[xml] win32 build system

["Francesco Montorsi" <f18m_cpp217828 yahoo it>]

Hi,
   I would like to inform all libxml2 users and particularly the libxml2
authors that I have successfully created a bakefile for libxml2.
A bakefile is an XML file which contains build info which are then converted
by the bakefile program (open source at http://bakefile.sourceforge.net)
to makefiles and IDE project files.
I used the makefile templates provided by Igor Zlatkovic to create it.

The advantages with bakefile is that it allows the programmer to write and
mantain a single "template" file and then regenerate the makefiles with a
simple command !
Unlike other makefile generators (like cmake), bakefile does not require
that the user installs anything: with bakefile you generate your makefiles
and then you
distribute them: the use just needs the usual make program of its compiler.

With bakefile I successfully generated working makefiles for Watcom,
Borland, MinGW, MSVC++ nmake compilers. I also created the project files for
MSVC 6.0 which allows to build libxml2 in Debug/Release, Unicode/ANSI,
DLL/static
modes (8 configurations in total).

Also C++BuilderX and some other IDEs/compilers will be added in future.
The bakefile I created does not require any modification to the libxml2: you
just need to unzip the file from 
http://frm.150m.com/prog/libxml2%20win32.zip
into the libxml2 main folder, then
you should go to the BUILD folder which contains the bakefile and all
makefiles and
project files generated using it.
Then you should try to do:
         nmake -fmakefile.vc [all my libxml2 options; e.g.
ICONV_DIR=C:\myiconv WITH_THREADS=no ]
or
         make -fmakefile.bcc
or
        wmake -fmakefile.wat
or
        mingw32-make -fmakefile.gcc
they all support the same options and the same option syntax !!!
The libxml2.dsw project links all the DSP files for the libxml2 library and
the test programs.

I think that such build system could be easily used together with Igor
Zlatkovic makefiles, if necessary.
It requires little space and it makes quicker and easier libxml2 building on
win32 (bakefile also supports unixes but I did not try to add autoconf
support to
libxml2.bkl since libxml2 also have its own autoconf system).
Last, what's best than an XML build file for an XML library like libxml2 ?
;-)

For any question/doubt/problem using makefiles, contact me.
The bakefile, however, is fully commented: open it with an editor if you
want to dig into it.

Thanks,
Francesco Montorsi