scikit-build
cookie-cutter project
I don't know if this is present in a different project, but it would be nice to have a cookie-cutter project to highlight:
- Modern CMake project design
- Modern CI tools for Python and C++
- Incorporate bindings with Swig or other language specific ones like pybind, including packaging via skbuild-core
- Tools for downstream packaging and testing
In designing and modernizing some CMake projects, I've found quite a few hidden gems that are available in CMake like FeatureSummary, the interplay between FetchContent and find_package, etc. and I want to share them in a more accessible location. Do you think we can host this here or in a different organization?
I'm not familiar with cookie-cutter engines, and I think that could clash with having a plain repo that people can navigate and learn through the documentations and comments. If you know of a good example that have a balanced of these let me know.
I'd recommend first looking at https://github.com/scientific-python/cookie (cookiecutter and copier supported), as well as https://github.com/pybind/scikit_build_example (plain repo). Yes, it's not great navigating a cookiecutter repo directly. It could possibly be rendered into documentation (that's partially done for scientific-python/cookie, some of the code blocks are rendered from the cookie).
I don't really want to maintain two cookiecutters (especially at the scale of scientific-python/cookie, which is a guide + cookie with 10+ backends + repo-review plugin, included via WebAssembly in the guide) until it's necessary. What I was thinking is that maybe skbuild new could provide this sort of setup. If that doesn't work / is too much work, having a cookiecutter that only produces scikit-build projects, but has options for which binding tool to use, etc. is something we should eventually add.
I'm also pushing for better "on" support in cookiecutter - if that makes it in, then having conditional questions would be feasible. Harder to test, but easier to add multiple binding tools only if a compiled backend was selected, for example.
Also see https://cliutils.gitlab.io/modern-cmake, my book on Modern CMake.
What I was thinking is that maybe skbuild new could provide this sort of setup.
Do we include CI tools in there as well? I was thinking for that we only focus on cmake + skbuild-core, and we could reference to a template project otherwise for more details on CI tools and everything.
Also see https://cliutils.gitlab.io/modern-cmake, my book on Modern CMake.
Good book, I might quote it some times for quick reference ;). I have some notes on some other paradigms that I want to share, but it would be clearer in an example repo.
For now, how about if I make a plain repo to first show-case some of the topics I want to highlight.
Still working on it, but the WIP is in https://github.com/LecrisUT/CMake-Template/pull/1. There are quite a few comments there, mostly to point out some of the topics to present for the cookie-cutter project and as reminder to add them to the proper documentation about it.
Btw, I've added documentation to my template project, but could always use more comments and discussion on the ideas in there. My plan is to keep that template as bare-bones like that with just the minimum for a modern CMake project, and then have daughter templates, e.g. python interface, which links back to the base template for the common documentation and builds up on the specific topic. Thoughts?