Allow Slic macros that are guarded by `AXOM_DEBUG` to be turned on another way

[white238]

Downstream users, like Serac, cannot use several Slic macros due to it being guarded by AXOM_DEBUG which is only on in certain build types. We could add another define that users could turn on this functionality specifically, something like AXOM_ENABLE_ALL_SLIC_MACROS.

Some thoughts:

-- Determine which macros are generally only for debug mode and which should be user-controllable:
CHECK, ASSERT, DEBUG are the most problematic
-- This should be focused more on users than just axom developers
-- Should we have a toggle for each case, default on and users could choose to disable
-- Has to happen to at user code build or run time; i.e., use functions rather than macros

[white238]

This came up again in Tribol and Smith. Can we add a define that would be something like AXOM_ENABLE_SLIC_DEBUG_MACROS. Then we could change the slic macro guard to be enabled on both AXOM_DEBUG and AXOM_ENABLE_SLIC_DEBUG_MACROS.

[white238]

We should also handle people building Axom in Debug but not wanting Axom's debug messages.

[rhornung67]

We should also handle people building Axom in Debug but not wanting Axom's debug messages.

"handle people" --> "accomodate people". We don't want anyone getting hurt.... 😆

[bmhan12]

This came up again in Tribol and Smith...

I see that there is this option AXOM_DEBUG_DEFINE that was added in #699.

ReadTheDocs description:
https://axom.readthedocs.io/en/develop/docs/sphinx/quickstart_guide/config_build.html#axom-build-options-compiler-support-and-parallelism

Does that work/not work?

[ebchin]

I can provide a little more context on the Tribol side.

For the case where Tribol is build debug and Axom is built release would expect Tribol-specific SLIC_DEBUG macros to output and Axom-specific SLIC_DEBUG macros to be silent. I would expect the inverse to be true as well (only Axom debug -> only Axom-specific SLIC_DEBUG macros).

For the current Axom SLIC macro behavior, this doesn't seem to be possible. In Tribol, the choices are:

• Define AXOM_DEBUG: All Tribol SLIC_DEBUG statements are emitted + enable anything in an Axom header file that is guarded by AXOM_DEBUG
• Don't define AXOM_DEBUG: If Axom is built debug (or the AXOM_DEBUG_DEFINE is set), acts as if AXOM_DEBUG is defined (so Tribol SLIC_DEBUGs are output). If not, all Tribol SLIC_DEBUGs are silent.
• Undefine AXOM_DEBUG: All Tribol SLIC_DEBUG statements are silent + anything in an Axom header guarded by AXOM_DEBUG is silent, even if Axom is built with debug.

It would be nice to have the option to turn on SLIC_DEBUG macros independent of how axom is built and without turning off other things that are triggered by AXOM_DEBUG. And, it'd be even nicer to have the option to turn it on specifically in Tribol vs. Axom.

Thanks!