Add document for building modmesh

[tychuang1211]

Adding document may help with the building process.
I'd like to start from "building modmesh on Ubuntu with devenv".

[allen91wu]

Hi @tychuang1211 , I'm trying to build modmesh in Linux terminal. But I'm failed. Would you like to give me some direction of a solution?

Error messages

allen91wu@LAPTOP-5ULS3SR4:/mnt/c/Users/allen/Desktop/modmesh$ sudo python3 setup.py build
running build
running build_py
running build_ext
-- use PYTHON_EXECUTABLE=/usr/bin/python3
-- not use clang-tidy
ERRORflake8 not found, run pip install flake8
-- HIDE_SYMBOL: OFF
-- DEBUG_SYMBOL: ON
-- MODMESH_PROFILE: OFF
CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:59 (find_package):
  Could not find a package configuration file provided by "pybind11" with any
  of the following names:

    pybind11Config.cmake
    pybind11-config.cmake

  Add the installation prefix of "pybind11" to CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH or set
  "pybind11_DIR" to a directory containing one of the above files.  If
  "pybind11" provides a separate development package or SDK, be sure it has
  been installed.


-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
See also "/mnt/c/Users/allen/Desktop/modmesh/CMakeFiles/CMakeOutput.log".
make: *** No rule to make target '_modmesh'.  Stop.

[yungyuc]

Cmake cannot find pybind11. Can you provide more information about your installation of pybind11?

[allen91wu]

After I reinstall pybind11, an error disappeared.
The following log was denoted I have successfully build the modmesh?

allen91wu@LAPTOP-5ULS3SR4:/mnt/c/Users/allen/Desktop/modmesh$ sudo python3 setup.py build
running build
running build_py
running build_ext
-- use PYTHON_EXECUTABLE=/usr/bin/python3
-- not use clang-tidy
-- using program '/usr/local/bin/flake8'
-- HIDE_SYMBOL: OFF
-- DEBUG_SYMBOL: ON
-- MODMESH_PROFILE: OFF
-- Found pybind11: /usr/include (found version "2.6.1" )
-- pybind11_INCLUDE_DIRS: /usr/include;/usr/include/python3.8
-- NUMPY_INCLUDE_DIR: /usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages/numpy/core/include
-- CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR: include
-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: /mnt/c/Users/allen/Desktop/modmesh
make: *** No rule to make target '_modmesh'.  Stop.

[ianlienfa]

@yungyuc How 'bout I add the README for build process on intel Mac?

[yungyuc]

@yungyuc How 'bout I add the README for build process on intel Mac?

Sure. But for it to be available in master, it should be a comprehensive one including both Linux and Mac, the two supported platform. It's good to start with a PR for intel mac.

[tai271828]

@ianlienfa fwiw, I have a (work-in-progress) helper script to build modmesh with devenv. The script is a bit overkilled (via launching a development environment for SOLVCON) but it should have demonstrated how to use devenv for modmesh. Pull requests are welcome to make the script smaller. https://gitlab.com/tai271828/toolbox/-/blob/dev/scripts/solvcon/modmesh.sh

@yungyuc How 'bout I add the README for build process on intel Mac?

[yungyuc]

@ianlienfa fwiw, I have a (work-in-progress) helper script to build modmesh with devenv. The script is a bit overkilled (via launching a development environment for SOLVCON) but it should have demonstrated how to use devenv for modmesh. Pull requests are welcome to make the script smaller. https://gitlab.com/tai271828/toolbox/-/blob/dev/scripts/solvcon/modmesh.sh

@yungyuc How 'bout I add the README for build process on intel Mac?

It is not recommended to use setup.py for building:

python3 setup.py build_ext --cmake-args="-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE=$(which python3)" --make-args="VERBOSE=1"

The setup.py script calls cmake internally. The added indirect is only to make it look like a Python extension module for future integration to a package manager for Python.

The viewer binary embeds a Python interpreter and will work very differently from a Python extension.

[ianlienfa]

@yungyuc @tai271828
Some update on this thread,
I've successfully build the project on my intel Mac today,
I think I can provide a Mac version install script like the one we see above.

[ianlienfa]

Btw, what does devenv launch solvcon do conceptually?
Is there some kind of remote repository maintaining the list of packages to download?
And will brew perform differently under the devenv or not?

[tai271828]

devenv launch solvcon is simply a quick approach for devenv launch modmesh, which has not been implemented. devenv launch solvcon tries to build a development environment by building the dependencies as much as possible. For example, if you take a closer look into devenv launch solvcon you will see cmake is compiled from source.

Will brew perform differently? Short (but not completely right) answer: no.
Long answer: it depends on how you manipulate brew and devenv. They brew and devenv could be set-up to help each other.

Btw, what does devenv launch solvcon do conceptually? Is there some kind of remote repository maintaining the list of packages to download? And will brew perform differently under the devenv or not?