[GRASSLIST:6411] Re: problems while porting from grass54 to grass60

[Hamish]

> We have been using grass v5.4 for quiet some time. We have some maps
> connected to mysql database using ODBC and also some shell scripts
> which connect to database and also generate some queries using
> commands like d.what.vect
>    Now I am trying to port these scripts along with maps and database
> into grass-6.0.0
> 
>  We are facing following problems:
..
>    - using data directory of grass54 in grass60 DOESN'T work. No map
>    from grass54 is accessible in grass60

as Trevor noted, use v.convert or v.convert.all. The vector system in
6.0 is all new and everything has changed (vastly improved). Do not
expect and sites or vector commands from 5.4 to work the same way in
GRASS 6. Most raster and GIS modules should be mostly the same though.


>  - many of the commands in grass54 (eg. d.vect.area, d.what.v.pg etc.)
> are not available in grass60. Please note that I have compiled grass60
> with ALL dependencies satisfied.

As above; the functionality remains, but names have changed.
see http://grass.gdf-hannover.de/twiki/bin/view/GRASS/ModulePortingList

e.g. d.vect.area -> "d.vect type=area"


>  - syntax of some commands have changed (e.g. d.vect, d.what.vect
>  etc.)

Yes.

> - when I tried to use db.login and db.connect to connect to
>  Mysql database using odbc as driver, db.connect fails saying that it
>  cannot connect to use ''@'localhost' which means it is unable to
>  access use and password information written by db.login in
>  ~/.grasslogin6

Sorry, I don't know databases, someone else will have to answer.
Expect db support to be much more advanced in 6.0.

 
>  Because of these problems, our efforts of using GRASS GIS as an
> alternative to expensive GIS softwares particularly in government
> offices have slowed down a bit.

Once you have worked through these problems, I think the result will be
a much better product for you.


>  We are also actively working on localizing GRASS in Indian Languages
> which requires complex text layout handling. As GRASS doesn't support
> OpenType font rendering as of now (please correct me if I am wrong),
> we are trying to work with doublebyte truetype font which doesn't need
> a special rendering engine. here also we are facing problems as we
> couldnot set menu font to our own truetype font.

Translations and multi-byte font support are also vastly improved for
GRASS 6, see:

  http://grass.ibiblio.org/devel/i18n.php
  http://www.foss4g.org

Use d.font.freetype to set the font to use in the display, then go!

OpenType support depends on the version of FreeType you are using I
think. Try fonts from a few different sources (e.g. Adobe, ghostscript,
MicroSoft, etc.), there should be a bunch on your computer already.



Hamish