On Jan 24, 2013, at 3:00 PM, Stephen Kelly wrote: > <snip>
> As far as I understand, the only objection is to the idea that > target_link_libraries would be doing something other than linking, and it > might not be obvious. It is currently used for -fPIC, so I'm not so sure. > > Also, the objection is not that people would have to learn or discover, in > documentation or otherwise, that target_link_libraries could have an effect > other than linking. The objection instead is that, even long term and for > experienced people, reading a line of code that contains a > target_link_libraries call alone would not inform them of whether it is > 'only' linking or whether it has other affects. This also seems funny to me. > Given a line containing target_use_interfaces(foo PRIVATE bar), it is > impossible to know from reading alone whether foo INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES, > COMPILE_DEFINITIONS, LINK_LIBRARIES, or all three, are affected by the line. > In both cases, the way to know is to use > -DCMAKE_DEBUG_TARGET_PROPERTIES=INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES or similar. > > </snip> It's not only that target_link_libraries would be doing more than linking, it's also that you want to change the behavior of something that has existed for 12+ years without this behavior. If you do re-use target_link_libraries for your glorious "one command to rule them all," just be aware that you are invalidating 12+ years worth of everything ever written about it on the web, and the collective experience of thousands of CMake users around the world. *That* is my objection to re-purposing the name target_link_libraries, not that you'd be doing more than linking. I don't think it's worth the confusion that might come after this. I would not object at all to any *new* command with an entirely new name, such that it may be written about anew, with great excitement, now that the one true command is about to be born. :-) David -- Powered by www.kitware.com Visit other Kitware open-source projects at http://www.kitware.com/opensource/opensource.html Please keep messages on-topic and check the CMake FAQ at: http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/CMake_FAQ Follow this link to subscribe/unsubscribe: http://public.kitware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/cmake-developers
