Re: [RFH] CMake: detect if being run via Visual Studio, independent of build generator?

On 30/05/2021 15:29, Sibi Siddharthan wrote:

On Sun, May 30, 2021 at 6:52 PM Matt Rogers [off-list ref] wrote:

quoted

I think the best middle of the line solution would be to just provide a manual
knob for turning vcpkg support on/off here and offer configurations in
CMakePresets.json for both situations.  The only downside here is that I believe
a lot of IDE's are aggressive about running the cmake configuration step and may
try to install vcpkg even if it is unnecessary.  But automatic
generation can generally
be turned off by users I guess.

I agree. I would suggest vcpkg should be used by default for Windows platforms.
This way IDE's won't complain and command line users can straight up
disable this behaviour.

Thank You,
Sibi Siddharthan

I think so as well.

I'd started writing (draft) in reply to Matt

"I'd agree that knowledgable users should be able to control the
settings, however I'm against forcing less knowledgable users being
required to add extra control option for knobs they don't yet
understand, hence the desire to ensure a consistent (though possible
old-fashioned/backward-compatible) settings 'that just work' that do not
set in stone those choices, which would be the worst of both worlds!

It maybe that in some ways we may have missed the boat as those project
based CMakePresets.json presets (setting back to old defaults) could
'annoy' the (potentially) experienced users who are simply using the new
defaults. This doesn't affect (*) truly experience users who are setting
their desired options directly as they would/should override the presets."

My other consideration is that the build process should generate enough
of the right artefacts (e.g. a .sln etc). This is so that other typical
tools and extensions e.g. Sourcetrail which expects the .sln, but maybe
they'll also cope with Ninja/Cmake builds soon...

I'll have a go, though I'll be off-line for a while from ~Tuesday.

Philip

(*) - affect/effect?
https://www.londonschool.com/nordic/blogg/whats-difference-between-affect-and-effect-and-when-should-they-be-used/