Subject: Re: [RFC] building postgres with meson
To: Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de>, pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org
References: <20211012083721.hvixq4pnh2pixr3j@alap3.anarazel.de>
From: Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@enterprisedb.com>
Message-ID: <aa45e007-4b28-1582-1d91-1d88cdf28524@enterprisedb.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2021 15:30:57 +0200
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On 12.10.21 10:37, Andres Freund wrote:
> For the last year or so I've on and off tinkered with $subject.  I think
> it's in a state worth sharing now.  First, let's look at a little
> comparison.

I played with $subject a few years ago and liked it.  I think, like you 
said, meson is the best way forward.  I support this project.

One problem I noticed back then was that some choices that we currently 
determine ourselves in configure or the makefiles are hardcoded in 
meson.  For example, at the time, gcc on macOS was not supported.  Meson 
thought, if you are on macOS, you are surely using the Apple compiler, 
and it supports these options.  Fixing that required patches deep in the 
bowels of the meson source code (and, in practice, waiting for a new 
release etc.).  I strongly suspect this isn't the only such problem. 
For example, the shared library build behavior has been carefully tuned 
in opinionated ways.  With the autotools chain, one can override 
anything with enough violence; so we have always felt free to do that. 
I haven't followed it in a while, so I don't know what the situation is 
now; but it is a concern, because we have always felt free to try new 
and unusual build tools (Sun compiler, Intel compiler, 
clang-when-it-was-new) early without waiting for anyone else.