building MySQL 5.5 with cmake

Yesterday I was testing a branch of MySQL 5.5 to help a colleague, and I was set aback at discovering that, with the default build options, the server did not include the Archive engine. In other times, I would have to dig into the build scripts or to examine the output of ./configure --help, but that is no longer necessary. MySQL 5.5 is built using cmake, the cross platform make.

Why does this change make me feel better? Because cmake configuration is more user friendly than the old autoconf/automake/libtools horror syntax. Not only that, but there is a GUI!
I am a command line guy, as you probably know, but when the purpose of a GUI is not only to show off but to make difficult choices easy, then I all for it.

In my particular case, I enjoyed the idea of setting the options with a contextual help that told me the choices for each item.
If you want to know more about the whole process of building MySQL with CMake, there is a comprehensive guide in MySQL Forge.
Before I forget, though, there is something that reconciles my command line nature and the need for a good interface. Instead of using cmake-gui, I can get the same results with ccmake

It is not as pretty as the graphical UI, but it has the advantage of working in a remote terminal, which for me is a must.
So, if you want to try it, grab the latest MySQL 5.5 tree and follow the instructions.