Hi,
I'm replying in 2 parts, because there were 2 different issues in
this mail.
Sven Neumann wrote:
> David Neary <dneary@xxxxxxx> writes:
> > In
> > principle, someone who has the dependencies for a 2.0 build should
> > have everything they need to keep up with GIMP CVS through the 2.2
> > release.
>
> We will have to depend on GTK+-2.4 pretty early if we want to make use
> of the new functionality it provides. Since there's a lot of very
> useful stuff in the 2.4 API, we should make the switch to GTK+-2.4
> soon after the 2.0 release.
What functionality is in 2.4 that we could use? I don't mean to
be a killjoy - we should definitely be able to build with 2.4.x, but
IMHO, we shouldn't bump the version requirement unless there's a
very good reason to do so.
When we asked ourselves around the conference what hurt us the most
after 1.2 was released, it was the fact that the build environment
got complicated, and took a considerable amount of time to set up,
and also the GIMP was broken for longish periods.
It all depends on what the goal of 2.2.x is. I think it should be
a stabilising release, one in which we add small amounts of
functionality, get it working rock solidly, and perhaps start
making changes in app/base to integrate some of gegl. We might
even consider shipping gegl with the GIMP during 2.1.x to get
more people building & using it (I would reccommend shipping it
with the GIMP sources, rather than depending on it, if we decided
to do this).
These are all smallish changes which shouldn't really impact
people's build environments, It means that people who just want to
build from CVS would be able to do so easily, and without having
to spend time updating other stuff while doing so.
We really have to ask ourselves whether the functional additions
to GTK+ 2.4 are really worth the cost we would incur in human
terms in depending on the newer version. I'd like to see us stick
to 2.2 unless there's something indispensable that we need in
2.4, and even then I'd like to see a case made for it before the
change on the devel list, rather than have the change happen
silently after some discussion on IRC. We're anticipating a
certain amount of breakage after 2.2 anyway with the integration
of gegl and its development, so at that point it would be more
reasonable to start upping the required GTK+ version (perhaps
even to 2.6.0 when we get there).
In short, I see the 2.2 series as a community building release
cycle, and our best chance to get people into the project after
several years in limbo. If we start depending on software that
isn't commonly available yet, we risk to waste some of that
opportunity.
Cheers,
Dave.
--
David Neary,
Lyon, France
E-Mail: bolsh@xxxxxxxx
