Since the midterm update on MankalaEngine, I've improved the library, particularly its building and testing processes. I've also prepared a repository for a graphical Mancala game and started learning Qt.
I’ve added ECM as a dependency and am now using some of its modules. While this introduces the downside of adding an extra dependency, ECM is fairly common across KDE apps, so it’s reasonable to assume that most users will already have it installed on their systems.
The project now uses the KDEInstallDirs6, KDECMakeSettings, and KDECompilerSettings ECM modules, making the default build settings consistent with the rest of KDE software.
I’ve also integrated ECMAddTests, which has greatly simplified the CMakeLists file related to testing.
The classes in the library have been refactored to use the PImpl idiom, as suggested by Albert. This improves ABI compatibility and aligns with KDE’s policies regarding binary compatibility issues with C++.
The testing framework used by the library has been switched from Google Test to Qt Test. Google Test adheres strictly to some Google policies that could potentially be troublesome in the future, such as quickly dropping support for older compilers. Additionally, Qt Test seems to integrate better with KDE’s CI. For instance, Google Test failed to compile on the Android pipeline, but migrating to Qt Test completely resolved this issue without requiring any workarounds.
To put MankalaEngine to use, I am developing a GUI, Mankala, which will offer a selection of games from the Mancala family. I’ve already started learning Qt, and developing this will be my primary focus during the remaining weeks of GSoC.
I plan to continue working on this project after GSoC concludes and eventually integrate both Mankala and MankalaEngine into KDE.