[Bf-committers] Proposal for clarified VFX Reference Platform Support

[Ray Molenkamp]

I don't think any of the major vendors (nor us) will build openvdb
with a wonky blosc version that will give compatibility issues, point
is neither the danger of using a "wrong" blosc version nor any other
mention of file compatibility is in the platform (but it is in the
openvdb documentation) So my argument was about not referring to
the platform as an authority on file compatibility, since they aren't.
The choice to follow the platform or not is a completely separate
choice.

I'm desperately trying to get us to a point where rather than an
uncommitted, "we follow some things, not others, kinda depends on our
mood, and if we like to make a random exception or not, also here are
some arbitrary commitments to things that platform doesn't even seem to
do" to a crystal clear:

-These are the things we do
-These are the things we don't

I'd rather give users like you solid hard disappointment you can
count on, than comforting false hope that will disappoint. Guaranteed
platform adherence would have been acceptable as well, but that does
not appear to be the direction we are appear to be leaning.

My objective is to minimize/eliminate the "gray zone" blender has
been in for the last few years regarding the platform, VFX Platform in or
out, I'm cool either way, but we have to pick a team and communicate it
clearly to our users.

--Ray

On 2022-01-20 12:40 p.m., Scott Wilson wrote:
> I'm sort of out of the loop, but has there been communications with the VFX Reference Platform recently? I think that some of the issues brought up such as build flags for OpenVDB could be resolved. I know that as a pipeline TD in a studio, having all of the vendors on the same page about all attributes of the build environment makes my life much easier. So, I throw what little say I have into getting Blender and the platform aligned.
>
> On Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 11:22 AM Ray Molenkamp via Bf-committers <bf-committers at blender.org> wrote:
>
>     While I do not mind the practical nuts and bolts of this
>     proposal at all, I do mind the language, referring to the
>     VFX Platform as something worth looking at regarding file
>     or platform compatibility is unfortunate.
>
>     The Platform as is makes no attempt to manage file compatibility
>     throughout the pipeline, the big-ticket items in this space such
>     as USD and/or MaterialX aren't even in the platform, the things
>     that are in the platform, such as OpenVDB that have _severe_
>     file compat issues if build incorrectly do not even have a footnote
>     about it. The only logical conclusion here is, the VFX Platform
>     is a not authority to appeal to regarding file compatibility, so
>     best not to.
>
>     As for platform compatibility, the messaging in the VFX Platform
>     is confusing, for linux it declares a glibc version, for macOS it
>     declares a deployment target, so far so good, but then for windows
>     it does none of these things, and just recommends a compiler and SDK of
>     which neither determine the OS versions the resulting code can
>     run on, the inclusion of python 3.9 indirectly implies windows 8.1
>     is their minimum windows deployment target, but honestly I'm unsure
>     if even they are aware of this implication.
>
>     I'd like to see the proposal move more into concrete direction:
>
>     > Blender does NOT follow the VFX platform.
>     >
>     > - Blender aims be compatible with operating systems VFX Platform compatible software will be able run on.
>     > - blender aims not to break file compatibility for 3rd party formats such as EXR, VDB, Alembic: files exported from Blender should be usable in other software used in the pipeline, and vice-versa.
>
>     The last item
>
>     > - Not to break external render engines
>
>     Is just not something I think we can we can practically commit to,
>     these are generally linked directly to the python shared libs,
>     and bumping python versions will definitely break most if not all
>     of them.
>
>     To put an end to having to have this conversation every year, I'd
>     like to break the loop with the following text:
>
>     > Major blender releases will ship with the latest major python version available during BCON1 in its development.
>
>     My proposal
>
>     - Clarifies our stance on the VFX Platform
>     - Doesn't appeal to an authority the VFX Platform clearly lacks regarding file compat.
>     - Somewhat commits to running on the same platforms as the VFX platform (as much as it can be deduced from the platform, they are vague about it, hard to make any solid commitments here).
>     - Makes the python version blender will ship with predictable.
>
>     Note that personally, I may or may not approve of the direction being
>     taken here, but judging from your internal discussions this seems to be
>     the way we want to go as a project, in which case clear language is
>     undoubtedly better than vague commitments that sound nice but may
>     set unrealistic expectations.
>
>     --Ray
>     _______________________________________________
>     Bf-committers mailing list
>     Bf-committers at blender.org
>     List details, subscription details or unsubscribe:
>     https://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers
>