Don't use GLIBCXX_ASSERTIONS in production

Closes #627 (closed)

I assumed that this flag GLIBCXX_ASSERTIONS has no effect when the build type is Release. However I did some timing measurements and observed an increase of ~6 percent when using. This is fine for development builds but not for production.

CMakeLists.txt

@@ -26,6 +26,13 @@ set (CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELWITHDEBINFO "-O3 -g ")
 set (CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "-O3")
 set (CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG  "-O0 -g")
 
+string(TOUPPER "${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}" uppercase_CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE)
+if (uppercase_CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE MATCHES "^(DEBUG|RELWITHDEBINFO)$")
+    option (BUILD_FOR_PRODUCTION "Disable all assertion checks; Only use for production" OFF)
+else()
+    option (BUILD_FOR_PRODUCTION "Disable all assertion checks; Only use for production" ON)
+endif()
+
 # Resolve all library dependencies
 set (CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/CMakeModules")
 
@@ -101,7 +108,9 @@ elseif (${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID} MATCHES "GNU")
 
     # Enables extra error checking in the form of precondition assertion, such
     # as bounds checking and null pointer checks when dereferencing smart pointers
-    add_compile_options(-Wp,-D_GLIBCXX_ASSERTIONS)
+    if (NOT ${BUILD_FOR_PRODUCTION})
+        add_compile_options(-Wp,-D_GLIBCXX_ASSERTIONS)
+    endif()
 else ()
     message (STATUS "Unknown C++ compiler. Please use the GNU or Intel compiler, if you are having problems.")
 endif ()

[gsell]

@kraus sorry, did not saw this MR.

Actually I would prefer to have this option in for all build types as long as the code has not been released. Hence in the master it should be in for all build types.

[kraus]

Ok, that's fine for me. However we then should extend the description of the procedure to release new versions such that you (or who ever prepares a new release) don't forget to remove this flag.

[gsell]

We can use the version number or another mechanism for this.

[kraus]

Could you make a more discreet proposition? E.g. always off when minor version is even?

[gsell]

I see these two options:

1. minor version is even
2. a variable set in the header of the main CMakeLists.txt. This has the advantage of being more independent from the version numbers - just in case we want to change the numbering scheme.

[kraus]

Ok, I've opted for the second proposition.