Re: gnome 2.8.0 and external dependencies

[Yaakov Selkowitz <yselkowitz at users dot sourceforge dot net>]

Gerrit P. Haase wrote:
> Hello Yaakov,
>
> Gnome 2.8.0 is out.

So I heard. :-)

> They list as 'Development Library dependencies':

[snip]

> We are missing some of them:
>       libfam
>       libgpg-error
>       libgcrypt
>       libtasn1
>       opencdk
>       gnutls
>       libgsf
>       mozilla
>
> I think we can skip libfam and mozilla for now;)

I really wonder how many of the others are needed up front, or only for 
one or two applications which come after the desktop is built.

> The others (besides libgsf) are already available through my server:
> http://anfaenger.de/cygwin/cygwin-1.5/gnutls/
> and also a new version of pth (for libgcrypt) with shared libraries is
> available:
> http://anfaenger.de/cygwin/cygwin-1.5/pth/

I have libgsf on my project page.

> I'll try to update my current range of packages this week and then
> update and provide the gnutls and others development libraries (using
> cygwin-1.5.11 with gcc-3.4).
>
> Wait for announcements of:
> libxml2
> libxslt
> gtk-doc
> glib
>
> then you can come with:
> libIDL
> ORBit2

libIDL is already up to date (0.8.3-2 = 0.8.4); I'll see what I can do 
about ORBit2-2.12.0.

> and I'll follow with:
> intltool
> libbonobo
> pango
> atk
> gtk+

Most of these don't have major updates, if I recall, and libbonobo still 
needs to be added.

> and then we'll try to get GConf up and running...

I think that should be the focus, rather than some of those other 
"prereqs" which aren't needed for libgnomeui-2 and the basic desktop.

> The rest is listed in the new "GNOME 2.8 Installation Order" list:
> http://www.gnome.org/start/2.8/notes/rninstallation.html

Well, I still have a pending ITP on libglade, and I could build 
libgnomecanvas and libwnck 2.8 soon I think.

What I see to be a real problem is the speed of the ITP process; I have 
generally seen very little response to my Gnome-related packages, and 
I've had to ask each time for an exemption due to lack of response.  I 
know these libraries aren't very exciting by themselves, but just the 
Gnome desktop needs about 30 packages to be operational.  With the lag 
time on these ITPs and upload requests (I don't have upload privileges 
on cygwin.com), together with the problems with GConf, we missed 2.6 and 
have to start trying with 2.8.  I just hope we get everything up before 
2.10 (or whatever they decide to call it).

So my question is this:  if there's a real commitment to get Gnome into 
the distro, what can we do to speed this process up?  If you visit my 
project site, you can see how much I have (or had from 2.6) ready.  I 
don't mind doing the work if we can get past this hurdle.


Yaakov