Re: GNUstep Build Guide and other documents

[Dennis Leeuw]

Hi Richard,

First of all thanks for your input!

Richard Stonehouse wrote:
> 

<snip>

> Checking the version numbers of installed software, I couldn't get some
> of the more complex tests to work (the ones that do "strings `gcc
> --print-file-name=...").

What is the problem? Doesn't the Red Hat compiler return the right files
when doing gcc --print-file-name=...
Or are there problems in getting the version-numbers from the
libraries...?

> On an RPM-based system such as Red Hat, an alternative way of getting
> version numbers is (e.g.):
> 
>     $ rpm -qa --filesbypkg | grep libgmp.so
> 
> which yields
> 
>     gmp            /usr/lib/libgmp.so.3
>     gmp            /usr/lib/libgmp.so.3.3.0
> 
> and then do
> 
>     $ rpm -q gmp
> 
> yielding the result
> 
>     gmp-4.1-4

Yep, I know, but that I am trying to find a generic way of detecting a
library version that works on every system. Even the ones that have
installed libraries from source.



<snip>

> 
>  - the web-site pages tell a slightly different
>    story from the build guide; they ought to be
>    brought into line.

There are always various ways that lead to a solution.

> 
>  - it will be very hard to keep the build guide
>    up-to-date with changing versions of software;
>    suggest version numbers should be removed from
>    the build guide and reference made to a
>    summary table in the web pages.


What do you mean by this. One single chapter that sums every package and
its download source?

> 
>  - it got a bit confusing trying to correlate
>    information from different web pages; would
>    be better if all the version and download
>    information (pre-requisites, GNUstep core,
>    applications etc) were on a single page,
>    albeit a long one.

See above.

> 
>  - I also got a bit confused between stable and
>    unstable versions, which are listed in the
>    same column of the tables; might be better to
>    have two columns side by side, one for the
>    stable and one for the unstable versions.

I totaly agree and am still thinking about a good way to solve this. I
might have figured it out, but I need some time to implement it and see
if it makes things more clear. But it is a good and valid point.

> 
>  - I got lost looking for mirror sites and found
>    myself trawling through the GNU mirrors instead
>    of the GNUstep mirrors; there seems to be a
>    misleading reference somewhere.


I don't understand this one. I try to always supply the direct source,
never mentioning any mirrors...

> 
> Don't know if the above makes sense; if it would help, I could put
> together a mock-up of the sort of thing I have in mind and put it up on
> the web.

Might be an idea. Maybe it would help me in detecting where you want
more or better or clearer information.

> 
> Some small problems re. boot scripts:
> 
> 1. I wasn't quite sure what to do with the GNUstep.sh
>    script so I put it in /etc/profile.d, which seems
>    to work. Re-reading section 6 of the build guide,
>    maybe I should have written a script to call it and
>    put that into /etc/profile.d instead?


I will try to do that later when I dom the official release, I will
explain in more detail how to do this, and provide a good script. The
same goes for the xinitrc stuff.


<snip>

> 
> 2. After completing the build of GWorkspace, I could
>    run it from the terminal in which I'd done the build
>    but not from the Window Maker desktop menu. Solved
>    by logging out and in again (to get the GNUstep.sh
>    script executed). Maybe this is obvious to experts
>    but it baffled me for a bit! Worth adding to the
>    guide?

hmmm yeh, never crossed my mind that that might confuse someone. Thanks.
Will add some more details on this.

<snip>

> 
> Anyway, the build guide is a very handy document for users. If there's
> any way I can actually help (rather than just criticising!) please let
> me know.

This already helped me a lot. Thanks.

Dennis Leeuw

> 
> --
> 
>     Richard Stonehouse
> 
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