Re: autotools gives autopain

[Thomas Vander Stichele <thomas apestaart org>]

Hi,

first of all, I love python.

> 1. Scons is simply technically superior to GNU Autotools - with a big
>    margin.

Saying this does not make it automatically true.  Some further
explanation required.

> 2. Scons is simple to learn, Autotools is not.

True.  However, autotools is already learned by enough people, scons is
not.

> 3. KDE has already migrated to scons.

Not a useful argument.

> 1. Autotools have worked so far, why switch?
> 
>    - Because scons is easier and better.

It is easier, but not better.

>  In the long run the benefits
>      of a good build system outweighs the disadvantages of switching
>      to it.

There are not much benefits to be had from switching - autotools is not
a bad build system.

> 5. The migration to SCons will be really painful.
> 
>    - Let's look at how KDE managed and learn from them. No change is
>      without a price, but going from autotools to scons is worth it.

Saying it doesn't make it true.


FWIW - last time I checked, scons *still* did not support a basic
operation any maintainer needs called "make distcheck".  This is a
minimum IMO - without it we shouldn't even discuss switching.

Thomas

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