[Kde-games-devel] KNewStuff Repositories

[Ian Wadham]

Hi guys,

I think it is time to bring this discussion back to the list.
BTW, I missed the IRC meeting, so I am pretty much in the dark
about this thread.  I do not even know what this feature
is called (KNewStuff, KNewStuff2, KHotNewStuff - I have seen all
bandied about), nor do I know what/where the server is, nor even
that we had one now, nor what is on it and in what form.

On Mon, 5 May 2008 02:09 am, Jeremy Whiting wrote:
> > On Sat, 3 May 2008 08:19 am, Ian Wadham wrote:
> > I don't get this.  Why did you put the *Egypt* theme on the server?  It's
> > part of the KGoldrunner releases, not "hot new stuff".  Also, with a
> > feature freeze coming up in a few days, there is no chance of the program
> > supporting KNewStuff this time around ... it will have to wait for KDE
> > 4.2 at least.
> >
> I only put it up on the kns server so when you do use it in kgoldrunner,
> you can ship with less themes if you want.  In the kdegames meeting last
> Wednesday, we decided games should probably ship with one or two default
> themes, and have the rest available through hot new stuff, that way they
> can be updated between releases, etc.
>
I do not think it is a good idea to "release" our own themes through
a hot new stuff site.  It endangers the artistic integrity of the work IMO.
What do artists think?  Do you want unknown guys tinkering with your
work and perhaps damaging it in the process?

The idea that we can update between releases is a good one, so maybe
we should just release artwork as usual but allow between-release updates
to be distributed via KNS, if required, re-syncing on the next release.  That
way, unwarranted "tinkerings", would at least have a short life.

For that matter, the same arguments might apply to code and game data.
I find it daunting that we are currently faced with a 2.5 month freeze on
adding new features to games in trunk.  It is hard for me to believe, based
on past experience, that we actually need that long, in KDE Games, for
bug fixes, etc.

> Anyway, Mauricio just said kgoldrunner would be a good one to do, since
> it has the most themes I guess.  So all the themes except default are up
> there if/when you want to use them.
>
Thanks, Jeremy, but I don't know anything about this, as I said above.

Is KNS a stand-alone utility of some kind some kind that mimics "make
install" (i.e. it just plugs files into designated areas)?  KGoldrunner is
already designed to accept something like that, with no code changes.

They can even be plugged into $KDEHOME areas and KGr will pick them up
(games data or themes) and display them in lists within the gameplay flow.
So you do not have to have "root" privileges to add new stuff.

Or is KNS some extra library thing we have to integrate into every game?
And is it somehow wired into that "Configure GameName" construct that
I have deliberately avoided using in KGoldrunner?

If "yes" to either of those questions, there is indeed no chance of making
changes before the KDE 4.2 release cycle.  There is just nobody doing much
work on KGr during the next two weeks (for various reasons), other than to
"put to bed" features we have been working on in the last few months, such
as sound.

Confused, Ian W.