Fix maintainer documentation to reflect the new build system. (#17441)

1 files changed, 24 insertions, 136 deletions

diff --git a/packaging/installer/methods/source.md b/packaging/installer/methods/source.md
index b70e39850d..dc302c9f86 100644
--- a/packaging/installer/methods/source.md
+++ b/packaging/installer/methods/source.md
@@ -23,11 +23,15 @@ to build and run successfully:
 -   libuuid
 -   libuv version 1.0 or newer
 -   zlib
--   GNU autoconf
--   GNU automake
+-   CMake 3.13 or newer
 -   GCC or Xcode (Clang is known to have issues in certain configurations, see [Using Clang](#using-clang))
--   A version of `make` compatible with GNU automake
--   Git (we use git in the build system to generate version info, don't need a full install, just a working `git show` command)
+-   Ninja or Make (Ninja is preferred as it results in significantly faster builds)
+-   Git (we use git in the build system to generate version info, you don't need a full install, just a working `git show` command)
+
+The following additional dependencies are also needed, but will be prepared automatically by CMake if they are not available on the build system.
+
+-   libyaml
+-   JSON-C
 
 Additionally, the following build time features require additional dependencies:
 
@@ -38,66 +42,36 @@ Additionally, the following build time features require additional dependencies:
     -   OpenSSL 1.0 or newer (LibreSSL _amy_ work, but is largely untested).
 -   Netdata Cloud support:
     -   A working internet connection
-    -   A recent version of CMake
     -   OpenSSL 1.0.2 or newer _or_ LibreSSL 3.0.0 or newer.
-    -   JSON-C (may be provided by the user as shown below, or by the system)
-    -   protobuf (Google Protocol Buffers) and protoc compiler
+    -   protobuf (Google Protocol Buffers) and protoc compiler. If protobuf is not available on the system,
+        CMake can be instructed to fetch and build a usable version for Netdata.
+-   Netdata Go collectors:
+    -   Go 1.21 or newer
 
 ## Preparing the source tree
 
-Certain features in Netdata require custom versions of specific libraries,
-which the build system will link statically into Netdata. These
-libraries and their header files must be copied into specific locations
-in the source tree to be used.
-
-Before you begin, make sure that your repo and the repo's submodules are clean from any previous builds and up to date.
-Otherwise, [perform a cleanup](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/packaging/installer/methods/manual.md#perform-a-cleanup-in-your-netdata-repo)
+Netdata uses Git submodules for some of it’s components, which must be fetched prior to building Netdata. If you
+are using a source tarball published by the Netdata project, then these are included. If you are using a checkout
+of the Git repository, you may need to explicitly fetch and update the submodules using `git submodule update
+--init --recursive`.
 
 ### Netdata cloud
 
-#### JSON-C
-
-Netdata requires the use of JSON-C for JSON parsing when using Netdata
-Cloud. Netdata is able to use a system-provided copy of JSON-C, but
-some systems may not provide it. If your system does not provide JSON-C,
-you can do the following to prepare a copy for the build system:
-
-1.  Verify the tag that Netdata expects to be used by checking the contents
-    of `packaging/jsonc.version` in your Netdata sources.
-2.  Obtain the sources for that version by either:
-    -   Navigating to https://github.com/json-c/json-c and downloading
-        and unpacking the source code archive for that release.
-    -   Cloning the repository with `git` and checking out the required tag.
-3.  Prepare the JSON-C sources by running `cmake -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF .`
-    in the JSON-C source directory.
-4.  Build JSON-C by running `make` in the JSON-C source directory.
-5.  In the Netdata source directory, create a directory called
-    `externaldeps/jsonc`.
-6.  Copy `libjson-c.a` from the JSON-C source directory to
-    `externaldeps/jsonc/libjson-c.a` in the Netdata source tree.
-7.  Copy all of the header files (`*.h`) from the JSON-C source directory
-    to `externaldeps/jsonc/json-c` in the Netdata source tree.
-
 ## Building Netdata
 
 Once the source tree has been prepared, Netdata is ready to be configured
-and built. Netdata currently uses GNU autotools as it's primary build
-system. To build Netdata this way:
+and built. Netdata uses CMake for configuration, and strongly prefers
+the use of an external build directory. To configure and build Netdata:
 
-1.  Run `autoreconf -ivf` in the Netdata source tree.
-2.  Run `./configure` in the Netdata source tree.
-3.  Run `make` in the Netdata source tree.
+1. Run `cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja` in the source tree. `build` can be replaced with whatever path you want for the build directory. If you wish to use Make instead of Ninja for the build, remove the `-G Ninja` from the command.
+2. Run `cmake --build build`, where `build` is the build directory. CMake’s `--parallel` option can be used to control the number of build jobs that are used.
+3. Run `cmake --install build`, where `build` is the build directory.
 
 ### Configure options
 
-Netdata provides a number of build time configure options. This section
-lists some of the ones you are most likely to need:
-
--   `--prefix`: Specify the prefix under which Netdata will be installed.
--   `--with-webdir`: Specify a path relative to the prefix in which to
-    install the web UI files.
--   `--disable-cloud`: Disables all Netdata Cloud functionality for
-    this build.
+Netdata’s CMake build infrastructure intentionally does very little auto-detection, and requires most components
+to be explicitly enabled or disabled. A full list of available configuration options for a given version of Netdata,
+with help descriptions, can be seen by running `cmake -LH` in the source tree.
 
 ### Using Clang
 
@@ -123,92 +97,6 @@ A full featured install of Netdata requires some additional components
 which must be built and installed separately from the main Netdata
 agent. All of these should be handled _after_ installing Netdata itself.
 
-### React dashboard
-
-The above build steps include a deprecated web UI for Netdata that lacks
-support for Netdata Cloud. To get a fully featured dashboard, you must
-install our new React dashboard.
-
-#### Installing the pre-built React dashboard
-
-We provide pre-built archives of the React dashboard for each release
-(these are also used during our normal install process). To use one
-of these:
-
-1.  Verify the release version that Netdata expects to be used by checking
-    the contents of `packaging/dashboard.version` in your Netdata sources.
-2.  Go to https://github.com/netdata/dashboard/releases and download the
-    `dashboard.tar.gz` file for the required release.
-3.  Unpack the downloaded archive to a temporary directory.
-4.  Copy the contents of the `build` directory from the extracted
-    archive to `/usr/share/netdata/web` or the equivalent location for
-    your build of Netdata. This _will_ overwrite some files in the target
-    location.
-
-#### Building the React dashboard locally
-
-Alternatively, you may wish to build the React dashboard locally. Doing
-so requires a recent version of Node.JS with a working install of
-NPM. Once you have the required tools, do the following:
-
-1.  Verify the release version that Netdata expects to be used by checking
-    the contents of `packaging/dashboard.version` in your Netdata sources.
-2.  Obtain the sources for that version by either:
-    -   Navigating to https://github.com/netdata/dashboard and downloading
-        and unpacking the source code archive for that release.
-    -   Cloning the repository with `git` and checking out the required tag.
-3.  Run `npm install` in the dashboard source tree.
-4.  Run `npm run build` in the dashboard source tree.
-5.  Copy the contents of the `build` directory just like step 4 of
-    installing the pre-built React dashboard.
-
-### Go collectors
-
-A number of the collectors for Netdata are written in Go instead of C,
-and are developed in a separate repository from the mian Netdata code.
-An installation without these collectors is still usable, but will be
-unable to collect metrics for a number of network services the system
-may be providing. You can either install a pre-built copy of these
-collectors, or build them locally.
-
-#### Installing the pre-built Go collectors
-
-We provide pre-built binaries of the Go collectors for all the platforms
-we officially support. To use one of these:
-
-1.  Verify the release version that Netdata expects to be used by checking
-    the contents of `packaging/go.d.version` in your Netdata sources.
-2.  Go to https://github.com/netdata/go.d.plugin/releases, select the
-    required release, and download the `go.d.plugin-*.tar.gz` file
-    for your system type and CPu architecture and the `config.tar.gz`
-    configuration file archive.
-3.  Extract the `go.d.plugin-*.tar.gz` archive into a temporary
-    location, and then copy the single file in the archive to
-    `/usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d` or the equivalent location for your
-    build of Netdata and rename it to `go.d.plugin`.
-4.  Extract the `config.tar.gz` archive to a temporarylocation and then
-    copy the contents of the archive to `/etc/netdata` or the equivalent
-    location for your build of Netdata.
-
-#### Building the Go collectors locally
-
-Alternatively, you may wish to build the Go collectors locally
-yourself. Doing so requires a working installation of Golang 1.13 or
-newer. Once you have the required tools, do the following:
-
-1.  Verify the release version that Netdata expects to be used by checking
-    the contents of `packaging/go.d.version` in your Netdata sources.
-2.  Obtain the sources for that version by either:
-    -   Navigating to https://github.com/netdata/go.d.plugin and downloading
-        and unpacking the source code archive for that release.
-    -   Cloning the repository with `git` and checking out the required tag.
-3.  Run `make` in the go.d.plugin source tree.
-4.  Copy `bin/godplugin` to `/usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d` or th
-    equivalent location for your build of Netdata and rename it to
-    `go.d.plugin`.
-5.  Copy the contents of the `config` directory to `/etc/netdata` or the
-    equivalent location for your build of Netdata.
-
 ### eBPF collector
 
 On Linux systems, Netdata has support for using the kernel's eBPF