[KDE/Mac] kdesrc-build

[Ian Wadham]

Hi Marko,

On 27/10/2014, at 9:08 AM, Marko Käning wrote:
> Hi Kurt,
> 
> I see you’re working on a port for kdesrc-build for MacPorts…

Who is Kurt?  Is he subscribed to this list (kde-mac)?  If not, please
forward this, Marko.

Re kdesrc-build, why do we need a port for it?  I merely downloaded
it from its website and it ran "out of the box".  It is just a set of Perl scripts,
but I think I had to fiddle a bit to get the right version of Perl and the right
Perl modules on Macports, i.e. I do not usually use the Perl ports…

> Will you make this port available to all MacPorts users by committing an official port for it once you’re done setting it up?
> This should also get documented at [1], I guess. The current content of it is rather outdated...
> 
> Although Ian and René seem to have similar setups, they don’t have a Portfile for it, I guess.

I do not know what René is using, but I think he is second-guessing MacPorts'
KDE setup with symlinks, etc.  I did suggest to him once to try my enhanced and
"MAcified" version of kdesrc-build [2].  He did, but he said he had a problem of
some kind.  I never heard back what it was, though.

The key problems with getting RAW kdesrc-build to work with OS X and MacPorts were:

   a. modifying and enhancing it to build things properly with Mac OS X and MacPorts,
   b. automatically providing a run-time environment for the modified or more recent
       KDE, so it would not interfere with the KDE apps and libraries installed in MacPorts,
   c. adding in MacPorts' downstream patches.

Point a. requires a long list of CMake options, which are in a a separate file in [2].

Point b. is addressed by a prototype file in [2] and a script to set it up for any prefix
you may choose as a work-area.  I have three such areas: /kdedev/games for my
own KDE development work, /kdedev/kde4.13 (obsolete, now that MacPorts has it)
and /kdedev/kde4m (tracking KDE repository branch master and KDE/4.14), where
I am working on a patch for native file dialogs and was working on Dr Konqi fixes.

Re point c, I install patches manually, but I hope the need for this is going to
disappear (i.e. the problems will be fixed in the KDE repositories eventually).

Well, that's my 2c, but I do think that we all need to get on the same page at some
point (Kurt, René, you, me, Nicolas).  Whether that "page" should be a MacPorts
"port" of a KDE developers' and debuggers' kit for Mac - and what form that kit should
take - is something to discuss.

IMHO a port of raw kdesrc-build, if that is what Kurt is doing, is not enough...

Cheers, Ian W.

> [1] https://techbase.kde.org/Getting_Started/Build/Mac_OS_X/MacPorts

[2] https://projects.kde.org/projects/playground/base/osx-patches/repository/revisions/master/show/KDEMacPortsTools