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| -rw-r--r-- | www/index.html | 249 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | www/roadmap.html | 114 |
2 files changed, 298 insertions, 65 deletions
diff --git a/www/index.html b/www/index.html index a033f51..0a6a962 100644 --- a/www/index.html +++ b/www/index.html @@ -26,15 +26,15 @@ in surprisingly small amounts of maintainable code. </p> <p> -In short, SCons is an easier, more flexible -and more reliable way to build software. +In short, SCons is an easier, more reliable +and more flexible way to build software. </p> -<h3>-----</h3> +<!-- -<h3>Mission</h3> +<h2><b>Goal</b></h2> -<p>The goal of The SCons Project +<p>The primary goal of The SCons Project is to become the premiere enterprise-quality tool for building cross-platform, multi-language software projects by offering unparalleled <b>reliability</b> and <b>flexibility</b> @@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ to software buildmasters and developers. </p> <p> -Yeah, every project has similar lofty mom-and-apple-pie goals, +Yeah, yeah, every project has similar lofty mom-and-apple-pie goals, blah, blah, blah... So why is SCons any different? Fair question. @@ -57,66 +57,193 @@ that we think contribute to SCons being a really distinctive software build tool: </p> -<dl> -<dt> -<b>Software builds are getting more complicated, not less</b> -</dt> -<dd> -XXX -</dd> -<dt> -<b>Making software build reliably is not a language design issue</b> -</dt> -<dd> -XXX -</dd> -<dt> -<b>You want to encapsulate software build complexity -so most developers don't even have to think about it</b> -</dt> -<dd> -XXX -</dd> -<dt> -<b>Overall, a reliable build that takes a little longer is -cheaper than a fast build that you can't rely on</b> -</dt> -<dd> -XXX -</dd> -<dt> -<b>Building software in multiple side-by-side variants is crucial -in a multi-platform world</b> -</dt> -<dd> +<ul> + +<li> +<strong>Software builds are getting more complicated, not less</strong> +<p> +The proliferation of programming languages and technologies +have led to increasingly difficult demands being +placed on traditional software build tools Make. +EVen if you stick to one language--a well-worn +and mature one like C, for example--the +differences between the various C tool chains +and how they behave on various platforms +make it a real challenge +to keep your software builds simple and reliable. +</p> +<p> +Consequently, SCons is a build tool +</p> +</li> + +<li> +<strong>Effective software building is not a language design issue</strong> +<p> +There are a lot of build tools out there, +and it seems like a new one pops up every week +as someone gets the urge to fix some particularly +bad build problem that they're facing. +Most build tools have, historically, +invented some special configuration file format +to express dependencies and actions. +The problem is that by the time you take care of all +of the different ways people +you really want to have the flexibility +that a scripting language gives: +loops, conditionals, real data structures, etc. +(It's interesting to note that the Ant community is +working hard on adding more scriptability to their +XML-based Ant files, +and James Duncan Davidson, Ant's creator, +is on record as saying that he'd use a scripting +language if he were doing it over again.) +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +Note that SCons is not completely pure in this regard. +</p> +</li> + +<li> +<strong>You want to encapsulate software build complexity +so most developers don't even have to think about it</strong> +<pp> XXX -</dd> -</dl> +</pp> +</li> -<p>What is the scope of this project? +<li> +<strong>Overall, a reliable build that takes a little longer is +cheaper than a fast build that you can't rely on</strong> +<p> +This one is sometimes tough to swallow, +because we all want the build to be as quick as possible +when we're in that tight edit-build-debug development cycle. +The problem is that if you take shortcuts in how your +build tool manages the dependencies, +you waste time chasing phantom problems +that simply go away because you finally give up +and do a <tt>make clean; make</tt>. </p> +</li> -<p>For example:</p> +<li> +<strong>Building software in multiple side-by-side variants is crucial +in a multi-platform world</strong> +<pp> +XXX +</pp> +</li> -<ul> -<li>Develop just enough functionality to scratch a particular itch</li> -<li>Build a tool just like XYZ, but less broken</li> -<li>Build the best XYZ-tool ever!</li> </ul> +--> -<p>What are high-level features you are sure to build? +<h2><b>SCons Features</b></h2> + +<ul> + +<li> +<strong>Configuration files are Python scripts</strong> +</li> + +<li> +<strong>Reliable, automatic dependency analysis</strong> +<p> +C, C++ and Fortran are scanned for dependencies, +eliminating the need for a separate <tt>make depend</tt> step +or a <tt>make clean</tt> to get all of the dependencies. +Avoids the time waste from debugging phantom problems +that mysteriously disappear after you +<tt>make clean; make</tt>. +Easily extended to scan for other languages or file types. </p> +</li> + +<li> +<strong>Built-in support for multiple languages</strong> +C, C++, D, Java, Fortran, Yacc, Lex, Qt and SWIG. +Can also build TeX and LaTeX documents. +Easily extended for other languages or file types. +</li> + +<li> +<strong>Cross-platform</strong> +<p> +Known to work on Linux, +other POSIX systems (AIX, *BSD, HP/UX, IRIX, Solaris), +Windows (NT, 2000, XP), +Mac OS X, +and OS/2. +</p> +</li> + +<li> +<strong>Fetch files from SCM systems or central directory trees</strong> +<p> +Built-in support for SCCS, RCS, CVS, BitKeeper and Perforce. +On-disk directory trees can be searched for source files +or pre-built target files. +</p> +</li> + +<li> +<strong>Support for Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and 2005</strong> +Generates <tt>.dsp</tt> and <tt>.dsw</tt> files, +or <tt>.sln</tt> and <tt>.vcproj</tt> files, +from the same build configuration used to build on all platforms. +Allows Windows developers to do all the productive +point-and-click debugging they're used to +without having to maintain a separate build configuration +just for Windows. +</li> + +<li> +<strong>Reliable detection of file changes using MD5 signatures</strong> +<p> +Use of traditional file timestamps instead of MD5 can be configured. +</p> +</li> + +<li> +<strong>Parallel builds</strong> +<p> +Keeps up to N jobs running simultaneously regardless +of directory hierarchy. +</p> +</li> + +<li> +<strong>Global view of dependencies</strong> +<p> +Simplifies builds by eliminating multiple passes +or reording targets to build everything correctly. +</p> +</li> + +<li> +<strong>Multi-platform configuration (like <tt>Autoconf</tt>)</strong> +<p> +Support for finding <tt>#include</tt> files, +libraries, functions and <tt>typedef</tt> declarations. +</p> +</li> + +<li> +<strong>Shared built-file cache</strong> +Speeds up multiple builds by allowing developers +to share pre-built targets +(like <tt>ccache</tt>, but for any type of target file, +not just C/C++ compilation). +</li> + <ul> -<li>What would you write on a billboard about your project? Users -might only look for a few seconds.</li> +<!-- -<li>Use the issue tracker to track features and enhancement -requests. It is not just for bugs, pre-populate it with feature -descriptions so that potential contributors know what you would like them -to work on.</li> -</ul> +<h2></h2> <p>What are the high-level assumptions or ground rules for the project? </p> @@ -134,19 +261,11 @@ functional areas will depend on what you are trying to do. <li>Try to keep this part short. </ul> +--> -<h3>Related resources</h3> - -<ul> -<li>Link to other stuff that you know about. It will help you -research requirements and provide a useful resource to potential -contributors.</li> - -<li>Why reinvent the wheel? What is better about this wheel? Is there -any existing project that you can partner with or reuse?</li> +<h2>Future</h2> -<li>Where would you go to try to find potential contibutors?</li> -</ul> +See the <a href="roadmap.html">Roadmap</a> page. </body> </html> diff --git a/www/roadmap.html b/www/roadmap.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..42a0305 --- /dev/null +++ b/www/roadmap.html @@ -0,0 +1,114 @@ +<html> +<head> +</head> +<body> + +<h2>Current Releases</h2> + +<p> +The current "stable" release is 0.96.1. +</p> + +<p> +The current testing pre-release is 0.96.92. +</p> + +<h2>Upcoming Releases</h2> + +Take these with a huge grain of salt, +this is very rough planning + +<table> +<tr> +<th>Release</th> +<th>Est. Date <font size="-1">(yeah, right)</font><th> +<th> +Goals +</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>0.96.93</td> +<td>???</td> +<td> +Significant speed up of some specific configurations, +plus accumulated patches. +Fix for the one cosmetic bug found so far in 0.96.92. +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>0.96.94</td> +<td>???</td> +<td> +Testing pre-release of the "Big Signature Refactoring," +a significant re-design of internal data structures +to accomplish the following: + <ul> + <li> + Interoperability between MD5 signatures and timestamps. + </li> + <li> + Ability to partition the dependency graph into separate SConstruct + (not SConscript) files. + </li> + <li> + Improved performance (we hope) + </li> + </ul> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>0.97</td> +<td>???</td> +<td> +Wider release of the "Big Signature Refactoring." +More extensive field testing before +declaring the new internals ready to be +blessed as the official 1.0 release. +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1.0</td> +<td>???</td> +<td> +Official, stable release. +No 1.x release will (knowingly) break compatibility +or cause a rebuild on upgrade. +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>2.0</td> +<td>???</td> +<td> +First release that will break backwards compatibility with Python 1.5.2. +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<!-- + +<h2>Upcoming Features</h2> + +--> + +<h2>Release Planning</h2> + +<h3>Why has 1.0 still not been released?</h3> + +<p> +As seems so common these days, +SCons has had an extremely lengthy "beta" period. +The primary goal has been to arrive at something by 1.0 +that we feel is absolutely rock-solid-stable +and which people can download and use without fear of +broken builds or unnecessary rebuilds. +To get some idea of how we do this, see our +<a href="testing.html">testing philosophy</a> page. +</p> + +<h3>Release numbering</h3> + +<p> +</p> + +</body> +</html> |