[PyKDE] Project Management (was Error when loading libqtc for PyQt3.7)

[Phil Thompson]

On Friday 11 July 2003 6:19 pm, Jonathan Gardner wrote:
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> On Friday 11 July 2003 09:33, Frederick Polgardy Jr wrote:
> > Obviously this situation arises, and will continue to arise, every
> > iteration of SIP/PyQt development, given that PyKDE is a pretty
> > monstrous project, and presumably Jim has a life outside of PyKDE. :)
> > The problem is that there is a set of users who want the cutting edge
> > SIP/PyQt stuff, and another set (in which I place myself) who want to
> > continue to use the complete SIP/PyQt/PyKDE combo until *everything* is
> > upgraded.
> >
> > In the Debian universe, what do you think of the idea of having some
> > sort of metapackage for each set (or group of metapkgs, taking python
> > versions, etc. into account)?  Or is it already too complicated? :)
> > I'd guess once the build architecture is fairly well set up, it's not
> > too hard to maintain, so I'm happy to help in any way I can.  It would
> > be worth it to me to not have to deal with the inconsistencies and
> > PyKDE "interruption of service" everytime SIP is upgraded.
> >
> > Any other thoughts on this?  I think it's a problem worth solving
> > somehow.
>
> My thought are:
>
> The problem really is that right now, PyKDE development is having a hard
> time keeping up with PyQt/sip development. This is due partly because the
> maintainer PyKDE (Jim Bublitz) is busy, and partly because the maintainer
> of PyQt (Phil Thompson) is not.

Well I feel pretty busy :)

I think the difference is one of priorities. We are both concentrating on the 
activities that puts bread on our respective tables.

> I mean, everyone has this problem of maintaining two or three seperate
> versions of software as the software goes through major upgrades. That is
> unavoidable. The problems with sip, PyQt, and PyKDE is that we are going
> through major revisions quite often at this point, and unfortunately, Jim
> is not able to keep up with Phil's rapid pace, in addition to the short
> upgrade cycles.
>
> The first solution in my mind is that we need to open up development of
> PyKDE so that it can keep up with PyQt. This is being done by Jim right
> now, so everything is good there.
>
> The second solution would be to branch and maintain the earlier releases of
> PyQt and sip. People won't have to upgrade to a new version to get a minor
> bug fix they need, and so they won't be trapped waiting for PyKDE to come
> out. This requires more bodies and time, and both seem to be short in
> supply. It also helps to have fewer versions of sip and PyQt to maintain.

Branching wouldn't make any difference as there are already two versions - the 
latest and the one needed by PyKDE.

> A third solution would be a sip 3.7.1 that works with PyQt 3.7.0, 3.7.1,
> and 3.7.2, if you know what I mean. I think this would alleviate a lot of
> issues in all three packages. This is a lot of work to implement, even more
> work to maintain, and probably not a good idea at this point. However,
> maintaining backwards compatibility is a worthy goal of all software
> projects.
>
> I will add that the barriers I see to people adopting sip, PyQt, and PyKDE
> are the problems of getting the right versions to play together, while also
> getting the latest bug fixes. It is outright frustrating at times. I myself
> stick with the 3.5 supplied with RedHat 8, just so that I can stabilize my
> development. I think all three suggestions above should help to lower this
> barrier.
>
> These are just my opinions, based on what I have seen and heard. I hope
> they are challenged and corrected as appropriate.

I'm not clear what the (technical) reasons are for the delay in PyKDE. The 
differences between SIP 3.5 and 3.7 are not great - I wouldn't expect that to 
be a significant reason. How much is down to different KDE releases?

Phil