[Development] Proposing CMake as build tool for Qt 6

[Thiago Macieira]

On Monday, 17 June 2019 01:14:50 PDT Elvis Stansvik wrote:
> Hm, what is the problem with using the official CMake binaries? Isn't
> that what you'd do on Windows / macOS anyway?

No. On macOS, you'd use Homebrew. That means it's "distro-packaged" too.

On Windows, I don't know. I'd personally continue to use msys2, which means I 
am also getting a package.

> If distro X (e.g. *buntu 20.04) happen to ship a sufficient version
> when it arrives, then great. But having to install the build tool from
> the vendor instead of the distro package manager surely can't be a
> blocker?

It is, on Linux. Going outside of your distribution methods means you're not 
getting updates. CMake is probably not high-risk software component, but I'd 
rather not have to remember I built an outside copy. That's different from Qt 
itself, since I am *developing* Qt. I have no interest in developing CMake. Or 
PCRE2. Or libjpeg and libpng, which *are* high-risk security vectors.

So, yes, we should strive to ensure the distro-supplied SW is sufficient to 
build Qt. Exceptions are possible, but they need to be justified, like we did 
for PCRE when we began using it in 5.0.

-- 
Thiago Macieira - thiago.macieira (AT) intel.com
  Software Architect - Intel System Software Products