Re: Extremely poor quality of GNUStep applications

[Sebastian Reitenbach]

> On Apr 26, 2011, at 6:12 AM, Ivan Vučica wrote:

> > On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 05:47, Lucas Holt <luke@foolishgames.com> wrote:
> > 
> > Regarding distribution of source, why not standardize on one of the many 
Linux or BSD distribution systems.  It's not necessary to reinvent the wheel.  
Something like apt-get, rpm, or something more ports like might be a good fit.  
An Etoile based gui could then wrap around the standard underlying 
distribution system to hide it from the user.  Many linux projects already 
distribute source as packages.  
> > 
> > Ports sound nice. But I wonder, are ports... well, in lack of a better 
term, portable? :))
> > 
> > Can ports easily be used on Win32 and Debian?
> >  

> Two of the BSDs have portable package systems.  NetBSD's pkgsrc can run on  
many platforms.  I believe it works with most of the BSDs (excluding 
MidnightBSD), Linux, Solaris and there is some traction on the Mac. There are 
package management tools with that as well.  Mirports on MirBSD can run on 
MirBSD, MidnightBSD, Mac OS X and I think Debian.  MirBSD's ports bootstrap on 
their make and mksh though. Both of those projects are quite open to porting 
to new platforms.  I also wonder about something like Gentoo's portage.  

> FreeBSD and MidnightBSD ports are limited to our systems.  I'm not sure 
about OpenBSD ports. 

OpenBSD ports are also only for OpenBSD. 

Speaking for me as a user, I'd also prefer to take software from the official 
ports tree of my preferred OS, than from anywhere else. Speaking for me as a 
porter, I'd prefer to port an application from wherever, to the official ports 
tree of my preferred OS, because this is what most users use and trust anyway.
To make this kind of unified installer or source tree or ports collection or 
however you want to call it, will probably become very tedious, and hard to 
maintain. When someone upgrades one part, it ideally must be tested for 
fallout on all supported OS/Platform combinations, to make sure everything 
still works, or even provide packages. I don't think there is the manpower, 
and hardware available to do all this.
Since every porter who ports for his preferred OS knows this OS and the 
constraints best. Maybe a platform for porters, where they can communicate, 
and discuss problems specific to porting, when running into trouble with a 
given app. Maybe a wiki page on the gnustep wiki, which lists all OS where 
there exist ports, and then each OS has a specific subpage, where there is 
some information about the ports for that OS. I.e. which platforms are 
supported, which ports are there, a link to the ports tree, so that others can 
look for patches used. This would help porters to easily see, which 
applications are actually out there and ported to other OS, and what patches 
may be needed to get it to work and so on. When I port sth. new, and it just 
works, then this is fine, if it doesn't then I usually always have a hard time 
to find out how others have made it work, i.e. did they used patches, and if 
so, where to find those.
Maybe the wiki page combined with a mailing list, where each porter could ask 
others for help/experiences with a specific application. Maybe gnustep-dev or 
even another extra mailing list?

cheers,
Sebastian