On Sun, Jul 5, 2026 at 7:15 AM Nandani Chaurasia < [email protected]> wrote:
> Hi Friedrich, > HI Nandani, > > I am interested in contributing to KDE and would like to try > ECMInstalledLibraryCheck. I am still getting familiar with the KDE > contribution workflow. > > At the moment, I am getting a “Forbidden” error when trying to open KDE > Invent. Could you please suggest what I should do to get access, and > whether there is a beginner-friendly area where feedback, documentation > improvements, or additional test coverage would be useful? > Depending on the page you are seeing, this could mean any one of a few different things, however as a first step please ensure your device is up to date and is running a modern browser. > > I would be happy to test the prototype on a small CMake/C++ project and > share feedback. > > Best regards, > Nandani > Thanks, Ben > > On Sat, Jul 4, 2026, 8:52 PM Friedrich W. H. Kossebau <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> how would you feel if there is an option to automatically test the C++ >> library development artifacts (headers, CMake config, etc.) in their >> installed variant for usability, before other developers get to use them? >> >> If that sounds somewhere interesting to you, read on :) >> >> Possibly you also have already heard of this, there is currently some on- >> going effort to develop a system for post-installation C++ library checks, >> by the implementation name ECMInstalledLibraryCheck. While already in >> some >> usable state and there-by successfully having uncovered a number of >> issues, >> it is based only on a few people's needs & ideas, without any known >> similar >> solutions to be "inspired" from for features and patterns. >> >> >> YOUR INPUT & COLLABORATION IS VERY WANTED >> >> What are your pain points with installed C++ library artifacts you wish >> that >> would be tested (and which cannot be tested uninstalled)? What problems >> have >> you seen? >> >> What similar solutions do exist already, for comparison & inspiration? >> >> Would you have fun working on integrating such checks into KDE CI? >> >> Have you tried the current prototype of ECMInstalledLibraryCheck on your >> library, what issues did you detect in your library, what features would >> you >> like in the check? (if not yet, see blog post linked below how to do) >> >> Special question: have you seen public preprocessor definitions whose >> values >> depends on the build which only are defined with some library headers? >> >> >> SMALL PEAK INTO PROTOTYPE FUNCTIONALITY >> >> To get an idea on the current approach with ECMInstalledLibraryCheck, the >> checks are added by declaring them via such functions (by the example of >> KContacts): >> >> --- 8< --- >> # use the module from ECM >> include(ECMInstalledLibraryCheck) >> # for the library target KF6Contacts set up the check >> ecm_add_installed_library_check(KF6Contacts >> PACKAGE_NAME "KF6Contacts" >> PACKAGE_VERSION ${KCONTACTS_VERSION} >> PACKAGE_TARGET_NAMESPACE "KF6::" >> ) >> # register the official include statements for the check >> ecm_installed_library_check_include_strings(KF6Contacts >> HEADERS ${KContacts_CamelCase_HEADERS} >> PREFIX KContacts >> ) >> --- 8< --- >> >> Further checks on certain aspects can be added by functions like >> ecm_installed_library_check_cmake_variable(), >> ecm_installed_library_check_compile_definition() and >> ecm_installed_library_check_preprocessor_macro(). Already there is a >> convenience variant of the last: >> --- 8< --- >> # check all includes also have the usual version macros defined afterwards >> ecm_installed_library_check_version_preprocessor_macros(KF6Contacts >> PREFIX KCONTACTS >> VERSION ${KCONTACTS_VERSION} >> SILENT # only report errors >> ) >> --- 8< --- >> >> The check on the library then will appear as global build system target >> "all_installed_library_check", as well as variants per library. >> >> >> MORE INFO >> >> Find the merge request of ECMInstalledLibraryCheck here: >> https://invent.kde.org/frameworks/extra-cmake-modules/-/merge_requests/590 >> >> A longer blog post going into details, also how to test-drive the check: >> >> https://frinring.wordpress.com/2026/06/30/c-library-headers-cmake-config-files-are-we-serviceable/ >> >> >> TRY IT, COMMENT IT >> >> Be very invited to shape this installed library check solution, so it can >> be >> useful to you right from the its first release. >> Give it 15 minutes now for some considerations & feedback, and hopefully >> save many more minutes in the future :) >> >> Hope to hear from you (even just a "want-this" or "useless-because"), >> and thanks to those who already contributed. >> >> Cheers >> Friedrich >> >> >>
