[Scons-users] Question about scons

[Dirk Bächle]

Hi Guillaume,

thanks a lot for the positive feedback! Good to hear that you're obviously happy with SCons.

On 09.02.2016 17:10, Guillaume Anciaux wrote:
> Dear Scons developers and users,
>
> I am new to the topic, and find it great that the Python language is the
> support of a build tool.
>
> However, I used to manage a large project with CMake and was ready to
> change from the crappy language that CMake is.
>
> However something that is extremely nice is the database of
> 'find_package' routines that helps in finding default software.
>
> I searched a little but found no such thing for Scons ? am I right ?
>

Yes, there is currently no repo or collection of tools, specialising in the task of finding external programs and libraries (such as 
Boost, for example) and configuring the build environment.
We have basic support for "pkg-config", parsing the returned flags and adding them to variables like CXXFLAGS or LIBS.

> If so, is it a naive though to:
>
> - start such a repo ?

If you'd like to start such a repo, just go right ahead I'd say. Such a contribution would be more than welcome! If this direction 
proves to be fruitful, we should think about ways how to integrate these "custom contributions" into the SCons distribution.
My ideal approach would be to have the current "core sources" as the basic distro that has to be installed.
On top of that, users can then decide to install a "contrib" package/distro, which blends in with the "core" package such that the 
user can call the provided add-ons right away (and doesn't have to mess around with search paths and such).
Just an idea though...

> - write an exporter from the CMake format to benefit from the long list
> of packages already supported ?

I already started a CMake to SCons converter, you might want to check it out at:

   https://bitbucket.org/dirkbaechle/cmake2scons

, there is still a lot of functionality missing...but it may be better than starting from scratch. Your pull requests are welcome! ;)

Best regards,

Dirk