[R-pkg-devel] Please install cmake on macOS builders

[Martin Maechler]

>>>>> Martin Maechler 
>>>>>     on Wed, 10 May 2023 21:31:29 +0200 writes:

  >>>>> Dirk Eddelbuettel 
  >>>>>     on Wed, 10 May 2023 07:01:37 -0500 writes:

	>> Simon,

	>> Explicitly declaring

	>> SystemRequirements: cmake

	>> appears to be insufficient to get a build on the
	>> (otherwise lovely to have) 'macOS builder', and leads to
	>> failure on (at least) 'r-oldrel-macos-x86_64'.

	>> Would it be possible to actually have cmake installed?

	>> These daus cmake is for better or worse becoming a
	>> standard, and I rely on it for one (new) package to
	>> correctly configure a library. It would be nice to be
	>> able to rely on it on macOS too.

    > Somewhat 'ditto' from here {about wanting 'cmake' to
    > become +/- standard tool for R packages use, *not* at all
    > related to macOS} :

    > The SuiteSparse C library on parts of which our Matrix
    > package builds extensively has also switched their setup
    > to use cmake instead of make ... and this was actually one
    > reason we have not yet updated to the latest versions of
    > SuiteSparse for the Matrix package.

    > As Matrix is formally recommended, I would even be happy
    > if 'cmake' became a +/- required OS tool for R ...

I've been told in private that the above "be happy if"
may *not* be a good idea,
or rather even close to impossible as   cmake  seems to not fit
well, at all, with the quite sophisticated
    autoconf -> configure -> make
setup we have with building R + recommended packages
cross-platform compatibly as well as possible.

Martin


--
Martin Maechler ETH Zurich and R Core team