Build system unification

[ethanmoffat]

Right now we have disparate scripts for building on Linux and Windows. It would be nice to unify these to a single script so we only have one thing to maintain.

Ideas for this (in order of preference):

• Powershell core
• Bash on Windows somehow (Cygwin?)
• Cake build with similar ps1/sh bootstrap scripts

[iandinwoodie]

The most universal scripting language here would probably be Python. I think it’s pretty safe to assume users building this from source will have a Python distribution available.

As of May 2019 python and python3 commands direct you to the Windows store page for Python if you don’t have it installed (source). It seems to be the only scripting language being pushed by the major operating systems.

Thoughts?

[ethanmoffat]

I had python in the list, but removed it because I don't think it's designed as a shell scripting language like bash/powershell.

After having worked in bash/windows batch/powershell, I have to say Powershell is a pretty fantastic scripting language (even if the syntax leaves something to be desired), which I strongly prefer to other shell scripting languages. I'm not sure what the installation prereqs are for pscore, I'm assuming it's in Microsoft's repos which would require some extra steps to get working on Linux. I haven't tried pscore on Windows either. Mostly just an idea right now - but that's why its at the top of my list.

edit after writing this out: that source you linked for the Python install is nice, I didn't know about that. Might make it worth considering.