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diff --git a/doc/developer/preface.xml b/doc/developer/preface.xml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5784cee --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/developer/preface.xml @@ -0,0 +1,175 @@ +<!-- + + __COPYRIGHT__ + + Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining + a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the + "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including + without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, + distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to + permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to + the following conditions: + + The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included + in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. + + THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY + KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE + WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND + NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE + LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION + OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION + WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. + +--> + + <para> + + This document assumes that you already know how &SCons; + and that you want to learn how to work on the code. + + </para> + + <section> + <title>&SCons; Principles</title> + + <para> + + There are a few overriding principles + we try to live up to in designing and implementing &SCons: + + </para> + + <variablelist> + + <varlistentry> + <term>Correctness</term> + + <listitem> + <para> + + First and foremost, + by default, &SCons; guarantees a correct build + even if it means sacrificing performance a little. + We strive to guarantee the build is correct + regardless of how the software being built is structured, + how it may have been written, + or how unusual the tools are that build it. + + </para> + </listitem> + </varlistentry> + + <varlistentry> + <term>Performance</term> + + <listitem> + <para> + + Given that the build is correct, + we try to make &SCons; build software + as quickly as possible. + In particular, wherever we may have needed to slow + down the default &SCons; behavior to guarantee a correct build, + we also try to make it easy to speed up &SCons; + through optimization options that let you trade off + guaranteed correctness in all end cases for + a speedier build in the usual cases. + + </para> + </listitem> + </varlistentry> + + <varlistentry> + <term>Convenience</term> + + <listitem> + <para> + + &SCons; tries to do as much for you out of the box as reasonable, + including detecting the right tools on your system + and using them correctly to build the software. + + </para> + </listitem> + </varlistentry> + + </variablelist> + + <para> + + In a nutshell, we try hard to make &SCons; just + "do the right thing" and build software correctly, + with a minimum of hassles. + + </para> + + </section> + + <section> + <title>Acknowledgements</title> + + <para> + + &SCons; would not exist without a lot of help + from a lot of people, + many of whom may not even be aware + that they helped or served as inspiration. + So in no particular order, + and at the risk of leaving out someone: + + </para> + + <para> + + First and foremost, + &SCons; owes a tremendous debt to Bob Sidebotham, + the original author of the classic Perl-based &Cons; tool + which Bob first released to the world back around 1996. + Bob's work on Cons classic provided the underlying architecture + and model of specifying a build configuration + using a real scripting language. + My real-world experience working on Cons + informed many of the design decisions in SCons, + including the improved parallel build support, + making Builder objects easily definable by users, + and separating the build engine from the wrapping interface. + + </para> + + <para> + + Greg Wilson was instrumental in getting + &SCons; started as a real project + when he initiated the Software Carpentry design + competition in February 2000. + Without that nudge, + marrying the advantages of the Cons classic + architecture with the readability of Python + might have just stayed no more than a nice idea. + + </para> + + <para> + + Thanks to Peter Miller + for his splendid change management system, &Aegis;, + which has provided the &SCons; project + with a robust development methodology from day one, + and which showed me how you could + integrate incremental regression tests into + a practical development cycle + (years before eXtreme Programming arrived on the scene). + + </para> + + <para> + + And last, thanks to Guido van Rossum + for his elegant scripting language, + which is the basis not only for the &SCons; implementation, + but for the interface itself. + + </para> + + </section> |