Alternative symlink-creating mode for file(INSTALL ...)

An new environment variable 'CMAKE_INSTALL_MODE' is introduced,
which can be used to ask CMake to create symbolic links
instead of copying files during a file(INSTALL ...).

The operation is at the file level only, directory trees are
still created using actual directories, not links.

Signed-off-by: Felix Lelchuk <felix.lelchuk@gmx.de>

1 files changed, 16 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Help/release/dev/cmake-install-mode-symlink.rst b/Help/release/dev/cmake-install-mode-symlink.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a5f75ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Help/release/dev/cmake-install-mode-symlink.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+cmake-install-mode-symlink
+--------------------------
+
+* The :envvar:`CMAKE_INSTALL_MODE` environment variable was added to
+  allow users to override the default file-copying behavior of
+  :command:`install` and :command:`file(INSTALL)` into creating
+  symbolic links. This can aid in lowering storage space requirements
+  and avoiding redundancy.
+
+* The :command:`file(INSTALL)` can now be affected / modified by the
+  :envvar:`CMAKE_INSTALL_MODE` environment variable causing installation
+  of symbolic links instead of copying of files.
+
+* The :command:`install` can now be affected / modified by the
+  :envvar:`CMAKE_INSTALL_MODE` environment variable causing installation
+  of symbolic links instead of copying of files.