BUILD: Change default buildtype from debug to release

[michal-shalev]

What?

Changes the default build type from debug to release.

Why?

Users should get optimized, production-ready builds by default without needing to specify build flags. Debug builds remain available with --buildtype=debug.

How?

Updated meson.build default_options and documentation (README.md, gpunetio plugin README) to reflect release as the new default.

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[michal-shalev]

@aranadive @karya0, what was the original reason for NIXL's default build type being debug?

[ovidiusm]

I would put also the explicit command here

[michal-shalev]

fixed

[brminich]

maybe this CI issue is related, because we build release now
./.gitlab/test_cpp.sh: line 62: ./bin/desc_example: No such file or directory

[tvegas1]

maybe keep the explicit recommendation for performance

[michal-shalev]

fixed

[tvegas1]

probably need to explicitly set debug for CI builds now.

[rakhmets]

maybe this CI issue is related, because we build release now ./.gitlab/test_cpp.sh: line 62: ./bin/desc_example: No such file or directory

There is the following code in meson.build:

if get_option('buildtype') != 'release'
  subdir('test')
  subdir('examples')
endif

I'm not sure that this is the correct approach. I think it would be better to have separate options to build tests and examples. It makes sense to build examples in release mode.

[ovidiusm]

CI should cover at least release mode, otherwise we will miss issues. Maybe there would be side effects for debugging, but we do not support core dump collection right now anyway.

So I think we should add tests and examples compilation in release builds.

But with care not to package them into wheels/crates.

[ovidiusm]

A drawback is that asserts would be compiled out in release mode, so they will not trigger in CI if we build in release mode.

[ovidiusm]

Please see related #872

[michal-shalev]

/build