[Qgis-psc] QGIS for Mac OS packaging and infrastructure

Paolo Cavallini cavallini at faunalia.it
Tue Dec 11 05:04:34 PST 2018


Hi Saber,

yes, this is also my understanding.

All the best.


On 12/11/18 8:42 AM, Saber Razmjooei wrote:
> Dear PSC,
>
> From the meeting notes [1], it seems the motion for the PSC to absorb
> the cost (Point 2 in my email) has been accepted.
>
> Could you clarify:
> 1- The PSC is not funding the initial work (Point 1). If so, we'd like
> to run a crowd-funding campaign. Any promotion from QGIS.org is highly
> appreciated.
> 2- From 3.6 release, the packages generated from the above packaging
> process will be used under the official download page. This is for our
> resourcing and crowd-funding purposes, so that we can have everything
> in place before 3.6 release.
>
> Kind regards,
> Saber
>
> [1] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TeVmd8W-vJ0NxKmrFybcAV4Sxci50WbNGyZhM5F4bZc/edit
>
> On Mon, 3 Dec 2018 at 16:09, Matthias Kuhn <matthias at opengis.ch
> <mailto:matthias at opengis.ch>> wrote:
>
>     Hi
>
>     I once discussed some ideas with Larry to assess the library
>     version problem with homebrew and packaging.
>
>     The simpler idea was to create a system snapshot with a known set
>     of libraries (or just zip them up?). I am not completely sure
>     travis allows for launching virtual/container macos instances
>     inside. This would even make sense for reproducibility on a
>     dedicated server. Homebrew is terrible in restoring historic
>     stages in case the build server breaks down.
>
>     The other idea was to come up with an alternative repository for
>     homebrew that has releases but this will require to build up a
>     community to maintain this homebrew distribution, but I am quite
>     sure we are not alone in this situation.
>
>     Concerning the certificate, this can be encrypted and stored on
>     travis. We use this functionality extensively for login
>     credentials and certificates on a lot of our repositories.
>
>     Kind regards
>
>     Matthias
>
>     On 12/3/18 2:52 PM, Peter Petrik wrote:
>>     Hi, 
>>
>>     regarding the travis, one concern is that we did not want to have
>>     our apple's certificate publicly accessible Also, with dedicated
>>     server we have some stability in used libraries (versions). For
>>     example when homebrew is used, I think it is not possible to
>>     install specific library version (let say gdal x.y.z). On travis,
>>     you would end up in installation of the latest version in every
>>     build. On dedicated server, you install dependencies once, you
>>     build hundreds of nightly builds with one set of dependencies and
>>     then create package for LTR/PR with the same set.... 
>>
>>     Kind regards,
>>     Peter
>>
>>
>>     On Mon, Dec 3, 2018 at 1:52 PM Tim Sutton <tim at kartoza.com
>>     <mailto:tim at kartoza.com>> wrote:
>>
>>         His Saber
>>
>>>         On 03 Dec 2018, at 14:37, Saber Razmjooei
>>>         <saber.razmjooei at lutraconsulting.co.uk
>>>         <mailto:saber.razmjooei at lutraconsulting.co.uk>> wrote:
>>>
>>>         Dear PSC,
>>>
>>>         It the past couple of months we have put together a very
>>>         basic infrastructure to automatically generate Mac OS
>>>         packages as a proof of concept and also as a part of a
>>>         contract with a client.
>>>
>>>         The packaging now works as expected and we will support it
>>>         for another year. We are aware of the users’ complaints and
>>>         feedback in regards to Mac OS packages in the past, despite
>>>         the hard efforts of the QGIS community. Specifically,
>>>         William who has been undertaking this difficult task. We are
>>>         also aware of other companies who offer QGIS Mac packages
>>>         (download links are available after registration).
>>>
>>>         In addition to the lack of any documentation on the
>>>         packaging process, the packages are not signed by QGIS (or
>>>         OSGeo), which is not very welcome in large organisations.
>>>         There have been several emails in the past about this topic
>>>         but has lead to nowhere.
>>>
>>>         Another shortcoming of the current packaging is the lack of
>>>         master (nightly) builds for Mac users. This has been causing
>>>         a lot of negative reactions from the users after each
>>>         release (as they are not able to test the features before
>>>         the release).
>>>
>>>         We would like to hand-over our QGIS Mac OS packaging to
>>>         QGIS.org <http://QGIS.org>. This will come with a bit of
>>>         caveats:
>>>         1- The current scripts are not perfect but it is open source
>>>         and publicly available. We will need to polish it. There
>>>         will be some additional work to remove a blocker to support
>>>         older Mac OSes. It is likely to be between 5k-8k euro.
>>>
>>>         2- The server cost (~600 USD/year/server) and Apple
>>>         Developers certificate cost (99 USD/year) will be probably
>>>         more significant compared to other OSes. We can start with
>>>         one server and have the second one if needed. I am sure
>>>         there are organisations and users who will be interested in
>>>         funding/sponsoring QGIS with more positive experience for
>>>         their platform.
>>>
>>>         3- We are happy to help and support the Mac OS packaging for
>>>         the next couple of years for a smooth integration with the
>>>         rest of QGIS packages. This will include obtaining QGIS (or
>>>         OSGeo) Apple developer certificate. Our current packages are
>>>         signed with Lutra certificate. But the process is easy and
>>>         documented in our packaging process.
>>>
>>>         4- QGIS 2.18 is not supported.
>>>
>>>         5- QGIS nightly is also available as a part of our
>>>         packaging, which allows users to better test QGIS master
>>>         before the release.
>>>
>>
>>         It is really great what you have done - yay! WRT the
>>         certificates, I think OSGEO already has a certificate, the
>>         hard thing II guess is to track it down and get them to share
>>         it with you so you can sign with it.
>>
>>         I wonder gif the packages can be built on travis which seems
>>         to offer a macOS build environment too:
>>
>>         https://docs.travis-ci.com/user/reference/osx/
>>
>>         I’m expecting negative comments here saying we should not
>>         spend QGIS money on licenses and servers for macOS but
>>         hopefully folks can step back a bit and see that this is a
>>         minimal investment to make a really first class experience
>>         for macOS users. I think we should also be able to obtain the
>>         running costs for macOS through targeted donations - watching
>>         the donations notifications, it seems that quite a few
>>         already earmarked funds towards macOS….
>>
>>         Regards
>>
>>         Tim
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>         Looking forward to hearing your feedback.
>>>
>>>         Regards
>>>         Saber
>>>
>>>
>>>         -- 
>>>         Saber Razmjooei
>>>         www.lutraconsulting.co.uk <http://www.lutraconsulting.co.uk/>
>>>
>>>         _______________________________________________
>>>         Qgis-psc mailing list
>>>         Qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org>
>>>         https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-psc
>>
>>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>         *Tim Sutton*
>>
>>         *Co-founder:* Kartoza
>>         *Ex Project chair:* QGIS.org <http://QGIS.org>
>>
>>         Visit http://kartoza.com <http://kartoza.com/> to find out
>>         about open source:
>>
>>         Desktop GIS programming services
>>         Geospatial web development
>>         GIS Training
>>         Consulting Services
>>
>>         *Skype*: timlinux 
>>         *IRC:* timlinux on #qgis at freenode.net <http://freenode.net>
>>
>>         _______________________________________________
>>         Qgis-psc mailing list
>>         Qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org>
>>         https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-psc
>>
>>
>>     _______________________________________________
>>     Qgis-psc mailing list
>>     Qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org>
>>     https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-psc
>     -- 
>     Matthias Kuhn
>     matthias at opengis.ch <mailto:matthias at opengis.ch>
>     +41 (0)76 435 67 63 <tel:+41764356763>
>     OPENGIS.ch Logo <http://www.opengis.ch>
>     _______________________________________________
>     Qgis-psc mailing list
>     Qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org>
>     https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-psc
>
>
>
> -- 
> Saber Razmjooei
> www.lutraconsulting.co.uk <http://www.lutraconsulting.co.uk>
> +44 (0)7568 129733
>
> _______________________________________________
> Qgis-psc mailing list
> Qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org
> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-psc

-- 
Paolo Cavallini - www.faunalia.eu
QGIS.ORG Chair:
http://planet.qgis.org/planet/user/28/tag/qgis%20board/

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/qgis-psc/attachments/20181211/ee1cea05/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 6671 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/qgis-psc/attachments/20181211/ee1cea05/attachment.png>


More information about the Qgis-psc mailing list