Xconq Packaging (was Re: Major improvement to the Xconq kernel)

Xconq Packaging (was Re: Major improvement to the Xconq kernel)

[Eric McDonald]

Hi Bruno,

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003, Bruno Boettcher wrote:

> On Thu, Nov 13, 2003 at 06:07:00PM -0500, Eric McDonald wrote:
> > I will update the Windows installer and the RPM packages after I 
> > get out of work, so that those who do not use CVS can enjoy the 
> > fruits of Peter's efforts.

> :D please drop also a word to the debian mantainer :D

Is there a Debian maintainer for Xconq?
I didn't think there was one. (Even though I did notice that 
Debian people have packaged Xconq in the past; they also had a few Xconq 
related bug reports or feature requests.... When I implemented the 
X11 app-defaults directory choice in the Xconq config script, I 
got the idea from reading their archives....)

Anyway, I was planning on installing Debian on one of my systems 
at some point. (It has been about 4 years since I last used Debian.)

I know there are converters that can go from RPM's to 
Debs, but I want to properly build a Debian package on a native 
Debian system. Because this was my interest, I actually went to 
their Web site about a month ago and researched how to build a deb 
file.

I know that at least two of the people on this list (or who 
used to be on this list) run Debian systems, and if either of them 
(or any other Debian user) was to step forward and offer to 
maintain Debian packages, we could address this sooner rather 
than later. (And it would make my life easier. This whole Xconq 
thing is supposed to be a hobby, not a chore, at least for me 
anyway. :)

On another note, there is actually quite a bit more that needs to 
be done with the RPM's that I provide. Currently, they cannot make 
it into the Mandrake or Redhat distros because they do not contain 
all of the special little things that are expected. (I 
researched the Mandrake guidelines last weekend.) If I was to 
upload the existing Xconq RPM's into either the Mandrake or Redhat 
contrib directories, the RPM's would be rejected from being part 
of the next release of either distro. (Even though they probably 
successfully run and install on a vast majority of the RPM-using 
systems out there. Or, at least the source package anyway.)

So what is my point? Well, I am semi-willing to maintain packages 
for all these different platforms, but if others wish to help, 
please be my guest.  Furthermore, I will need to "re-architect" 
one of my systems to accomodate Redhat and Debian, since all I am 
running is Mandrake currently. I've been contemplating the 
purchase of a VMware license (I've used their stuff before, and it 
works fine), in which case I will run a Linux host (probably 
Mandrake again) and then have Redhat, Debian GNU/Linux, 
and Windows (probably XP, though I also have licenses for 95 
and NT as well) run inside of VM's.  When I originally set up my 
systems, I didn't have Xconq in mind....

So other package maintainers are welcome. If a package isn't being 
maintained right now, then you might have to wait awhile before I 
am ready to maintain it. (And, no, I don't have any plans to 
maintain Xconq for QNX....)

  Regards,
   Eric

Re: Xconq Packaging (was Re: Major improvement to the Xconq kernel)

[Jim Kingdon]

> Is there a Debian maintainer for Xconq?
> I didn't think there was one.

Well, someone must have packaged it.  They even included some fixes to
security holes (some of which we now have ourselves as well, now that
we have the snprintf machinery).

http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=80576&repeatmerged=yes

Whether whoever did that has any plans to do anything with xconq
packaging in the future, I don't know.

> I know that at least two of the people on this list (or who used to be
> on this list) run Debian systems, and if either of them (or any other
> Debian user) was to step forward and offer to maintain Debian packages

That's half of it.  The other half is becoming a Debian developer, so
the packages actually can go into Debian the way the current xconq
7.4.1 package is.

Anyway, what's my point?  Mostly just that I endorse the idea of
someone other than Eric working on these packages (and likewise for
Fedora/Red Hat and Mandrake and whatever too), if someone has the
interest/skills.  Not that endorsements count as much as actual effort
and results :-).

Re: Xconq Packaging (was Re: Major improvement to the Xconq kernel)

[Peter Garrone]

On Thu, Nov 13, 2003 at 07:38:53PM -0500, Eric McDonald wrote:
> 
> Hi Bruno,
> 
> On Fri, 14 Nov 2003, Bruno Boettcher wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, Nov 13, 2003 at 06:07:00PM -0500, Eric McDonald wrote:
> > > I will update the Windows installer and the RPM packages after I 
> > > get out of work, so that those who do not use CVS can enjoy the 
> > > fruits of Peter's efforts.
> 
> > :D please drop also a word to the debian mantainer :D
> 
> Is there a Debian maintainer for Xconq?
<snip>
> 
> So other package maintainers are welcome. If a package isn't being 
> maintained right now, then you might have to wait awhile before I 
> am ready to maintain it. (And, no, I don't have any plans to 
> maintain Xconq for QNX....)
> 
>   Regards,
>    Eric

Eric,
 Configuration/compilation on debian now works fine for me,
(though I cant see the beautiful new help system, I will be
investigating further.) I imagine you are fishing for an offer from me
here, and if no one else wants to do it I would, though I am probably
not the best person as I am not always reachable during hang-gliding
season. Also I have never maintained a debian package.
 Peter

Re: Xconq Packaging (was Re: Major improvement to the Xconq kernel)

[Eric McDonald]

Hi Peter et al.,

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003, Peter Garrone wrote:

>  Configuration/compilation on debian now works fine for me,

Great. Thanks for passing along useful info so that I could fix 
it.

> investigating further.) I imagine you are fishing for an offer from me
> here,

You were foremost in my mind when I made the comments. But there 
is absolutely zero pressure from me wrt becoming the Debian 
maintainer. I think that I am going to first email the guy who 
supposedly did the old Debian package (Timo Benk[h]e?) and see if 
he is still interested. If not, then we can go from there....

> and if no one else wants to do it I would, though I am probably
> not the best person as I am not always reachable during hang-gliding
> season. Also I have never maintained a debian package.

Well prior to my work with xconq.spec, I had never created a RPM 
(except a binary RPM from a source RPM, but that doesn't really 
count). Like most things I do with Xconq, I did it because I felt 
like it: I wanted to do something new and learn from it. I would 
only encourage you to become a maintainer if you felt the same 
way.  As far as frequency is concerned, I don't think you are 
under any obligation (if you were to become a maintainer) to 
regularly release anything; I certainly don't feel obligated to 
make regular releases; I just do them when I think enough changes 
have accrued or something important has happened with Xconq. So I 
regard it only as a minor chore. I just don't want to get too many 
minor chores. :-)

To use Jim's terminology, I would "endorse" you, but there is no 
pressure on you.

Hang-gliding? Sounds like fun. Where I now live, people primarily 
fly glider planes (nice drafts come off the Rocky Mountains). I am 
probably going to try some gliding once I get more settled in, 
though I imagine hang-gliding is much more exhilarating and has 
rather different dynamics....

  Regards,
    Eric

Re: Xconq Packaging (was Re: Major improvement to the Xconq kernel)

[Eric McDonald]

Hi Peter, all,

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003, Peter Garrone wrote:

> investigating further.) I imagine you are fishing for an offer from me
> here, and if no one else wants to do it I would, though I am probably

Actually, I exchanged email with Timo Benk earlier today, and he 
said that he was still interested in being the maintainer for the 
Debian package. I mentioned to him about packaging CVS snapshots, 
but I haven't heard back in that regard. He did ask me to drop him 
a note when 7.5 comes out, and he'll package that up.

So we may be all set wrt Debian GNU/Linux.

Now we just need to find maintainers for Slackware (if anyone uses 
that anymore), and members of the free BSD family (NetBSD, 
FreeBSD, OpenBSD).  Of course, if someone wants to maintain a 
Redhat-specific RPM, then go for it. I will hopefully be coming 
along with a Mandrake-specific RPM sometime in the next few weeks.

I know Xconq has at least one Slowaris user. I wonder about 
HPukes, AI-ick, Tru64, or Irix.... 

  Regards,
   Eric

Re: Xconq Packaging (was Re: Major improvement to the Xconq kernel)

[Skeezics Boondoggle]

On Sat, 15 Nov 2003, Eric McDonald wrote:

> I know Xconq has at least one Slowaris user. I wonder about 

<raises hand>

I guess that's me?  Should I drink a few too many beers and demand that
any other closeted Solaris users reveal themselves? :-]

Of course, I use RPM to build open source stuff on Solaris, instead of the
native packaging tools... I *hate* the stupid /opt thing, and install in
/usr/local/* instead.  I suppose if there were more than one person
interested in a Solaris build I could create a relocatable package and
offer that.

Oh!  And remember I'd reported a strange crash a while back that I just 
couldn't figure out?  I deleted my .xconq/prefs.xcq and haven't had a 
problem since.  Hmmm.

Here's the bogus one:

((default-myname "John Doe") (default-joinport "3075") (default-joinhost 
"localhost") (checkpoint-interval 10) (default-font-size 10) 
(default-font-family "helvetica") (default-draw-transitions 1) 
(default-draw-terrain-patterns 0) (default-draw-terrain-images 1) 
(default-draw-ai 0) (default-meridian-interval 600) 
(default-draw-meridians 0) (default-draw-feature-boundaries 0) 
(default-draw-feature-names 0) (default-draw-unit-names 0) 
(default-draw-clouds 0) (default-draw-winds 0) (default-draw-temperature 
0) (default-draw-control 0) (default-draw-people 0) (default-draw-lighting 
0) (default-draw-elevations 0) (default-draw-coverage 1) 
(default-draw-grid 1) (default-power 5))

For whatever reason, using xconq with those prefs will cause it to crash 
after 11 turns or so.  "Doctor, it hurts when I go like THIS!"  Yeah, so I 
deleted that and things run great.

I look forward to doing another CVS snapshot build when things settle out
a bit.  If another Solaris user chimes in with an interest in a pre-built
package once the eagerly anticipated 7.5.0 release is ready, I volunteer
to maintain it.

-- Chris

Re: Xconq Packaging (was Re: Major improvement to the Xconq kernel)

[Eric McDonald]

Hi Chris ("Skeezics"),

On Sat, 15 Nov 2003, Skeezics Boondoggle wrote:

> <raises hand>
> 
> I guess that's me?  

Yep. You're who I had in mind.

>Should I drink a few too many beers and demand that
> any other closeted Solaris users reveal themselves? :-]

;-)

> Of course, I use RPM to build open source stuff on Solaris, instead of the

IIRC, you also mentioned things about not liking some of the 
datadir, etc... choices in the makefile templates. I changed some 
of that a while back ago; happier now?

> native packaging tools... I *hate* the stupid /opt thing, 

You too? :-)

> interested in a Solaris build I could create a relocatable package and
> offer that.

That would be cool.

> Oh!  And remember I'd reported a strange crash a while back that I just 
> couldn't figure out?  

I would have to plumb the archives for that one, because I don't 
remember....

>I deleted my .xconq/prefs.xcq and haven't had a 
> problem since.  Hmmm.

> Here's the bogus one:

I'll take a look if I get a chance. Maybe Hans or someone else 
will immediately see what the problem was....

> I look forward to doing another CVS snapshot build when things settle out
> a bit.  If another Solaris user chimes in with an interest in a pre-built
> package once the eagerly anticipated 7.5.0 release is ready, I volunteer
> to maintain it.

Thanks!

  Regards,
    Eric

Re: Xconq Packaging (was Re: Major improvement to the Xconq kernel)

[Skeezics Boondoggle]

On Sat, 15 Nov 2003, Eric McDonald wrote:

> Hi Chris ("Skeezics"),

There's a long story behind that pseudonym.  But anyway...

> IIRC, you also mentioned things about not liking some of the 
> datadir, etc... choices in the makefile templates. I changed some 
> of that a while back ago; happier now?

Like the team of intrepid Xconq developers, I've been insanely busy at 
work and life and other things, but I do actively lurk on the list and try 
to keep up with changes.  I saw that those patches get posted but haven't 
tried them out - I'll do that as soon as I get a chance.  Thanks!

> > native packaging tools... I *hate* the stupid /opt thing, 
> 
> You too? :-)

Yeah, I guess there were some old SunOS4/BSDisms that I just couldn't give
up.  Took me a long time before Solaris didn't make me feel like bashing
my head on things all the time.  But I still stubbornly resist /opt at 
every turn. :-]

> > Here's the bogus one:
> 
> I'll take a look if I get a chance. Maybe Hans or someone else 
> will immediately see what the problem was....

Not a big priority, obviously, unless it's an easy thing to fix.  Right
now I just tear off the View menu, click on the four options I generally
set, then get into the game.  It'd be nice to have those things saved in
prefs.xcq, but it's really not a big deal now that I've figured out what
was causing the crashes.  I do find it very strange, though, that the game
would go for several turns before crashing, though.  I'm hoping this isn't
one of those things that looks so seemingly innocuous and turns out to
have nasty, horrible repercussions. :-)

I'm much more interested in some of the latest changes building toward the
new release.  The improved path-finding code and some other recent fixes
sound like they'll make the basic games a bit more challenging, and while
I like being 124 and 0 against the AIs it would be interesting actually
lose a game, once.  To see what that's like. :-)

Cheers,

-- Chris

Re: Xconq Packaging (was Re: Major improvement to the Xconq kernel)

[Peter Garrone]

On Sat, Nov 15, 2003 at 05:34:10PM -0500, Eric McDonald wrote:
> Hi Peter, all,
> 
> On Fri, 14 Nov 2003, Peter Garrone wrote:
> 
> > investigating further.) I imagine you are fishing for an offer from me
> > here, and if no one else wants to do it I would, though I am probably
> 
> Actually, I exchanged email with Timo Benk earlier today, and he 
> said that he was still interested in being the maintainer for the 
> Debian package. I mentioned to him about packaging CVS snapshots, 
> but I haven't heard back in that regard. He did ask me to drop him 
> a note when 7.5 comes out, and he'll package that up.

Thats fine with me. I dont think its quite ready just yet anyway.
 Peter

Re: Xconq Packaging (was Re: Major improvement to the Xconq kernel)

[Eric McDonald]

On Sat, 15 Nov 2003, Eric McDonald wrote:

> Actually, I exchanged email with Timo Benk earlier today, and he 
> said that he was still interested in being the maintainer for the 
> Debian package. I mentioned to him about packaging CVS snapshots, 
> but I haven't heard back in that regard. He did ask me to drop him 
> a note when 7.5 comes out, and he'll package that up.

Timo emailed me awhile ago and said that he would be willing to do 
CVS snapshots too. Though not anytime soon....

So if he follows through, then I think we have a Debian 
maintainer.

Eric