[Libssh] Switch from autofools to CMake

[Aris Adamantiadis]

Andreas Schneider wrote:
> Hi,
>
> what do you think about switching from autofools to CMake? The advantages are, 
> that CMake is platform independent and can generate makefiles for different 
> tools.
>   
Hello,

You might know the famous computer science saying "If it ain't broke, 
ain't fix it".
I am not against implementing a new makefile system under certain 
conditions:
-I don't lose time by doing so. Right now, I know how to make a new 
release or how to add a new file
-No regression. The current build system works on solaris 7+, BSDs, OSX 
and windows. I can not do the tests on solaris nor on OSX, and tests 
MUST be made before a release.
-The point that hurts : The minimum dependancies. On some systems, CMake 
might be hard to install and I'd prefer not to depend on CMake to be 
installed to work (same reason is true for other building tools). 
Apparently, it is possible to generate autotools files. If it works as a 
backup on platform on which installing CMake is "hard", it's ok.
-Another point : CMake syntax is not simple. I am not able to configure 
it correctly for the libtool, module versioning, compile/configure flags ...
will you do all of this ? Also, what would happen if for a reason or 
another you stop maintaining the cmake files ?

Understand well that I am not against your solution. I'd like to have 
some light on the points above before dumping 3 years of autotools work. 
(and auto"fools" has the advantage of working on all unix platform 
without additionnal dependancies...)


Regards,

Aris