Document how to handle changing build systems (#25174)

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+.. Copyright 2013-2021 Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC and other
+   Spack Project Developers. See the top-level COPYRIGHT file for details.
+
+   SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
+
+.. _multiplepackage:
+
+----------------------
+Multiple Build Systems
+----------------------
+
+Quite frequently, a package will change build systems from one version to the
+next. For example, a small project that once used a single Makefile to build
+may now require Autotools to handle the increased number of files that need to
+be compiled. Or, a package that once used Autotools may switch to CMake for
+Windows support. In this case, it becomes a bit more challenging to write a
+single build recipe for this package in Spack.
+
+There are several ways that this can be handled in Spack:
+
+#. Subclass the new build system, and override phases as needed (preferred)
+#. Subclass ``Package`` and implement ``install`` as needed
+#. Create separate ``*-cmake``, ``*-autotools``, etc. packages for each build system
+#. Rename the old package to ``*-legacy`` and create a new package
+#. Move the old package to a ``legacy`` repository and create a new package
+#. Drop older versions that only support the older build system
+
+Of these options, 1 is preferred, and will be demonstrated in this
+documentation. Options 3-5 have issues with concretization, so shouldn't be
+used. Options 4-5 also don't support more than two build systems. Option 6 only
+works if the old versions are no longer needed. Option 1 is preferred over 2
+because it makes it easier to drop the old build system entirely.
+
+The exact syntax of the package depends on which build systems you need to
+support. Below are a couple of common examples.
+
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+Makefile -> Autotools
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+Let's say we have the following package:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+   class Foo(MakefilePackage):
+       version("1.2.0", sha256="...")
+
+       def edit(self, spec, prefix):
+           filter_file("CC=", "CC=" + spack_cc, "Makefile")
+
+       def install(self, spec, prefix):
+           install_tree(".", prefix)
+
+
+The package subclasses from :ref:`makefilepackage`, which has three phases:
+
+#. ``edit`` (does nothing by default)
+#. ``build`` (runs ``make`` by default)
+#. ``install`` (runs ``make install`` by default)
+
+In this case, the ``install`` phase needed to be overridden because the
+Makefile did not have an install target. We also modify the Makefile to use
+Spack's compiler wrappers. The default ``build`` phase is not changed.
+
+Starting with version 1.3.0, we want to use Autotools to build instead.
+:ref:`autotoolspackage` has four phases:
+
+#. ``autoreconf`` (does not if a configure script already exists)
+#. ``configure`` (runs ``./configure --prefix=...`` by default)
+#. ``build`` (runs ``make`` by default)
+#. ``install`` (runs ``make install`` by default)
+
+If the only version we need to support is 1.3.0, the package would look as
+simple as:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+   class Foo(AutotoolsPackage):
+       version("1.3.0", sha256="...")
+
+       def configure_args(self):
+           return ["--enable-shared"]
+
+
+In this case, we use the default methods for each phase and only override
+``configure_args`` to specify additional flags to pass to ``./configure``.
+
+If we wanted to write a single package that supports both versions 1.2.0 and
+1.3.0, it would look something like:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+   class Foo(AutotoolsPackage):
+       version("1.3.0", sha256="...")
+       version("1.2.0", sha256="...", deprecated=True)
+
+       def configure_args(self):
+           return ["--enable-shared"]
+
+       # Remove the following once version 1.2.0 is dropped
+       @when("@:1.2")
+       def patch(self):
+           filter_file("CC=", "CC=" + spack_cc, "Makefile")
+
+       @when("@:1.2")
+       def autoreconf(self, spec, prefix):
+           pass
+
+       @when("@:1.2")
+       def configure(self, spec, prefix):
+           pass
+
+       @when("@:1.2")
+       def install(self, spec, prefix):
+           install_tree(".", prefix)
+
+
+There are a few interesting things to note here:
+
+* We added ``deprecated=True`` to version 1.2.0. This signifies that version
+  1.2.0 is deprecated and shouldn't be used. However, if a user still relies
+  on version 1.2.0, it's still there and builds just fine.
+* We moved the contents of the ``edit`` phase to the ``patch`` function. Since
+  ``AutotoolsPackage`` doesn't have an ``edit`` phase, the only way for this
+  step to be executed is to move it to the ``patch`` function, which always
+  gets run.
+* The ``autoreconf`` and ``configure`` phases become no-ops. Since the old
+  Makefile-based build system doesn't use these, we ignore these phases when
+  building ``foo@1.2.0``.
+* The ``@when`` decorator is used to override these phases only for older
+  versions. The default methods are used for ``foo@1.3:``.
+
+Once a new Spack release comes out, version 1.2.0 and everything below the
+comment can be safely deleted. The result is the same as if we had written a
+package for version 1.3.0 from scratch.
+
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+Autotools -> CMake
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+Let's say we have the following package:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+   class Bar(AutotoolsPackage):
+       version("1.2.0", sha256="...")
+
+       def configure_args(self):
+           return ["--enable-shared"]
+
+
+The package subclasses from :ref:`autotoolspackage`, which has four phases:
+
+#. ``autoreconf`` (does not if a configure script already exists)
+#. ``configure`` (runs ``./configure --prefix=...`` by default)
+#. ``build`` (runs ``make`` by default)
+#. ``install`` (runs ``make install`` by default)
+
+In this case, we use the default methods for each phase and only override
+``configure_args`` to specify additional flags to pass to ``./configure``.
+
+Starting with version 1.3.0, we want to use CMake to build instead.
+:ref:`cmakepackage` has three phases:
+
+#. ``cmake`` (runs ``cmake ...`` by default)
+#. ``build`` (runs ``make`` by default)
+#. ``install`` (runs ``make install`` by default)
+
+If the only version we need to support is 1.3.0, the package would look as
+simple as:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+   class Bar(CMakePackage):
+       version("1.3.0", sha256="...")
+
+       def cmake_args(self):
+           return [self.define("BUILD_SHARED_LIBS", True)]
+
+
+In this case, we use the default methods for each phase and only override
+``cmake_args`` to specify additional flags to pass to ``cmake``.
+
+If we wanted to write a single package that supports both versions 1.2.0 and
+1.3.0, it would look something like:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+   class Bar(CMakePackage):
+       version("1.3.0", sha256="...")
+       version("1.2.0", sha256="...", deprecated=True)
+
+       def cmake_args(self):
+           return [self.define("BUILD_SHARED_LIBS", True)]
+
+       # Remove the following once version 1.2.0 is dropped
+       def configure_args(self):
+           return ["--enable-shared"]
+
+       @when("@:1.2")
+       def cmake(self, spec, prefix):
+           configure("--prefix=" + prefix, *self.configure_args())
+
+
+There are a few interesting things to note here:
+
+* We added ``deprecated=True`` to version 1.2.0. This signifies that version
+  1.2.0 is deprecated and shouldn't be used. However, if a user still relies
+  on version 1.2.0, it's still there and builds just fine.
+* Since CMake and Autotools are so similar, we only need to override the
+  ``cmake`` phase, we can use the default ``build`` and ``install`` phases.
+* We override ``cmake`` to run ``./configure`` for older versions.
+  ``configure_args`` remains the same.
+* The ``@when`` decorator is used to override these phases only for older
+  versions. The default methods are used for ``bar@1.3:``.
+
+Once a new Spack release comes out, version 1.2.0 and everything below the
+comment can be safely deleted. The result is the same as if we had written a
+package for version 1.3.0 from scratch.
+
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+Multiple build systems for the same version
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+During the transition from one build system to another, developers often
+support multiple build systems at the same time. Spack can only use a single
+build system for a single version. To decide which build system to use for a
+particular version, take the following things into account:
+
+1. If the developers explicitly state that one build system is preferred over
+   another, use that one.
+2. If one build system is considered "experimental" while another is considered
+   "stable", use the stable build system.
+3. Otherwise, use the newer build system.
+
+The developer preference for which build system to use can change over time as
+a newer build system becomes stable/recommended.
+
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+Dropping support for old build systems
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+When older versions of a package don't support a newer build system, it can be
+tempting to simply delete them from a package. This significantly reduces
+package complexity and makes the build recipe much easier to maintain. However,
+other packages or Spack users may rely on these older versions. The recommended
+approach is to first support both build systems (as demonstrated above),
+:ref:`deprecate <deprecate>` versions that rely on the old build system, and
+remove those versions and any phases that needed to be overridden in the next
+Spack release.
+
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+Three or more build systems
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+In rare cases, a package may change build systems multiple times. For example,
+a package may start with Makefiles, then switch to Autotools, then switch to
+CMake. The same logic used above can be extended to any number of build systems.
+For example:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+   class Baz(CMakePackage):
+       version("1.4.0", sha256="...")  # CMake
+       version("1.3.0", sha256="...")  # Autotools
+       version("1.2.0", sha256="...")  # Makefile
+
+       def cmake_args(self):
+           return [self.define("BUILD_SHARED_LIBS", True)]
+
+       # Remove the following once version 1.3.0 is dropped
+       def configure_args(self):
+           return ["--enable-shared"]
+
+       @when("@1.3")
+       def cmake(self, spec, prefix):
+           configure("--prefix=" + prefix, *self.configure_args())
+
+       # Remove the following once version 1.2.0 is dropped
+       @when("@:1.2")
+       def patch(self):
+           filter_file("CC=", "CC=" + spack_cc, "Makefile")
+
+       @when("@:1.2")
+       def cmake(self, spec, prefix):
+           pass
+
+       @when("@:1.2")
+       def install(self, spec, prefix):
+           install_tree(".", prefix)
+
+
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+Additional examples
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+When writing new packages, it often helps to see examples of existing packages.
+Here is an incomplete list of existing Spack packages that have changed build
+systems before:
+
+================  =====================  ================
+Package           Previous Build System  New Build System
+================  =====================  ================
+amber             custom                 CMake
+arpack-ng         Autotools              CMake
+atk               Autotools              Meson
+blast             None                   Autotools
+dyninst           Autotools              CMake
+evtgen            Autotools              CMake
+fish              Autotools              CMake
+gdk-pixbuf        Autotools              Meson
+glib              Autotools              Meson
+glog              Autotools              CMake
+gmt               Autotools              CMake
+gtkplus           Autotools              Meson
+hpl               Makefile               Autotools
+interproscan      Perl                   Maven
+jasper            Autotools              CMake
+kahip             SCons                  CMake
+kokkos            Makefile               CMake
+kokkos-kernels    Makefile               CMake
+leveldb           Makefile               CMake
+libdrm            Autotools              Meson
+libjpeg-turbo     Autotools              CMake
+mesa              Autotools              Meson
+metis             None                   CMake
+mpifileutils      Autotools              CMake
+muparser          Autotools              CMake
+mxnet             Makefile               CMake
+nest              Autotools              CMake
+neuron            Autotools              CMake
+nsimd             CMake                  nsconfig
+opennurbs         Makefile               CMake
+optional-lite     None                   CMake
+plasma            Makefile               CMake
+preseq            Makefile               Autotools
+protobuf          Autotools              CMake
+py-pygobject      Autotools              Python
+singularity       Autotools              Makefile
+span-lite         None                   CMake
+ssht              Makefile               CMake
+string-view-lite  None                   CMake
+superlu           Makefile               CMake
+superlu-dist      Makefile               CMake
+uncrustify        Autotools              CMake
+================  =====================  ================
+
+Packages that support multiple build systems can be a bit confusing to write.
+Don't hesitate to open an issue or draft pull request and ask for advice from
+other Spack developers!