dev-docs: update

Discuss new Meson build path and how to build things. Co-authored-by: Thomas Adam <[email protected]> Signed-off-by: Matt Jolly <[email protected]>
fvwmorg · Sep 23, 2024 · 55344ad · 55344ad
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diff --git a/dev-docs/INSTALL.md b/dev-docs/INSTALL.md
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 Installation Instructions
 =========================
 
-FVWM3 uses automake and autotools as its build process.
+FVWM3 prefers `meson` as its build tool chain, but provides `autotools` as a
+legacy fallback on older systems.
 
 Dependencies
 ============
@@ -49,33 +50,53 @@ system in use.
 Generating documentation
 ========================
 
+`fvwm3` won't compile documentation by default, so it's opt-in.
+
 To generate `fvwm3`'s documentation:
 
 1. Install `asciidoctor`
-2. To generate manpages:  pass `--enable-mandoc` to `./configure`
-3. To generate HTML docs: pass `--enable-htmldoc` to `./configure`
+2. To generate manpages:  pass `-Dhtmldoc=true` to `meson`
+3. To generate HTML docs: pass `-Dmandoc=true` to `meson`
 
-`fvwm3` won't compile documentation by default, so it's opt-in.
 
 Installing From Git
 ===================
 
-FVWM3 has a bootstrap script to generate `configure` and associated files.
-Run the following command chain to generate the `configure` script and build
-the project:
+## Build Systems
+
+`fvwm3` has traditionally been using autotools.  However, this is now
+deprecated in favour of `meson`.  It is suggested that all systems which
+support `meson` use this instead as it is now the preferred build system to
+use.
+
+The `autotools` build system remains to provide legacy support but is not
+going to see any updates to it.
+
+### Autotools
 
 ```
-./autogen.sh && ./configure && make
+./autogen.sh && ./configure && make && sudo make install
+```
+
+### Meson
+
+```
+meson setup build && ninja -C build && ninja -C build install
 ```
 
 Installing From Release Tarball
 ===============================
 
+## Autotools
+
 Release tarballs will come bundled with `./configure` already, hence:
 
 ```
-./configure && make
+./configure && make && sudo make install
 ```
 
-As with most things, if the default options `./configure` chooses isn't
-appropriate for your needs, see `./configure --help` for appropriate options.
+## Meson
+
+```
+meson setup build && ninja -C build && meson install -C build
+```
diff --git a/fvwm/Makefile.am b/fvwm/Makefile.am
@@ -49,4 +49,4 @@ AM_CFLAGS = \
 	-DFVWM_MODULEDIR=\"$(FVWM_MODULEDIR)\" \
 	-DFVWM_DATADIR=\"$(FVWM_DATADIR)\" \
 	-DFVWM_CONFDIR=\"$(FVWM_CONFDIR)\" \
-	-DLOCALEDIR=\"$(LOCALEDIR)\"
+	-DLOCALEDIR=\"$(LOCALEDIR)\"