Re: class library header file naming and install conventions

[Ralph Lange <Ralph.Lange@gmx.de>]

On 15.03.2011 00:11 Jeff Hill wrote:
> All,
>
> When designing a C++ class library whose name is pdq it seems that one might
> implement one header file for every exported class, and follow some naming
> rules.
>
> Here is a straw-man. Lots of other schemes are possible, and the only really
> bad scheme is to follow no naming convention at all, I suppose.
>
> o The C++ namespace is pdq (class lib names must be all lower case letters)
> o The master header file's name is pdq.h
> o Each exported class named Xxxx has a header file named pdq/Xxxx.h
> o The master header file has '#include "pdq/Xxxx.h"' for each exported class
> o The pdq.h is installed to $(EPICS_BASE)/include/pdq.h
> o The pdq/Xxxx.h are installed to $(EPICS_BASE)/include/pdq/Xxxx.h
> o The build system appears to implement this type of install now if, in the
> build area, one has something like src/pdq/lib/pdq which contains the header
> files (where they are installed from). Is that what we want? That (redundant
> pdq in the path) could be initially somewhat confusing to the uninitiated,
> and I don’t see any reason to place the header files in a subdirectory other
> than to avoid changing the build system?
Change the build system to use a simpler path.

> o The c/c++ files are named src/pdq/lib/Xxxx.cpp
If pdq consists of the library, nothing else, I would even skip the /lib/ part of the path.

> o The documentation master goes in src/pdq/doc/pdq.html
> o Maybe the class interface documentation goes in src/pdq/doc/pdq/Xxxx.html
> (same concerns about redundant pdq in the path)
Documentation should be installed. (To allow for documentation to be generated from the source files, e.g. Doxygen. And to make creating binary 
packages easier.)
Probably into $(EPICS_BASE)/doc/pdq.

We should also have a standard place for unit tests for libraries.
Probably src/pdq/test for your example.

Cheers,
~Ralph