Re: [Haskell-cafe] Fw: patch applied (ghc): Remove the OpenGL familyof libraries fromextralibs
So, if one of you wanted to step forward and offer to keep these Haskell bindings for OpenGL&co maintained, perhaps steward them into the H(L)P, now would probably be a good time.
Just thought I'd forward this, for those not following cvs-ghc, Claus
Note the OpenGL are still just as maintained as they used to be -- that is, it hasn't had a maintainer for several years.
Some people post the funniest rumours as if they were facts. $ ghc-pkg field OpenGL maintainer maintainer: sven.panne@aedion.de At the end of this message, I also append the output of darcs changes since OpenGL 2.1 was supported, for those interested in what might be involved in maintainance: Fri Nov 10 10:14:54 GMT Standard Time 2006 sven.panne@aedion.de * Updated Haddock module headers (now OpenGL 2.1 support, API is stable) It just so happens that the library is very stable (unlike other libraries I could think of;-) - Sven's last bug-fix patch was in March 2007, the patches since then have been build system evolution/maintainance. So the problem is not with the library, but with the environment - since its creation, the library has seen FFI tools appear and disappear, FFI spec and library hierarchy take shape, darcs appear and be taken on, Cabal appear and be taken on, packages and tools move on, split up, change their API, etc. - thanks to Sven and others, the binding has weathered all that, without making a lot of noise. And now, there is another enviroment change, with extralibs going and the Haskell Platform aiming to improve the Haskell installation experience. And new quality criteria will be prescribed that this old library will have to meet to be allowed in with the new kids on the block.
The only change is that the GHC developers don't put them in a tarball on haskell.org/ghc prior to releasing GHC itself.
It isn't the tarballing, it is
(a) whether the library is run in the HEAD buildbots to flush out
breaking changes to the environment early
(b) whether enviroment changes are reflected in the library to
unbreak its build before user installations are affected
(c) whether the library can be relied on as being available on
default Haskell installations (this would seem to be less of
a problem with Cabal/hackage and user installs, but not all
clients have install privileges/tools - OpenGL building uses
configure, which in itself might not be installed on Windows;
and in some University contexts, installation for public PCs
is on a centralised, yearly basis, not per student; etc.; adding
the GLUT dll has been a popular request ever since GHC
had Windows installers, meaning that every single time someone
forgets to put that dll in the installer, someone has reported it
as a bug/feature request)
I'm not aware of any urgent breakage in the OpenGL binding,
nor is the current source going away, and as Duncan says, he
expects OpenGL to reappear in the Haskell Platform later on.
But neither do I believe the rumour that OpenGL isn't much
used, and forwarding the removal notice gives those users the
opportunity to speak up now if they prefer no gaps in OpenGL
presence, or forever to hold their peace, as they say.
Unless Sven wants to do the job himself, a maintainer would
mainly have to adapt the library to the Haskell Platform criteria,
keep up with the forever changing build environments, and counter
rumours about the OpenGL binding being unmaintained or unused.
Claus
$ darcs changes --from-patch=stable
Thu Jun 19 13:43:50 GMT Daylight Time 2008 Ian Lynagh <igloo>
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Claus Reinke