[GRASS5] Future plans for GRASS code (was: How to get monitor background color?)

[Markus Neteler]

On Mon, Oct 29, 2001 at 10:46:08AM -0500, Carl Worth wrote:
> Glynn Clements writes:
>  > Certainly, Carl is right that functions which accept pointers to
>  > "output" arrays (ones into which results are written) should also
>  > accept a size argument. But then how to deal with overflows? 
> 
> [...]
> 
>  > Better to use G_store() and return a pointer; that way, the worst
>  > case is a memory leak.
> 
> I agree this is probably the right approach to take.
> 
>  > Also, I suspect that this is far from the only place in GRASS where
>  > this occurs. GRASS is littered with fixed-size buffers; in most cases,
>  > it's just assumed that the buffer will be large enough.
> 
> Yes, this does appear common. And fixing it means changing the API and
> changing *lots* of code, but it could prevent some errors that would
> be very difficult to track down. Another nice benefit would be that it
> could eliminate some arbitrary length limits that currently exist in
> GRASS. Limitations like this can be particularly annoying, (eg. I
> really wish that I could use much longer names for my locations).

in general I agree. The problem is that we don't want to break
5.0 again :-) Why not starting 5.1 now?
 
> As long as we're talking about incompatible changes to the code
> base... What other big changes are planned for the GRASS code? Here
> are some I would like to see, (I know that I have seen a few of these
> mentioned on the list before).
> 
> 	Elimination of arbitrary size limits
> 	Revamped build system
> 	Elimination of "single-session" nature of GRASS
> 	Better support for temporal data
> 	Better GUI, (particularly for a handheld with a small display,
> 		     a 1-button pointer and no keyboard)
> 	Others?
> 
> Are any of these changes in progress or at least planned out? Are
> there web pages outlining things like this?

Yes, a draft is here:
http://grass.itc.it/grass51/index.html
 -> Milestones.

In CVS:
documents/grass51milestones.html

Feel free to update that page, add more ideas etc.

> I'm currently "under-the-gun" to get a working system up using GRASS
> for a big demo at the end of November. After that is over, I should be
> in a position to devote a lot of time to GRASS development. I have a
> particular interest in the temporal support and the improved UI for
> handhelds, but I can imagine myself responding to an itch strong
> enough to start tackling the others -- unless someone beats me to it
> of course :-).
> 
> -Carl

Great!

Best regards

 Markus