[bug-gnu-libiconv] [bug #64293] Add CMake build system support

[Bruno Haible]

Update of bug #64293 (project libiconv):

                  Status:                    None => Not a Bug              
             Assigned to:                    None => haible                 
             Open/Closed:                    Open => Closed                 

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Follow-up Comment #1:

Thanks for the submission and constructive criticism.

> Sometimes, when cross-compiling aarch64 GNU LIBICONV on MacOS using
Autotools,
> configure does not detect the aarch64 cross-compiler properly and ends up
> compiling with the native x86_64 compiler without a clear warning, leading
to
> incorrect compilation results.

When cross-compiling, you typically need to use both the --host=...
configure argument and the CC environment variable or configure argument.
One without the other will not work. This ought to be documented in the
INSTALL.generic file. If it is not, we need to improve that file.

> I believe that CMake can also improve the convenience of building
> GNU LIBICONV, such as compiling using MSVC toolchain on Windows operating
> system, without requiring MinGW, GNU Make, GNU Autotools, Core POSIX
> utilities, Grep, Awk, etc.

The main focus of the GNU project is on GNU and POSIX compatible platforms.
Native Windows support is an "extra" for GNU packages. If compiling with
the MSVC toolchain is slow, that is not a major problem; the developer
can simply do other tasks at the same time.

> By supporting CMake, GNU LIBICONV can better
> integrate into modern software development processes.
> ...
> some people here complained that libiconv
> doesn't support CMake compilation, which caused their project development
to
> stagnate for a while.

That is unusual and unexpected. People can very well read the documentation
and build the package as documented. They can also, alternatively, use the
binaries from https://mlocati.github.io/articles/gettext-iconv-windows.html .

> Nowadays, many C/C++ projects use CMake for compilation, which can be
compiled
> without a POSIX environment.
>
> Firstly, CMake is a widely used modern build system and has become one of
the
> preferred compilation tools for many software projects. Compared to
Autotools,
> CMake has simpler and more intuitive syntax, as well as being more stable
and
> easier to maintain and expand.

This was already discussed in the mail thread at
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnu-libiconv/2020-05/msg00010.html
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnu-libiconv/2020-06/msg00002.html



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