Documentation doesn't describe how to build with meson/ninja, only autotools. (#22) · Issues · GStreamer / gst-docs

Documentation doesn't describe how to build with meson/ninja, only autotools.

I checked out gstreamer and some other subprojects from git for the first time and since they all seemed to be normal autotools projects, I built them with autogen.sh, configure and make.

It was only after having problems and getting into this discussion with @meh that I discovered that the autotools builds are deprecated and will be removed soon in favour of meson/ninja.

There's no mention of how to build/install with meson in the README, the website, or the FAQ - all refer extensively to autotools. This is the first project I've ever encountered using meson so I had no idea about it - and on checking the source out from git there was nothing to indicate this was anything other than a purely autotools-based project. If you're retiring autotools in the near future then someone really needs to start thinking about documenting this.

Note that just linking to the meson & ninja documentation is not sufficient! When I looked these up myself the meson quick guide explained how to compile but not install - it then jumps straight ahead to distro packager use. The ninja manual is equally unhelpful for the end user; both projects' documentation is of course aimed at project authors.

I checked out gstreamer and some other subprojects from git for the first time and since they all seemed to be normal autotools projects, I built them with autogen.sh, configure and make.

It was only after having problems and getting into [this discussion](https://github.com/MathieuDuponchelle/MathieuDuponchelle.github.io/issues/2) with @meh that I discovered that the autotools builds are deprecated and will be removed soon in favour of meson/ninja.

Note that just linking to the meson & ninja documentation is not sufficient! When I looked these up myself [the meson quick guide](https://mesonbuild.com/Quick-guide.html) explained how to compile but not install - it then jumps straight ahead to distro packager use. The [ninja manual](https://ninja-build.org/manual.html) is equally unhelpful for the end user; both projects' documentation is of course aimed at project authors.