[CMake] Find*.cmake variable naming

[Mike Jackson]

On Jan 14, 2008, at 1:01 PM, Rodolfo Schulz de Lima wrote:

> Hi, I'd like to comment on the Find*.cmake variable naming  
> procedure adopted by cmake. Right now I have to look at some  
> Find*.cmake files to see what are the output variables they create.  
> Some packages create a *_LIBRARY, others *_LIBRARIES, others  
> *_INCLUDE_DIRS and others *_INCLUDE_DIR. The Modules/readme.txt  
> procedure isn't being used for some packages.
>
> Also the vast majority creates upcased (is this an adjective?)  
> variable names, BUT Boost and wxWidgets. There two define  
> Boost_FOUND, Boost_LIBRARIES, wxWidgets_FOUND, wxWidgets_LIBRARIES.  
> It should be better if they were BOOST_FOUND, WXWIDGETS_FOUND etc.
>
> This gets annoying when you're trying to create a macro that  
> accepts a package name, finds it and use their output variables.  
> This requires an uniformity that is lacking on Find*.cmake's.
>
> I'll try to summarize below the discrepancies I've found (just a  
> few of them)
>
> Aspell: outputs ASPELL_INCLUDE_DIR instead of ASPELL_INCLUDE_DIRS
> AVIFile: outputs AVIFILE_INCLUDE_DIR instead of AVIFILE_INCLUDE_DIRS
> Boost: variable names should be upcase.
> Bzip2: outputs BZIP2_INCLUDE_DIR instead of BZIP2_INCLUDE_DIRS
> Cable: outputs CABLE_TCL_LIBRARY instead of CABLE_TCL_LIBRARIES,  
> and 		
>        CABLE_INCLUDE_DIR instead of CABLE_INCLUDE_DIRS
> Cups: outputs CUPS_INCLUDE_DIR instead of CUPS_INCLUDE_DIRS
> Curses: outputs CURSES_INCLUDE_DIR instead of CUPS_INCLUDE_DIRS
> DCMTK: outputs DCMTK_INCLUDE_DIR instead of DCMTK_INCLUDE_DIRS
>
> ...
>
> and there's a lot more. It seems that the majority uses  
> *_INCLUDE_DIR instead of *_INCLUDE_DIRS
>
> Regards,
> rod



Nothing much to add except, "I Agree". Consistency in any API/ 
Language is essential for people to learn quickly. I would also think  
that the jump from 2.4.x to 2.6.x is _perfect_ time to change the  
variables. There may be other major changes API breakage, so getting  
this done also makes sense in my little utopian world.

--
Mike Jackson
imikejackson & gmail * com