[gentoo-dev] Old KDE support

[gentoo-dev] Old KDE support

[Dan Armak]

Hi all,

I want to raise the issue of supporting old versions of KDE.

I am about to add kde-2.2.2 ebuilds to cvs (2.2.2 is to be released later 
today) and new revisions of the kde-2.2.1 ebuilds. Both sets will support 
multi-kdelibs, which allows various combinations of kdelibs packages to be 
used together. Unfortunately, this support isn't backward-compatible.

The question is, should I continue to support older KDEs? How old, and how 
much support?

Support for the new multi-kdelibs and multi-qt schemes, and for the upcoming 
new dependency specification format (portage 2?), can only be really added 
one way - by making inheriting (eclassing) ebuilds for all versions of kde to 
be supported. Right now only 2.2.1 (and the upcoming 2.2.2) have inheriting 
ebuilds.

I will probably support only the latest versions (e.g. 2.2.1, 2.2.2). 2.2.0 
can be added for completeness, since it's fairly recent and was the latest 
KDE in the early days of rc6. Older, already installed versions will still 
work - insofar they are currently working - but any small update, possibly 
even the emerging of some kde apps, will demand a complete upgrade to the 
latest qt/kde.

I could also add support for all kde versions (incl. 2.1.x). This will 
require a lot more work and so I will only do it if enough people respond 
here saying they have these older versions. In which case, they'll also have 
to give their reasons for not upgrading to kde-2.2.x.

Doing this would be tedious and would require a lot more testing. I'm 
mentioning it in the interests of fairness to the many people who (may) still 
use older KDEs. So, speak up now or be silent forever.

If I did add such support, a user would still have to remerge all his current 
kde. So as far as I can see there are no reasons not to upgrade.

After I test & commit the multi-kdelibs ebuilds (including some eclass 
updates and other misc stuff), I'm considering deleting older KDE ebuilds 
from cvs. The 2.2_beta ebuilds obviously have to go, and I'm also considering 
deleting all but the latest 2.1.x and 2.2.x ebuilds - that is, all but 
2.1.1/2 and 2.2.2. Again, tell me if you know of any reasons not to do so.

Once everything is settled, tested and committed, I'll post an appropriate 
message on gentoo-announce.

-- 

Dan Armak
Gentoo Linux Developer, Desktop Team
Matan, Israel

Re: [gentoo-dev] Old KDE support

[Dan Armak]

Clarification: suppose someone has kde-2.1.1 and wants to emerge 
kdenetwork-2.1.1, which he doesn't have.

If I do nothing at all to the old KDE ebuilds, he'll be able to do it 
successfully. However, if he updates his qt to a new, multi-qt supporting 
versoin, he will only be able to emerge inheriting ebuilds, since appropriate 
parameters to configure are needed which are supplied by kde.eclass. The same 
goes for multi-kdelibs.

Actually, he *might* be able to use non-inheriting ebuilds with multi-*, buyt 
he might not. Depends on the configuration. It's best and safest and surest 
to upgrade. After all kde-2.1.x is pre-rc6 stuff.

-- 

Dan Armak
Gentoo Linux Developer, Desktop Team
Matan, Israel

Re: [gentoo-dev] Old KDE support

[Dan Armak]

Thank you all for supporting my view! No one responded, so there'll be no 
support for older KDEs. Also, new features will only appear in new 
versoins/revisions. That's the most comfortable option for me, and apparently 
for you too. Enjoy!

-- 

Dan Armak
Gentoo Linux Developer, Desktop Team
Matan, Israel

Re: [gentoo-dev] Old KDE support

[Karl Trygve Kalleberg]

On Fri, 16 Nov 2001 14:21:10 +0200
Dan Armak <danarmak@gentoo.org> wrote:

> Thank you all for supporting my view! No one responded, so there'll be
> no 
> support for older KDEs. Also, new features will only appear in new 
> versoins/revisions. That's the most comfortable option for me, and
> apparently 
> for you too. Enjoy!

I do not use KDE. Apparently not too many other people do either, given
the fact that they did not bother to respond.

However, I think you should be prepared that a future influx of new users
(especially once we hit 1.0) might require you to retroactively support
old KDE versions.

Consequently, I propose you concentrate on new KDEs only, but don't
deliberately close the door to adding support for old KDE stuff later on.

If you need any help adding backwards support in the future, I'll do what
I can to help.


Kind regards,

Karl T

Re: [gentoo-dev] Old KDE support

[Dan Armak]

On Monday 12 November 2001 17:44, you wrote:
> I am about to add kde-2.2.2 ebuilds to cvs (2.2.2 is to be released later
> today) and new revisions of the kde-2.2.1 ebuilds. Both sets will support
> multi-kdelibs, which allows various combinations of kdelibs packages to be
> used together. Unfortunately, this support isn't backward-compatible.
Update: 2.2.2 has been rescheduled for the 19th.

-- 

Dan Armak
Gentoo Linux Developer, Desktop Team
Matan, Israel