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

[Gilles Caulier]

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
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