“Kristoph A. Cichocki-Romanov” wrote:
Igor,
On QnxStart there is a bunch of stuff built by qnx.org.ru. Is it safe to
assume that you are at least partially involved with this group?
Not really. QNX.ORG.RU folks are in Russia. I’m in US.
I’ve noticed that quite a number of things built by nexware and qnx.org.ru
is not compatible. That is, nexware will use one version of glib/gtk and
qnx.org.ru will use another. This is exemplified by XArchon … not only is
the naming of glib/gtk shared libraries different but also the actual
binaries are different and incompatible.
This is usual story with GNU/Linux stuff. Not a surprize really.
So, I now see no less then three sources of binaries qnx.org.ru, nexware,
and sourceforge. Although I am all for more groups delivering software for
RTP I’d like to think we could at least make sure that the libraries were
mutually compatible.
The originals are incompatible to begin with.
What I put on sourceforge are latest versions of glib, gtk, lopster
and nedit. Most of software will want latest anyway. I think glib/gtk on
qnxstart are older.
The other question I have is why is no one posting the source, or at least
the patches?
I will, when it makes sense. Patches for Xfree were actually submitted
to
Xfree86 group and they are part of standard 3.3.5 distrubution, so there
is no point. Building them is tedious and time consuming job anyway.
Glib and gtk build almost of of box, so there is little point either,
anyone who is qualified to compile them at all will figure how to do it.
OTOH, nedit and lopster need patches and I’ll post them. Also,
I’m intended to post binaries in form of RTP packages in the future.
Note also, that due to some oddities of QNX, you often have to do manual
‘final touch’ to stuff generated by configure scripts, so it is often
hard
to come up with source which would be used in a straightforward way.
Finally, just out of curiosity, why did you chose to use a site other than
qnxstart. I would have thought that having one place where a number of
binaries could be downloaded would be a good thing?
Here goes a long sunday rant.
First, the qnxfree on sourforge.net existed long before qnxstart
appeared.
It was successor to qnxfree86 project. And it is technically simper for
me
to handle stuff the way I want it 
Second, qnxstart is just another site on sourceforge and the interface
they provide is not nearly as good as the original sourceforge
interface.
Their organization looks pretty much like someone’s private collection
of
software. It is good for attracting traffic but not good for keeping
projects going. As result people will download obsolete software and
have compatibility issues. The story with x11amp is an example -
original
porter has posted update to fix output problem on nexware site, but you
don’t see that on qnxstart.
Most of all, they have quite certain goal. They are trying to be a
‘portal’,
just like qnx.org.ru. Hence, they are trying to pull as much stuff there
as
possible, disregarding quality and compatibility. Don’t take me wrong,
there
is nothing inherently wrong with being a portal. And yes, we do need a
portal,
however I have different goals.
My goal on qnxfree is to make high_quality ports of some useful Unix
stuff. I don’t go for numbers. I’m not trying to be a portal, attract
everyone to my site and get some advertisement going. I don’t take
scores
in doing lame ports by simply typing ‘configure; make’ and then claiming
‘I did the port’.
When I do ports I always pay attention to little details, trying to use
features of OS to full extent. My Apache port for example works with
both
tiny and big TCP stacks, it optimizes access to static files and
scoreboard
using mmap() and implements serialized accept using mutexes. I’ll post
it soon.
I know there are people who share my view. You’re welcome to join me at
qnxfree. Register yourself at sourceforge and send me your ids, I’ll add
you
to access list. I don’t mind if QNXStart site will put link to download
page
of qnxfree site, that would be logical thing to do for a portal. I don’t
mind
if they don’t, either. I wouldn’t like them putting direct links to
archives
however, for the above mentioned reasons. But I won’t sue them for doing
so
either. It is community and we’re all friends after all
Regards,
]{ristoph
Following binary archives are available there now (all for Neutrino x86)
xfree86 3.3.5
nedit 5.1.1
glib/gtk 1.2.8
(unlike one on qnxstart those are full installations, suitable for
development)
lopster 0.9.4A
Use ‘realplay’ as external player for lopster.
The phplay will show IDs which is nice, but new instance will be
launched for every new play attempt, which is too annoying.
See release notes for each archive for details.
Have fun