Re: [Gimp-developer] Getting contributors via OpenHatch

[Jehan Pagès <jehan marmottard gmail com>]

Hi,

On Mon, Jun 2, 2014 at 6:18 PM, Elle Stone
<ellestone ninedegreesbelow com> wrote:
> On 06/02/2014 11:32 AM, Michael Schumacher wrote:
> > > Von: "Elle Stone" <ellestone ninedegreesbelow com>
>
>
> > > I've shown several people how to build GIMP from git.
>
>
> > Was there a special part they needed help with?
>
>
> No. They just wanted the quickest, easiest way to compile GIMP from git. I
> sent they my "cheat sheet" of commands and referred them to the article if
> any of the commands on the cheat sheet didn't make sense.

Like some others here, I don't really get it. I never had any problem
with GIMP compilation. GIMP uses the very common tryptic of all GNU
projects (and most Free Software): ./configure && make && make install
It has some dependencies, especially when compiling the git version,
but they all follow the same 3-command method. I just don't get what
is difficult with this.
Note that I don't say this is flawless and there can't be any issue
during building, but when that happens, that's a bug in the
compilation process (and by itself, fixing this can be a very valid
patch). In any cases *usually* this works perfectly. This is the most
common compilation process ever. How can this be considered a barrier
for contribution?
I don't even understand how anyone may want more than what is already
in the INSTALL file (which is already quite complete)...

All projects with huge contribution rate have the *very exact* same
compilation process (or a very similar one).

Jehan

> > I've read the build guide you posted yesterday, and was a bit confused by
> > it.
>
>
> Two years ago, when I wrote that article, it took me several days of
> trawling the internet before I succeeded in putting together a set of
> commands for building GIMP from git. I didn't consider that time well-spent,
> and I was hardly a newbie at Linux, the command line, or building software
> from source.
>
> I wrote the article mostly to remind myself what the steps are. Also a lot
> of people on the GIMP user list were complaining about 2.8, so I thought it
> would be neat to figure out how to install 2.6, 2.8, and 2.9 all at once.
>
> If I were writing the article today, I'd write it differently. I wasn't
> putting it forward as a model of clarity but rather in case there were parts
> someone wanted to use.
>
> I think the Calligra build instructions are in fact a model of clarity and
> would make an excellent template for writing up how to build GIMP from git.
>
>
> > Regarding said build instructions:
> >
> > - the config.site approach as described in e.g. Martin Nordholt's blog
> > works fine for me
> >    I've never ever had to remember to set  environment variables again
>
>
> Two years ago I did find the Nordholt article but I couldn't figure out what
> he meant by "config.site". I still can't. Looking at
> http://www.gimp.org/source/howtos/gimp-git-build.html, perhaps the line:
>
> export ACLOCAL_FLAGS="-I $PREFIX/share/aclocal $ACLOCAL_FLAGS"
>
> has something to do with "config.site"?
>
> So I followed Shallowsky's and Lightning's instructions instead.
>
>
> > Getting the dependencies is:
> >
> > - easy on reasonably recent Linux distros (apt-get build-dep, zypper -d,
> > ...).
>
>
> The Calligra build instructions have a nice set of "how tos" for the
> dependencies for the most popular Linux distros. This is a nice touch
> because it does vary from distro to distro. Not everyone already knows about
> these commands.
>
>
> > Where OpenHatch will provide the most benefit:
> >
> > - enable user to discover that there is something beyond the icons of the
> > desktop environment, for example a command line interface
> > - enable users to get to the point where building any software or
> > documentation, including babl, gegl, gimp, the gimp user manual, plug-ins,
> > ..., becomes a no-brainer
> >    - i.e. understanding messages like "needs libfoo..." and make it become
> > "ahhh, I'll just get it from my the package management"
>
>
> It's not that compiling from source is such a big deal. But why not make it
> as easy as possible for people building GIMP for the first time? Maybe put
> in a few sentences here and there explaining the obvious to people for whom
> it might not be so obvious?
>
> Elle
>
>
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