[GRASS5] Re: KerGIS

[Markus Neteler]

On Tue, Jan 27, 2004 at 10:59:12PM +1300, Hamish wrote:
> > > : Jeff
> >   : Markus
> ------------
>
[...] 
> As I don't really work on the vector modules, any
> improvements to the display or raster modules automatically get fed into
> 5.7 so I don't feel at all guilty about 'neglecting' it.

This is actually not completely true. 

E.g. (recent changes)

2004-01-24 02:53  <hidden>

        * XDRIVER/XDRIVER24/Graph_Set.c: Erase window at startup (prevents
        "transparent" window when starting without  selecting).

... I had to merge. It's not clear to me why 5.7 is really *ignored*
by some developers. If 5.7 files (there are some due to necessary
changes) are not sync'ed, it will become more and more difficult to
maintain it. Why should we trace down bugs again if they are already
solved? A waste of time. Syncing these (few) files in 5.7 cannot be
so difficult. A bit frustrating at least for me.

[...]
> > > And none of them seem to include the capabilites I need. 
> 
> They never will unless people (repetitively) explain what is missing &
> what they need.

Agreed. 

[...]
> > > There's just too many switches and options for a simple (for
> > > example)
> > > 
> > > ./configure
> > > make --with-mysql
> > > make install
> 
> Most of the "switches" (that I have to use, anyway) are really paths
> pointing to where libraries/includes are. It'll never compile on say BSD
> or even on both the two most popular Linux distributions without such
> hints.

Hint: Here are configure scripts:

5.0:
http://grass.itc.it/grass5/source/conf_scripts/
 cygwin_generic/         09-May-2003 17:28      -  
 cygwin_xserver/         09-May-2003 17:28      -  
 linux/                  09-May-2003 17:30      -  

5.7:
http://grass.itc.it/grass51/source/conf_scripts/
 cygwin_xserver/         08-Jan-2004 15:15      -  
 freebsd/                12-Jan-2004 14:25      -  
 linux/                  08-Jan-2004 15:12      -  
 macosx/                 08-Jan-2004 15:13      - 

5.7 also includes a ./debian/ directory. Instructions here:
http://mpa.itc.it/markus/grass57/debian/grass57deb/


> > > I've not seen a project with so much connection between code
> > > streams. Why?
> > 
> > Because there aren't enough people to sort out this problem. 
> > If it helped, we could merge the code into 5.7. But then I expect
> > a major desaster:  5.3 will receive changes and some developers
> > regularly ignore to update the relevant files in 5.7 as well.
> > I try to hunt for those files, but it's not that easy.
> 
> Yes, it would be a huge pain to have to check in everything twice into
> divergent code bases. The problem goes away as soon as 5.3 moves into
> bug-fix-only mode though. It would be nice if we had a countdown to
> 5.3.0 todo-list on a webpage somewhere.

Such TODO list have been regularly ignored in the past.

[...] 
> If there are specific things you need fixed ASAP to make you more
> productive so as to make your company more money, *especially* with
> respect to PROJ.4 or GDAL, there are a number of people reading this
> list who code for cash, probably for cheaper than an ESRI module, and it
> might help break the log jam for others as well, which means more
> support, which means more users, .. more support, etc.

Agreed.

[...]

Markus