[ros-dev] Build process changes...

[Timo Kreuzer]

After Olaf's mentioning of increased buildtimes I'd like to throw 2
different, independent and major changes to our build process into
discussion. One is about rbuild and one is about the file layout. I'd
like to start with the rbuild related topic.

What I suggest only for consideration, is a move away from rbuild and
instead using CMake.
CMake is available for Windows and *nix, for Windows both as commandline
ans as a lightweight gui tool.
It is capable of translating a portable buildfile format into different
makefile formats, including nmake and project files for VS and
CodeBlocks. It seems incredibly fast compared to rbuild and probably
provides every feature we ever need. Although the syntax is a tiny bit
more complex than rbuild files, it's much better than writing makefiles.
Adding support for building with MSVC should be relatively easy. It's
not really a suggestion, as I'm not sure about all the details, but I
think it's worth reviewing and taking into consideration.

The second thing is about the file layout. I will post a seperate mail soon.

Regards,
Timo