[GRASS-dev] lib fn to convert int color number to RGB values? [+ GRASS 7 plans]

[Glynn Clements]

Hamish wrote:

> > All of this should really be harmonised;
> 
> Yes please.
> 
> > I'm just wondering whether it's too late to do it for 6.4.
> 
> For 6.x I would suggest it is wasted effort to do so, and against the
> goal of pre-release stabilization.
> 
> 
> <2 cents>
> My hope is that we release 6.3.0 soon so we can focus on new business. 

Duh; I forgot that it's 6.3.0 that's imminent, not 6.4. There isn't
any fundamental reason why it can't be done within 6.x, as it's not
externally visible.

> ie soon after that is away cut a new releasebranch_6_4 and declare
> svn-trunk to be for GRASS 7 --- why wait?  AFAIK no one has plans for a
> 6.6 release, and if one day they do, that can be hewn from
> releasebranch_6_4.
> 
> I think it is a big mistake to try and do two development branches at
> the same time then try and merge changes between them.

We can't easily merge changes, but 7.x could be essentially unusable
for a long period. We may not be able to leave users with 6.3.x for
all of that time.

[I see the process as something akin to renovating a house, at the
level of stripping it down to bare brickwork: no wiring, no plumbing,
no windows. You aren't going to be able to live in it while it's in
that state.]

> wxGUI is the anomaly, but luckily it is a somewhat independent beast. I
> would suggest continuing to work on it in releasebranch_6_4 until such
> time as we tag 6.4.0pre1 and move into bugfix-only mode. At that point
> we would port the GUI to GRASS 7 and move all new GUI development
> there.
> This presupposes that in the early days of GRASS 7 (the radical change
> period) we only need a disposable barebones GUI.

We don't necessarily even need a GUI. For testing, an image viewer
that automatically updates whenever map.png changes would suffice.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>