SparkBuild In Tree

SparkBuild In-Tree

Audience: Programmers | Mixed

Thread Context: N/A — build-tooling decision.

Platform/Backend Scope: Cross-platform developer tool. Windows external deps: WinHTTP/shell32/COM. Linux/macOS external dep: pthread. No dependency on any SparkEngine header or library.

Overview

SparkBuild is a TUI developer build configurator. Its source was vendored directly into this repository at SparkBuild/ (pinned to Krilliac/SparkBuild@83060506), replacing the prior pattern of committing prebuilt per-platform binaries under tools/ that were refreshed by a weekly workflow. SparkBuild only shells out to cmake; it has zero compile- or link-time dependency on the engine, so hosting it in-tree is not a circular dependency.

What Changed

In-tree hosting replaced committed binaries. Deleted in the same change:

• tools/SparkBuild.exe, SparkBuild-linux-gcc, SparkBuild-linux-clang, SparkBuild-macos, and the SparkBuild-linux symlink
• tools/update-sparkbuild.sh, tools/update-sparkbuild.ps1
• .github/workflows/update-sparkbuild.yml
• Matching .gitignore / .gitattributes entries

The vendored tree now lives at SparkBuild/ with CMakeLists.txt, src/, resources/, README.md, and UPSTREAM.md.

Why

• Committed binaries bloat the repo and are opaque to code review.
• Maintaining two repos added a cross-repo round-trip to every SparkBuild patch.
• SparkBuild only invokes cmake, so there is no circular dependency. External deps are only WinHTTP/shell32/COM on Windows and pthread on Linux/macOS.

Bootstrap note: to use SparkBuild you first invoke plain cmake to build it — the same two-stage flow as SparkLauncher, SparkConsole, and SparkShaderCompiler.

Build Wiring

• CMakeLists.txt — option(ENABLE_SPARKBUILD ... ON) (around line 136)
• CMakeLists.txt — add_subdirectory(SparkBuild) guarded by the option (around line 1390)
• CMakeLists.txt — status line SparkBuild: ${ENABLE_SPARKBUILD} (around line 2158)
• SparkBuild/CMakeLists.txt — C++17, builds ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin/SparkBuild, install(TARGETS SparkBuild RUNTIME DESTINATION bin) for CPack
• .github/workflows/build.yml — clang-format find list includes SparkBuild/src
• The engine's per-platform cp -r build/bin/* packaging step already captures the binary — no dedicated artifact upload needed.

Relationship to SparkLauncher

Independent siblings. SparkLauncher is a GUI ImGui project-picker for end users; SparkBuild is a TUI developer build configurator. Different audiences, UI toolkits, and invocation contexts. A future optional enhancement could add a "Configure Build" button in SparkLauncher that shells out to ./SparkBuild — runtime coupling only, never link-time.

Sync Policy

If upstream Krilliac/SparkBuild gets a hotfix worth pulling in-tree, diff-and-port (see SparkBuild/UPSTREAM.md). Do not blind-overwrite the vendored tree, because the project's clang-format style is applied on commit.

Source & Freshness

• Original entry date: 2026-04-19 (sparkbuild-in-tree-2026-04-19.md, type: Decision)
• Verified against codebase 2026-06-08.
• Status bullets:
  • Still holds. SparkBuild/ exists with CMakeLists.txt, src/, resources/, README.md, UPSTREAM.md.
  • Old binaries gone — no tools/SparkBuild* artifacts remain.
  • add_subdirectory(SparkBuild) confirmed present in the root CMakeLists.txt (line numbers approximate; the file has shifted since the original note).

Related Pages

• Daemon Services Architecture — sibling developer tooling
• Wine Role and Fallback Tiers