[GRASS-dev] WinGRASS-6.3.0RC5 Self Installer

[Marco Pasetti]

Glynn,

>In fact, I'm quite worried that the main consequence of an easy-to-use
installer could be a large number of useless bug reports which don't provide
any useful information and just end up distracting (and possibly
de-motivating) the developers who are working on the Windows version.

>Anyone who wants a robust version of GRASS for Windows should be using the
Cygwin version.

Thanks a lot for de-motivating ME on working this way!
Actually, I really could have spent all those hours and energies to do
something else, ...my thesis, for example.
If you think that my work is not only useless for WinGRASS, but even
counterproductive for it, I can stop it right now. It really would be a
great saving of wasted time!

Marco


-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: Glynn Clements [mailto:glynn at gclements.plus.com] 
Inviato: venerdì 14 marzo 2008 20.34
A: marco.pasetti at alice.it
Cc: Moritz Lennert; Michael Barton; grass-dev at lists.osgeo.org
Oggetto: Re: [GRASS-dev] WinGRASS-6.3.0RC5 Self Installer


marco.pasetti at alice.it wrote:

> >Again, I agree with Glynn: if there is a problem let's try to fix it 
> >and
> not circumvent it. Your great installer will help a lot in getting 
> people to install and test GRASS on windows, but if we already force 
> such "solutions" on them, they will not be able to correctly detect 
> the problem. Is there a way of just making the installer print a 
> warning, instead of breaking off the installation procedure.
>  
> I decided to force a "working installation" for the following
> reason: the aim of all this work is, obviously, to spread GRASS as 
> most as possible, because there are a lot of Windows users out 
> there... so, to convince them to use GRASS, we need to be sure that it 
> will definetely work on their machines, because Windows users are not 
> used to *test* software and report bugs... they just use it, and when 
> it doesn't work (for many reasons, also because they didn't followed 
> installation warnings, and they're used to) they just say:
> "I told you! opensource softwares are good only for listen music or 
> let kids chat with friends! if you need it for your job, you must buy 
> a commercial fully working release!"

You seem to be overlooking one major point: WinGRASS is currently at an
*alpha* stage. Anyone who isn't willing to tolerate some bugs and rough
edges is going to be unhappy with it.

Right now, we need more "testers" for Windows. We don't need more "users".

In fact, I'm quite worried that the main consequence of an easy-to-use
installer could be a large number of useless bug reports which don't provide
any useful information and just end up distracting (and possibly
de-motivating) the developers who are working on the Windows version.

Anyone who wants a robust version of GRASS for Windows should be using the
Cygwin version.

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