Hi All,
This is a fairly long email so best to settle in.
1. Current status:
I've tested it on Windows 10 with MSYS, Ubuntu 18.04, Arch and OpenBSD 6.4. I am currently trying to get it building on Debian 9.5 as well.
namespace W32 {
// can't
// #define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN
// because we need stuff like PRINTDLG
#include <windows.h>
}
I don't know how many people use this plug-in and thus have left it as such for the time being. I don't have much experience with Windows.h so if anybody can help identifying why the issue is happening, that would be much appreciated!
Once I'm happy with all the builds, I will remove the [WIP] from the merge request and send another email inviting people to review.
2. Windows distribution
Due to the interest in upgrading the Windows installer (
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/dia/issues/22 ), I have tried to package the binaries into an archive to allow easy redistribution. I hope this will be helpful if we want (re-)create the NSIS installer? I have created a few archives and been keeping track of it on my fork:
https://gitlab.gnome.org/neduard/dia/issues/3 Archives are signed with my key (F623017FC5900C39) but they are slightly out-dated (they do not have Cairo or Python enabled). I will create newer ones once the branch is ready.
3. Fixes performed as part of the port
As part of the full meson port, a few issues were fixed, including:
- Correct 'Shape Designs' directory: this allows uses to define custom shapes by easily placing connection points on the diagram.
- Open manual directly in browser (do not rely on ghelp, which I think is GNOME-specific?)
- Various clean-ups in the source code - mainly simplifying & removing old / unneeded code.
Fun note: I've been searching online for mentions of
Dia given that development is picking up again. I found somebody on
Reddit was trying to place connection points, but since this functionality doesn't exist in the current official Windows version, they had to manually edit the XML in the .shape files. I directed them to the Windows builds I created and it seems to work for them:
https://www.reddit.com/r/software/comments/a8aqb1/diagram_software/
4. Going forward
The above raises the following question: what is the current development / release plan for Dia? I've been searching online for "diagram software" and there are plenty of websites that still reference Dia as an alternative, meaning there is still interest in it.
Of those, over 80% are on Windows:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/dia-installer/files/stats/os , meaning a lot of users are stuck with the 0.97.2 version which is even older than the current 0.97.3 (0.97+git) that is available on most distros. Of course, these are
sourceforge.net downloads and most definitely do not reflect the total number of users from platforms like Linux, MacOS or others.
I guess this is a big topic which probably deserves its own email chain. I include it here since it has been on my mind for some time and it ties in with the meson Windows build. I have put together *an idea* for a milestone on my own fork:
https://gitlab.gnome.org/neduard/dia/milestones/1 but again, this is only an idea. Zander, I know you have been working on the GTK3 port and have created a "Dia Next" Merge Request (
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/dia/merge_requests/16 ) with quite a varied TODO list. This means you have also considered what should the next version contain. Any thoughts?
