[Scummvm-devel] Ports and their custom build systems. Do we need them?

[Jordi Vilalta]

2009/10/14 Marcus Comstedt:
>> Would be nice to hear about this from porters, as my hope is that
>> based on this valuable input we can further improve our primary build
>> system, ideally being able to supersede the custom ones completely.
>> Which I consider desirable, as it reduced "code" duplication, [...]
>
> If keeping the duplicate parts (which are rather limited, most stuff
> is imported from Makefile.common anyway) in sync becomes a hassle to
> me, I will probably remove the old Makefile.  But it isn't currently.

I think the main problem with these custom Makefiles is that it's hard
to notice when something isn't kept in sync with the ports that use
the main build system.

For example, some days ago I started populating this wiki page based
on what I could find on the custom Makefiles:
http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Platforms/Overview

I guess there may be errors in the supported engines table, but for
example I think several ports are distributing the Igor engine enabled
by default (which isn't stable yet), and the PS2 had several stable
engines disabled until a few hours ago.

Another advantage of relying on the main build system is that it will
help users and other developers to build your ports.

And about the simplicity of using a custom Makefile, I think it could
be enough to replace it by a very small script that calls configure
with your preferred options. After that you should have the same
experience.

Regards,
Jordi Vilalta