[Mesa-dev] [RFC libdrm 0/2] Replace the build system with meson

[Chad Versace]

On Tue 21 Mar 2017, Matt Turner wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 21, 2017 at 10:16 AM, Emil Velikov <emil.l.velikov at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 21 March 2017 at 15:57, Matt Turner <mattst88 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> On Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 12:39 PM, Emil Velikov <emil.l.velikov at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> On 20 March 2017 at 18:30, Matt Turner <mattst88 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>> On Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 6:55 AM, Emil Velikov <emil.l.velikov at gmail.com> wrote:


> Let me try one last time:
> 
> (1) Non-recursive automake is necessary for parallel build performance
> (2) Non-recursive automake is intractably unmaintainable for
> sufficiently large projects
> (3) Mesa is a sufficiently large project
> 
> Therefore using automake will be either bad for parallel build
> performance, unmaintainable, or both.
> 
> Meson aims to be a build system actually capable of replacing
> autotools (IMO unlike cmake, scons, waf, et al.). It offers a much
> cleaner domain specific language for writing the build rules, while
> generating non-recursive ninja build files. It does not use libtool.
> It supports Windows. It supports cross compilation.
> 
> And it has momentum: libepoxy already has a Meson build system. Others
> in the X.Org community are experimenting with it for libinput, Wayland
> and Weston, and the xserver.
> 
> All of that makes Meson very compelling.

Matt, I just wanted to say thanks for capturing in a nutshell the
argument for a Meson trial.

I want Meson because my builds are too slow. I regularly build an entire
fucking operating system from scratch (Chrome OS), and I cry when top
shows only 1 core at 100% and the other 47 cores sitting idle.

Autotools and libtool are often the culprit. The libtool penalty is paid
on every build, not just at configure time.

The only way to get all 48 cores closer to 100% is to (1) use
a non-recursive build system that (2) doesnt' use shell nor (3) libtool.

I don't care about new shiny. I'm often wary of new shiny things that
receive too much excitement.  Meson is a such a new shiny. But I'm
willing to overlook my aversion to new shiny Meson's immaturity if
it makes Chrome OS build faster... at least for Mesa.