Re: gnome-libs 2.0 proposal

[Elliot Lee <sopwith redhat com>]

On 6 Mar 2001, jacob berkman wrote:

> i've spent the past few weeks working on a proposal for the next
> gnome-libs.  i would really appreciate it if all of you would take the
> time to read it (and of course comment).  i will be updating it as time
> goes on to take into account feedback given to me. i really think that
> this proposal is a very good plan for gnome-libs, and hope that we can
> soon start working towards it.  the document can be found here:
>
> http://primates.ximian.com/~jacob/gnome-libs.html

1. WRT compat library, the decision of how to determine actual library
boundaries (on a "what .o files go into what lib*.so file" level)  can
completely be separated from the decision of how to chunk up and present
the API. The former decision needs to be affected by efficiency and
dependency considerations, the latter by a discussion of how the developer
should be viewing things. If it is most efficient to split all libgnomeui
functions up into two libraries, libgnomeui.so and
libgnomeui-infrequently-used.so, then that shouldn't be prevented by the
way the functions are listed in the header files.

3. WRT branches, the HEAD vs -1-0 thing is a mere technicality. You are
ultimately going to have to wind up with the new gnome-libs in HEAD, and
you are going to have to go through the same effective merging steps no
matter what (applying patch C to source A plus patch B should produce the
same results as applying patch B to source A plus patch C). The only thing
that recommends a particular way (aside from the fact that the ultimate
result goes in HEAD) is that IIRC, CVS makes it somewhat easier to merge
patches from a branch to HEAD (via cvs update -j, which is not going to do
everything by itself, but will probably be a useful tool in the merge).

4. #2 was going to be about not requiring the whole CORBA complex for apps
that just want the libgnomeui convenience and utility functions, or
something.

-- Elliot
The truth knocks on my door, and I say
"Go away. I'm looking for the truth"
...and so it goes away.