[mapserver-dev] RFC98 status update

[Howard Butler]

On Jul 9, 2013, at 11:47 AM, Jeff McKenna <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com> wrote:

> On 2013-07-09 1:38 PM, thomas bonfort wrote:
>> Jeff,
>> Please state your recommended plan of action should Harfbuzz not be
>> supported on Windows (it happens it does, but the question still
>> stands).
>> 
> 
> I guess in the case where we have a potential addition to the MapServer
> core that requires a library that is not supported on a popular
> platform, alternative libraries should be examined.

Then we could never progress in many cases. I think full cross-platform binaries would be a horrible barrier to innovation for a project that already carries a ton of legacy baggage around. 

That a capable software library that provides new features to MapServer is not available on Windows is not a barrier, it's a business opportunity.  Harfbuzz (and libcairo-svg) are not going to be hard requirements for MapServer, and if someone wants them bad enough, they could make them happen on Windows (and pay accordingly).

> I am not looking to cause trouble, I'm just trying to make sure we avoid
> this happening.

But you are looking to make sure that full-featured Windows builds are easy to construct and maintain. I get that, it's just that painful integration on one deployment platform should not hold up MapServer progressing. Windows users should be able to blissfully ignore these improvements (they've lived thus far without them) until someone is willing to step up to pay you to make them happen on that platform.

Howard