Re: Standalone Pango

[muppet <scott asofyet org>]

On Jun 30, 2008, at 5:32 PM, Sergei Steshenko wrote:

> Applications From Scratch: http://appsfromscratch.berlios.de/
>
>
> --- On Sun, 6/29/08, muppet <scott asofyet org> wrote:
>
> > From: muppet <scott asofyet org>
> > Subject: Re: Standalone Pango
> > To: "gtk2-perl List" <gtk-perl-list gnome org>
> > Date: Sunday, June 29, 2008, 10:36 AM
> > On Jun 29, 2008, at 10:20 AM, Torsten Schoenfeld wrote:
>
> >         /* i love nasty ugly hacks for backwards compat...
> > Glib::UInt used
> >          * to be misspelled as Glib::Uint.  by registering both
> > names to the
> >          * same gtype, we get the mappings for two packages to one
> > gtype, but
> >          * only one mapping (the last and correct one) from type
> > to package.
> >          */
> >         G_LOCK (types_by_package);
> >         g_hash_table_insert (types_by_package,
> > "Glib::Uint",
> >                              (gpointer) G_TYPE_UINT);
> >         G_UNLOCK (types_by_package);
> >
> > (Please note the sarcasm in the comment.)
>
> Is GNOME/gtk+/gtk-perl all like that ?

No.  There are a handful of edge cases.  BUT, one of the main reasons  
that there is noise about an API/ABI break for gtk+ 3.x is that it is  
getting harder to maintain the 2.x-series compatibility promise but  
still fix bugs and add new features.


> I mean, is it the accepted practice to write ugly backward  
> compatibility
> hacks instead of fixing the root cause ?


I think you're missing the point.  We *did* fix the root cause --- we  
changed the spelling of the type name.  The purpose of the hack was to  
maintain backwards compatibility with programs that had already been  
written against stable releases.  We don't document or advertise that  
you can misspell the name, because it's not right; but we accept that  
input because we did in early stable releases and don't want to break  
people's otherwise working code.

You'll find this sort of thing in any software that makes any  
reasonable attempt not to break users' code.

To wit, there is gtk2-perl code that i wrote and distributed in 2003  
that is still in production, unchanged, working fine as system  
upgrades come and go.  Users place high value on that sort of stability.


--
The stereo, playing the Beastie Boys' "Rhymin' and Stealin'":  "I'll  
steal your girlie like I stole your bike!"

Elysse:  "You mean, take off the chain and ride away?"