[digiKam-users] The future of 6.0.0 bundles and C++11 support...

[Andrew Goodbody]

Hi Gilles,

FWIW my view is that if CentOS 6.9 does not support building 32-bit 
version of digikam then maybe consider moving to a newer release.

Also I do not see the justification to drop 32-bit Windows just because 
of problems building for Linux. Wanting homogeneity is not a good reason 
IMO, or at least not sufficient.

I build my own 64-bit binaries so will not be affected if you do drop 
32-bit support, it just seems a shame to drop support.

Andrew

On 31/03/18 10:25, Gilles Caulier wrote:
> Hi all and happy Easter...
> 
> Since 5.9.0 release, there is not yet an update of 6.0.0 pre-release 
> bundles build periodically (on my computer).
> 
> There is no technical problem with it for the moment, but later, i'm 
> sure there we comes...
> 
> That the state of bundles compilation :
> 
> -1/ AppImage 64 bits : virtualbox + Centos 6.9
> -2/ AppImage 32 bits : virtualbox + Centos 6.9
> -3/ Apple PKG installer : virtualbox + MacOS Yosemite
> -4/ Windows installer 64 bits : Linux Mageia6 + MXE cross-compiler.
> -5/ Windows installer 32 bits : Linux Mageia6 + MXE cross-compiler.
> 
> 1/, 4/, 5/ are not a problem. The GCC compiler is enough recent.
> 
> For 2/, it typically not solvable as CentOs 6 32 bits is frozen to GCC 
> 4.7.x.
> 
> For 3/, an update to a more recent MacOS / Xcode is required. I will 
> certainly drop the virtualbox and use my MacBook pro instead. But i will 
> lost a big door to the facility to compile the installer without to use 
> an Apple device. If i want to install a more recent MacOS version as 
> stand alone, i need to look again and again in dark web to found a good 
> solution working with virtualbox.
> 
> Now the question about C++11 support : why it's problematic...
> 
> 1/ more and more code based on C++11 come inside DK. it's not very 
> important as the base code do not use to much recent C++ syntax, but 
> step by step the code will be rewritten in this way. This is not a 
> problem for the moment, as all compile fine everywhere, but this will 
> change in the future i'm sure.
> 
> 2/ KDE::KF5 framework : The last release of KF5 libraries will switch 
> progressively to C++11 and lost compatibility with older compilers. 
> Currently, all bundles are branched to an old KF5 release, and for 
> 6.0.0, i would to update these libraries of course.
> 
> 3/ Qt5 framework : with 5.10 and later 5.11, it's clear that older 
> compilers support will be dropped. For ex, MacOS Yosemite is not 
> supported since Qt 5.9.0 release. So Qt 5.8.0 is currently used to 
> compile PKG installer...
> 
> 4/ Exiv2 : the developers want to switch implementation to C++11 for 
> next 0.27, as i can read in Github forum. So the time is counted here too...
> 
> So, we can conclude like this for 6.0.0 plan :
> 
> 1/ drop 32 bits support with Linux AppImage.
> 2/ if we need to be homogeneous, we must drop 32 bits support with 
> Windows installer.
> 3/ concentrate the work in 6.0.0 to update 64 bits AppImage, PKG, and 
> Windows bundles with last code everywhere, including C++11 support.
> 4/ This want mean : no more 32 bundles with incoming 6.0.0 releases.
> 
> I hope to be clear here, and not to introduce complex technical points. 
> I would to read users feedback for the lack of support of 32 bits bundles.
> 
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> Gilles Caulier