[Trilinos-Users] Trilinos 10 build tools preview

[Nico Schlömer]

Hi Mike,

I'm using the latest Trilinos 10 alpha release with its CMake build system on 
several different (Linux) environments, and configuration and compilation worked 
quite smoothly in all setups. There were still a few rough edges (like missing 
dependencies), but most of it was rather trivial, and should be fixed by now.

It was a little difficult to find the right configuration options (that is, 
building the do-configure script), which is because I couldn't find any concise 
description of all possible options anywhere. Along with the provided example 
files, I was able to figure it all out in the end, but I think Trilinos would 
profit from an extended documentation here.

As soon as everything is installed, working with Trilinos 10 is not much 
different from 9: the user builds his or her programs with the usual 
Makefile.client.* canon. I can't quite estimate how much time it would take to 
actually provide a Trilinos cmake module for inclusion into *user* CMakes 
being used to build Trilinos linked projects, but I reckon that'd be 
worthwhile to add, too.

Of course you can do that now as well (with Trilinos 10 as good as with 9), 
but that involves rather many

FIND_LIBRARY( TEUCHOS teuchos
                      HINTS /usr/local/trilinos/current/lib )

lines which tend to clutter up your build files.

Cheers,
Nico



On Friday 24 July 2009 17:28:14 Heroux, Michael A wrote:
> The Trilinos project team is preparing for the release of Trilinos 10,
> coming in a few months.  The purpose of this message is to inform you of a
> significant change in the build tools we are using.
>
> We are switching from Autotools (Autoconf and Automake) to CMake.  The
> basic process of configuring and making is part of the CMake approach, so
> it is not completely unlike the previous build system.  Also, we will have
> a large collection of sample scripts that demonstrate usage on a variety of
> platform.  But there are many differences between Autotools and Cmake that
> will require some attention from users making the transition from Trilinos
> 9 to Trilinos 10.
>
> The reasons for switching to CMake are many.  Autotools is becoming fragile
> under the growing scope of Trilinos development and CMake is growing in
> capability and popularity.  Furthermore, we want to move Trilinos to the
> desktop and CMake provides a lot of very nice capabilities to help.
>
> Some specific points worth noting are:
>
>
>  *   We will continue supporting Trilinos 9 concurrently with Trilinos 10
> for users who want to retain the Autotools build capabilities.  Typically
> when we release a new version of Trilinos, our default response to a user
> who has a problem with an older version is to ask them to upgrade to the
> latest version and we will resolve the problem using the new version.  We
> will not use this approach for users of Trilinos 9. *   Trilinos has pushed
> CMake capabilities in a few directions.  As a result, Trilinos will require
> the latest stable CMake release, which is scheduled to be released shortly
> before Trilinos 10. *   Do not be afraid to try Trilinos 10 and Cmake!  In
> general we have been delighted with the new build system.  It is fast,
> portable and very easy to use after the initial learning curve. *   In
> addition to a Unix command line interface CMake provides very nice GUIs
> that display all tuning parameters.  Windows and Mac OS support are very
> solid. *   CMake provides a very rich set of targets, which is one of the
> key strategic reasons for switching.  CMake can build standard makefiles,
> but in addition it can generate Microsoft Visual Studio project files,
> Xcode project files (for the Mac) and Eclipse project files.  If you are
> using one of these IDEs, you will be delighted with CMake. *   CMake can
> generate binary distribution files.  With these capabilities we intend to
> produce fully-built binaries for important desktops environments like MS
> Windows and Mac OS. *   CMake has full support for shared libraries that is
> very robust.
>
> Overall, we are very excited with the move to CMake.  However, we want you
> to be aware of the coming transition so you can plan appropriately.  If you
> have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me directly,
> respond to this email list or send a note to
> trilinos-help at software.sandia.gov.
>
> On behalf of the Trilinos project team,
>
> Mike