GNOME Goal: Port modules to use Meson build system

As the meson webpage says:

Meson is an open source build system meant to be both extremely fast, and, even more importantly, as user friendly as possible.

The main design point of Meson is that every moment a developer spends writing or debugging build definitions is a second wasted. So is every second spent waiting for the build system to actually start compiling code.

This GNOMEGoal is to coordinate efforts and avoid duplicating work

Guidelines

Meson documentation is quite complete, take a look to these links:

Things to check while porting

If your project has configuration options for the Autotools build make sure to port them all to the Meson one, following these style guidelines
- Drop the enable from --enable-foo boolean options; Meson has boolean values, so -Denable-foo=true would read as redundant, and -Denable-foo=false would read as contradictory. Use -Dfoo=true or -Dfoo=false instead
- Similarly, you should drop with from --with-bar options
- Use a consistent separator character for multi-word options, preferably the underscore _, like cert_file or cups_print_backend
- Try to avoid automatic feature detection; this makes it harder for distributors and continuous integration systems to identify the dependencies needed to build your project
- Do not add "enable debug" options to inject pre-processor symbols into the build, or control the presence of debugging messages; you should use Meson's own buildtype option
- Do not add "enable -Werror" options to make warnings fail the build; you should use Meson's own --werror build option

Things to check after the porting:

If you port a library:
- Make sure the list of exported symbols is the same between Autotools and Meson builds
- Make sure you maintain compatible sonames (use version and soversion when building a library() target)
If you release a tarball using Autotools, remember to include the Meson files on it
- Use the EXTRA_DIST Automake target to include the meson.build, meson_options.txt, and ancillary scripts you may use
Update jhbuild and gnome-continuous to use Meson
- For Continuous you will either need a build API wrapper in your own project, or you will need to write a patch; contact EmmanueleBassi on the #gnome-hackers or #testable IRC channels
Use meld to diff install directories of the projects
If you rely on symbol visibility — e.g. using libtool or using pre-processor macros — use nm to check that you're still exporting the same ABI

Comments before approval

Add your comments to this goal proposal here

Status of this goal

Tip: If you choose to work on a module, create the bug report on the GNOME bugzilla for the relevant module, and make it block bug 782980. This way people will know someone already works on it, and won't duplicate the work you're doing.

State	Markup
todo	`<: #ff8080> todo`
patch	`<: #ffcc50> [[GnomeBug:xxxxx\|patch]]`
done	`<: #80ff80> [[GnomeBug:xxxxx\|done]]`
not wanted	`<: #dddddd> not wanted`

Above are the states and corresponding markup to update the modules state table below.

Tarball	Status
core
at-spi2-core	done
at-spi2-atk	done
dconf	done
evolution-data-server	not wanted
glib-networking	done
gnome-bluetooth	done
gnome-online-accounts	in progress
gnome-control-center	in progress
gnome-desktop	to do
adwaita-icon-theme	to do
gnome-keyring	to do
gnome-menus	to do
gnome-packagekit	done
gnome-session	done
gnome-settings-daemon	to do
gnome-shell	done
gnome-themes-standard	to do
gsettings-desktop-schemas	to do
gvfs	done
mousetweaks	patch
mutter	to do
network-manager-applet	done
telepathy-mission-control	to do
core-utilities
baobab	done
bijiben	done
empathy	to do
eog	done
epiphany	done
evince	to do
gnome-calculator	in progress
gnome-calendar	done
gnome-characters	to do
gnome-contacts	done
gnome-dictionary	done
gnome-disk-utility	done
gnome-font-viewer	done
gnome-logs	in progress
gnome-screenshot	done
gnome-system-log	to do
gnome-system-monitor	to do
gnome-terminal	blocked
gucharmap	to do
nautilus	done
sushi	to do
yelp	to do
core-extras
gnome-backgrounds	in progress
gnome-user-share	to do
vino	to do
gnome-user-docs	in progress
core-os-services
accountsservice	to do
avahi	to do
bluez	to do
cups	to do
dbus	to do
gdm	in progress
NetworkManager	in progress
PackageKit	to do
polkit	to do
upower	to do
udisks	to do
core-deps
atk	done
atkmm	to do
cantarell-fonts	to do
caribou	to do
clutter	in progress
clutter-gtk	done
clutter-gst	in progress
cogl	to do
desktop-file-utils	to do
folks	in progress
gnome-js-common	to do
gspell	todo
gtksourceview	todo
gdk-pixbuf	done
gjs	blocked
glib	merged
glibmm	to do
gnome-video-effects	to do
gobject-introspection	in progress
gst-plugins-base	done
gst-plugins-good	done
gst-plugins-farsight	to do
gstreamer	done
gtk+3	not wanted for now
gtk+4	done
gtk-doc	to do
gtkmm	to do
gudev	to do
hicolor-icon-theme	to do
iso-codes	to do
itstool	to do
json-glib	done
libcanberra	to do
libchamplain	to do
libcroco	to do
libgee	to do
libgepub	done
libgdata	to do
libgsf	to do
libgtop	to do
libgweather	done
libmediaart	done
libmusicbrainz	to do
libnice	to do
libnotify	to do
libpeas	to do
librest	to do
librsvg	to do
libsecret	to do
libsigc++2	to do
libsoup	initial wip patch
libxml2	to do
mm-common	to do
p11-kit	to do
pango	done
pangomm	to do
poppler	to do
pygobject	to do
shared-mime-info	to do
sound-theme-freedesktop	to do
telepathy-glib	to do
telepathy-logger	to do
telepathy-farsight	to do
totem-pl-parser	done
tracker	blocked
vala	to do
vte	blocked
webkit	to do
yelp-tools	to do
yelp-xsl	to do
zenity	to do
colord	to do
apps
accerciser	to do
aislerot	to do
anjuta	to do
brasero	to do
cheese	to do
devhelp	in progress
evolution	not wanted
file-roller	to do
five-or-more	to do
four-in-a-row	to do
frogr	done
gedit	to do
ghex	to do
glade	to do
gnome-boxes	done
gnome-clocks	done
gnome-color-manager	to do
gnome-devel-docs	to do
gnome-documents	in progress
gnome-maps	to do
gnome-music	to do
gnome-software	done
gnome-sound-recorder	to do
gnome-todo	done
gnome-usage	done
gnome-weather	to do
gnome-chess	done
gnome-klotski	to do
gnome-mahjongg	to do
gnome-mines	done
gnome-nibbles	to do
gnome-robots	to do
gnome-sudoku	to do
gnome-tetravex	to do
gnome-tweak-tool	done
iagno	to do
lightsoff	to do
quadrapassel	to do
swell-foop	to do
tali	to do
gnome-nettool	done
nautilus-sendto	done
nemiver	to do
orca	to do
polari	done
rhythmbox	in progress
rygel	doing?
seahorse	done
shotwell	done
simple-scan	done
totem	done
vinagre	to do

Initiatives/GnomeGoals/MesonPorting (last edited 2017-12-15 02:26:29 by RobertAncell)