X-Authentication-Warning: delorie.com: mail set sender to geda-user-bounces using -f X-Recipient: geda-user AT delorie DOT com X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.3.1 (2010-03-16) on mail.theimps.com X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-100.0 required=5.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,SHORTCIRCUIT shortcircuit=ham autolearn=disabled version=3.3.1 From: Peter TB Brett To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com Subject: [geda-user] Config in unstable [was: Re: gschem / File / print / output paper size] In-Reply-To: <20121127044128.112d07ea@akka> References: <871ufigr8z DOT fsf AT dome DOT home> <87sj7y3umb DOT fsf AT harrington DOT peter-b DOT co DOT uk> <20121127044128 DOT 112d07ea AT akka> Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2012 11:00:22 +0000 Message-ID: <877gp748ft.fsf@harrington.peter-b.co.uk> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Reply-To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com Errors-To: nobody AT delorie DOT com X-Mailing-List: geda-user AT delorie DOT com X-Unsubscribes-To: listserv AT delorie DOT com Precedence: bulk TL;DR There is much more breakage to come! > Peter TB Brett schrieb am 25. November 2012: >> >>> It breaks my batch mode output as well >> >> $(GSCHEM) -p -c '(print-paper "na_d")' -odesign.pdf \ >> -s${GEDA_SCHEME_DIR}/print.scm design.sch >> >>> Why? > > For the archive: > My print procedures broke, too. Gschem fails on the "paper-size" line > I had in my gschemrc since ages. The print command set in gschemrc to > produce PDF output via CUPS-PDF did not work anymore, either. Instead > of a print dialog I got a backtrace in the log window. Yes. Unfortunately there is not currently any better way to alert users that their rc files are out-of-date. Flailing horribly and printing error messages is more efficient at this stage than trying to guess what the user wants. I attempted to write some code that tried to DTRT with the legacy "paper-size" function but it was both fragile and really confusing. >> If in doubt, read NEWS *before* misinterpreting git commit messages. > > Cite from src/geda-gaf/NEWS: > "'gschem' now uses a standard GTK print dialog" > > ---> Yay for gschem devs!! > Finally, a familiar print dialogue in gschem! > No more raised eyebrows, when newbies I teach geda basics try to print > their first schematics. Plus printing will work on every desktop that > has a print system enabled. No more need to make sure, CUPS-PDF is > installed... Yes, I think it's a worthwhile change, or I wouldn't have made it. And I'm the one who designed the previous "print" dialog... > Release notes of geda 1.9 should contain a large and friendly warning > about the change. Distros like Debian should offer a note on update. > Would it be possible to catch the presumably common stumbling blocks > me and Enoch hit? 1.9.0 is going to be a horribly "neither one thing nor the other" release. There will be lots of new features and bug fixes in there, but *all* geda-gaf configuration is going to be in flux throughout the 1.9.x release series. If you're going to be running git `master' over the next few months to a year, expect cryptic messages and misleading documentation [1]. Don't expect *not* to be having to tweak rc files and the (new) config files on a regular basis. Also, a lot of the tutorials will need to be rewritten. On the bright side, you should get nice new features, better security, and improved ease-of-use, and 1.10.0 (or, depending on how things go, 2.0) will be an excellent release [2]. The 1.9.0 release notes will of course contain a heads-up about the fact that existing batch printing scripts will break horribly. Just a reminder for all our wonderful beta testers about how to test the `master' branch: 0) "Unstable" means "not stable" (i.e. things will change and break). 1) Oh no, the pesky devs appear to have broken it again! 2) Double-check the documentation. Sometimes it even gets updated! 3) Read NEWS. Less detailed, but more regularly updated. 4) Read `git log', working backward from the most recent commit. 5) File a bug report or "question" (http://launchpad.net/geda/) 6) "Use the Source, Luke!" and submit a patch. N.b. "post a passive-aggressive e-mail to the mailing list" is not one of the recommended steps for promptly resolving your issue. Peter (back to lurking in the shadows) [1] Help wanted. [2] Fingers crossed! -- Peter Brett Remote Sensing Research Group Surrey Space Centre