake

it honors CFLAGS, CPPFLAGS, etc...,contrary to cmake

We have a "Four blind men and an elephant situation" here. Everyone comes from a different background and has different experiences and requirements. :-)

Meson is based on Python and does not use shell scripting or 'make'. Once Python is installed, only some non-binary Python scripts need to be installed. There has been massive uptake of Meson in Linux desktop software builds (including web browsers) due to its simplicity and performance (see https://mesonbuild.com/Simple-comparison.html). Cmake may be more popular when targeting Windows but it has lost much popularity when building for Linux-like targets. Instead of porting from Autotools to Cmake, GNOME and X.org have mostly been ported to Meson.

Meson build configuration files are rather similar to Cmake configuration files. I base this conclusion on comparing the cmake and meson build files for the 'Zstd' package.

Regardless, as long as there are supporters willing to step up, develop and continually maintain it, I don't see any reason why libtiff can not also support Meson builds. Meson build systems work better if packages support Meson and libtiff is a component of Linux desktop software.

Visual Studio 2019 comes with a Python 3 option. Yesterday I did some investigating. It was difficult for me to find the actual Python 3 installation (I eventually did find it), but I discovered that it is intended that Python be executed via a 'py' wrapper program and that 'python.exe' is not in the path. It would be interesting to see if this Python is sufficient to support Meson and the 'Ninja' build tool (which can also be used by cmake).

Bob

Bob Friesenhahn
bfriesen@simple.dallas.tx.us, http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/
GraphicsMagick Maintainer, http://www.GraphicsMagick.org/
Public Key, http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/public-key.txt