[Bf-committers] keeping it cross platform

[Frederick Lee]

On Sun, Dec 01, 2002 at 03:43:33PM +0100, Ton Roosendaal wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> Although I know engineers just *love* to get the latest technology, and 
> keep their systems upgraded for the best performance, this habit doesn't 
> realy help in developing cross platform.

I just use Debian unstable and upgrade my OS willy-nilly.  Not that I
_deliberately_ try to get my hands on the bleedingest edge, though the
result is no less different...

> In this maillist we've already discussed the correct version of gcc to 
> use. Now there seems to be an autoconf release problem.

This is news to me!  O_O
I don't recall any such discussion.  Maybe it was before I joined, or
somehow didn't receive the relevant mail?

> The minimum target for Blender still is getting the platforms working 
> we've released the 2.2x series at. This implies keeping a very cautious 
> and conservative attitude towards upgrading OS releases, compilers, 
> libraries and tools. In the NaN past we've always fought with this 
> issue. Accepting any 'improvement' - by choosing for an upgrade of 
> OpenGL for example - certain plaforms cannot be supportd anymore.

I was about to suggest a survey of autotools version (autoconf,
automake, libtool) to settle on a minimal versions of each, until I saw
this post.  Since I'm a Debian bigot (^_^;;), in many ways I feel Debian
stable may be an appropriate reference platform.  This version of the
Debian OS is older, time-tested to be unbroken, and has a very clear
list of which versions of what software goes together to form the OS
(http://packages.debian.org/stable/).

Debian stable has autoconf-2.53, automake-1.5, libtool-1.4.2.

> It would be very wise, accompanying the 'autoconf' release, to publish a 
> spreadsheet outlining all MINIMUM revisions (versions) of OS's, 
> compilers, external libraries and tools for each Blender version. That 
> then could serve as a reference for developers, and provide relevant 
> information for developers who like to support a different OS as well.
>
> Anyone here interested in gathering & compiling this information?
> Thanks,
> 
> -Ton-
> _____________________________________________________
> Ton Roosendaal | ton@blender.org | Blender Foundation
> Amsterdam | The Netherlands |  http://www.blender.org