[Plplot-devel] Call for widespread testing of our new configuration scheme.

[Alan W. I. <ir...@be...>]

I have just committed a newly reorganized and updated PROBLEMS file which
details the essential issues that must be addressed before we release.  It
is a fairly long list, but the vast majority of the items will only take
a minor effort to solve.

The number one issue is cross-platform testing of the new autotools-based
configuration and building scheme.  We need tests of both the dynamic and
static driver cases.  Are there any Unix platforms where dynamic drivers
don't work?  If dynamic drivers work in a majority of cases, we should make
it the default.  But we won't know until we test.

The testing cookbook is given in
http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_id=1375571&forum_id=2199.

Note that after a fresh checkout and the bootstrap.sh part (on Linux or
whatever Unix platform where autotools has been installed) you should be
able to make a tarball of your tree which you can unpack on *any* Unix
platform. The configure, make, and make install can be completed on that
"foreign" Unix platform without any autotools being installed.  This makes
cross-platform testing much easier than if you had to have autotools
installed on *every* platform you tested. Make the tarball directly from
your tree rather than using "make dist" because that latter choice is not
maintained (since it is a nightmare to do so).

Many on this list can help with this cross-platform testing effort of the
new configuration scheme so please do!  I have time to help you sort out any
problems you find over the next few weeks, but January 2nd my PLplot time is
going to be severely curtailed as I get involved in a new job so you will
be mostly on your own after that.

Alan

email: ir...@be...
phone: 250-727-2902	FAX: 250-721-7715
snail-mail:
Dr. Alan W. Irwin
Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3055,
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, V8W 3P6
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