Initial support for kde_projects.xml in kdesrc-build

[Michael Pyne]

On Monday, January 31, 2011 18:19:12 Albert Astals Cid wrote:
> cons:
>  * There is black magic happening behind your back and once something
> breaks you won't know how to fix things by yourself.

Although it is definitely true that kdesrc-build hides what it's doing unless 
you delve into either the --pretend output or the log files (where the command 
run is displayed at the top of every log file), this is also a pro:

pros:
* There is black magic happening behind your back so that users who are 
unwilling/unable to navigate gcc/make/cmake can still build and test bleeding-
edge versions of KDE despite their lack of CLI mastery.

Anytime you add a layer to a working system there is usually a pro of "this 
makes me do less work" and a con of "now I forgot how it works" (e.g. moc, 
high level programming languages in general, etc.)

I certainly don't disagree with the con you mentioned, but I do think that the 
benefit in increased testing coverage outweighs the concern with "black 
magic", especially since I take great pains (and have for years) to have 
kdesrc-build operate as much like you or I would do the build as possible.

For instance even after using kdesrc-build on my source tree for years I can 
go to svn or git modules and run the standard update command (even git pull) 
and everything just works. I can go to the build directory and run make or 
cmake-gui and things just work. When I'm worried about what kdesrc-build is 
about to do, I can pass the --pretend flag and it shows the command line for 
about 95% of the commands it would run. In short it is (my idea of) a bum-
standard build system, or as close as I can get it in an automated script.

Regards,
 - Michael Pyne
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