Re: cleaning up FT2

[David Turner]

Hello,

> 
> >
> > What are the assumed places for the installed package ? Will it be
> > (as I'd prefer) in include/freetype/ or include/freetype2/ ?
> 
> No idea yet.  I think that `include/freetype2' looks reasonable.
> There isn't an `install' target yet.  Whether the current form of the
> Makefiles can be retained is still uncertain -- I highly appreciate
> David's efforts to this sophisticated solution, but I would prefer
> automake and autoconfig for UNIX platforms.
>

Just to make things clear about the build system / Makefiles in FT2:

  - it's perfectly possible to use libtool, automake and autoconfig
    for Unix platforms, it's just that I didn't take the time to
    write the relevant stuff. You're invited to do so if you fell the
    need right now, but I'd rather wait until we have something
    ready for a release.

  - the build system is designed to simplify development of FreeType 2.
    This means experimenting with new or odd font drivers easily,
    changing build settings quickly, and allowing things like
    compilation to foreign directories..

    Automake/Autoconf is, in my opinion, more specialized towards
    host environment detection and program installation (something
    we don't really care for now..). We should start writing for
    them when we reach a real release. Now is simply too early..

> > Also, may I suggest that I eventually write a C++ front end for
> > freetype2?
> 
> Please do so!  But be warned that still a lot of things can and will
> change.
>
You can start with the files in "freetype2/include", because they're
nearly "cast in stone" now after some heavy testing with the exclusion
of "freetype2/include/ftraster.h" which was newly included but could
vary somehow in the near future..

Other than that, there probably be a few changes in the internal
driver interface when we complete the Type 1 driver, and add the
CFF/Type 2 driver.

> > On a different topic: you were discussing recently a mailing list
> > for cvs updates.  How are you generating the mails?  Do you parse
> > the repo locally?  I try to do the same with berlin's repository on
> > sourceforge, but have only remote access to it (via cvs itself) so
> > am asking myself how to do that.
> 
> An example of how to send mails if something has been committed to a
> repository is given in the CVS info pages -- search for the topic
> `loginfo'.
>
And for a bit more details on how this is performed :

  - the cvs server runs in a chrooted environment. The "loginfo"
    points to one script that updates a file in the chrooted "/tmp"
    directory. the cvs server is unable to mail something.

  - the machine runs a cron script every half-hour (as root) and
    looks for the commitlog file in the same place. When it is
    found, it is sent to the mailing list (and erased).

  Of course, there are safeguards in the case both scripts are accessing
  the file.. Voila.

Hope this helps.

- David