[winGRASS] Re: [GRASS-user] Re: Xganim errors in WinGRASS

[Glynn Clements]

Moritz Lennert wrote:

> > (general call for packagers)
> > It would sure be nice if someone produced a GRASS 6.2.1 Cygwin binary.
> > Currently the most up-to-date binary available for the Cygwin version
> > is 6.1-cvs April 17, 2006. i.e. there is still no stable GRASS 6.2
> > available for Windows users -- what's the problem? shared libs?
> 
> I think this is mainly due to the fact that we are not very far from a 
> real native windows version. I think dev efforts should rather be put 
> into that.

Actually, I'd say that we're still quite a long way from having a
*usable* native Windows version.

Most of the people who have contributed to the native version don't
normally use Windows[1]. Thus, they aren't likely to be as motivated
to solve issues as would someone who actually has a *need* for a
native Windows version.

[1] At least, not for GRASS; I use it for playing games, watching
videos, and running an X server so that I can do "work" on my Linux
box without needing a second monitor/keyboard.

A *usable* native Windows version is going to require one or more
people who are willing to:

1. use the native version on a day-to-day basis, in spite of its
current "alpha" quality, and
2. take responsibility for getting any issues resolved.

Point #2 doesn't necessarily mean that they need to fix any and all
bugs themselves, but they will need to provide meaningful bug reports,
apply and test any proposed fixes, etc.

Oh, we also need either a version of v.digit which doesn't require an
interactive monitor (XDRIVER), or a port of the driver code (and the
corresponding part of libraster) to Windows. Regarding the latter,
it's the startup code from lib/driver/main.c which is the main issue;
the X-specific stuff is already adequately handled by libW11.

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