A few ideas requiring discussion

[Aleksey Bragin]

	Hello,
there are a few ideas I would like to get feedback about:

1) iBrowser. Do we need it nowadays in the tree, when we have firefox  
working?
2) In order to slightly decrease a load to our build servers, Alex  
proposes to build Debug version without any optimizations at all,  
thus increasing compilation speed.
For regression testing, release builds should be used, since release  
builds are the most sensitive to possible errors.
3) RBuild improvement - the "components bundles" concept should be  
(re)introduced: if I type "make <directory name>", I would like to  
get all components inside that directory to be built.
4) Dependency map of ReactOS - maybe this should be implemented  
inside of RBuild too. Dependency map is a tree, which shows how  
modules depend from each other. Fortunately, we don't need to do this  
by hand, since we can use rbuild's parsers/etc. Output format of the  
map - open for suggestions.

If someone feels he is able to do point 3 or 4 - this is greatly  
appreciated, and will help development of ReactOS.



With the best regards,
Aleksey Bragin.

[WaxDragon]

On 12/13/06, Aleksey Bragin <aleksey(a)studiocerebral.com> wrote:
>           Hello,
>  there are a few ideas I would like to get feedback about:
>
>  1) iBrowser. Do we need it nowadays in the tree, when we have firefox
>  working? 
If we can fix it's bugs (like form input), I say keep it. Otherwise
drop it.  I'd like to see getfirefox also removed and have FF added to
packmgr.

>   2) In order to slightly decrease a load to our build
> servers, Alex
>  proposes to build Debug version without any optimizations at all,
>  thus increasing compilation speed. 
I'd like to see the iso archive consistent.  Maybe we need more
buildservers so we can build more configurations?

>   For regression testing, release builds should be used,
> since release
>  builds are the most sensitive to possible errors. 
... and produce the least amount of debugging output.

>   3) RBuild improvement - the "components
> bundles" concept should be
>  (re)introduced: if I type "make <directory name>", I would like to
>  get all components inside that directory to be built. 
++

>   4) Dependency map of ReactOS - maybe this should be
> implemented
>  inside of RBuild too. Dependency map is a tree, which shows how
>  modules depend from each other. Fortunately, we don't need to do this
>  by hand, since we can use rbuild's parsers/etc. Output format of the
>  map - open for suggestions. 
Unless it can generate a very detailed map, I think it should be done
by hand, possibly as punishment for breaking build/boot.  ;0)

WD

[Alex Ionescu]

WaxDragon wrote:
>   On 12/13/06, Aleksey Bragin
> <aleksey(a)studiocerebral.com> wrote:
>  
> >          Hello,
> > there are a few ideas I would like to get feedback about:
> >
> > 1) iBrowser. Do we need it nowadays in the tree, when we have firefox
> > working? 
>  
>  
>  If we can fix it's bugs (like form input), I say keep it. Otherwise
>  drop it.  I'd like to see getfirefox also removed and have FF added to
>  packmgr.
>   
What's the point of keeping it? Even Vista doesn't have a built-in
browser anymore. It was only created back then ffox didn't work. I think
we should instead include our own mshtml.dll which does the same trick
as WINE and uses the mozilla engine, and have a simple C stub browser
that just uses the library. But until then ibrowser is a C++ hog.

>   
> >  2) In order to slightly decrease a load to our
> > build servers, Alex
> > proposes to build Debug version without any optimizations at all,
> > thus increasing compilation speed. 
>  
>  
>  I'd like to see the iso archive consistent.  Maybe we need more
>  buildservers so we can build more configurations? 
Maybe someone can finally start a donation fund to Christoph so he can
buy new servers and/or upgrade them...it's been promised to me for ages.

>   
> >  3) RBuild improvement - the "components
> > bundles" concept should be
> > (re)introduced: if I type "make <directory name>", I would like to
> > get all components inside that directory to be built. 
>  
>  
>  ++ 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++.

>   
>  
> >  4) Dependency map of ReactOS - maybe this should
> > be implemented
> > inside of RBuild too. Dependency map is a tree, which shows how
> > modules depend from each other. Fortunately, we don't need to do this
> > by hand, since we can use rbuild's parsers/etc. Output format of the
> > map - open for suggestions. 
>  
>  
>  Unless it can generate a very detailed map, I think it should be done
>  by hand, possibly as punishment for breaking build/boot.  ;0) 
Doing it by hand means someone would update it each time we make a
chance. The map should only be a tree... basically I want to identify
orphaned components, under-used components etc. I forsee the day when
we'll start importing 3rd-party libs like crazy and unless we're careful
it'll destroy the tree.


-- 
Best regards,
Alex Ionescu
Project Lead, TinyKRNL
Kernel-Mode Software Design Engineer, ReactOS

[Toby Smithe]

On Wed, 2006-12-13 at 15:19 -0500, WaxDragon wrote:
>   On 12/13/06, Aleksey Bragin
> <aleksey(a)studiocerebral.com> wrote:
> >           Hello,
> >  there are a few ideas I would like to get feedback about:
> >
> >  1) iBrowser. Do we need it nowadays in the tree, when we have firefox
> >  working? 
>  
>  If we can fix it's bugs (like form input), I say keep it. Otherwise
>  drop it.  I'd like to see getfirefox also removed and have FF added to
>  packmgr. 
Having FF by default would make life easier, especially when testing
without a network connection (whyever that may be). I don't think I've
ever tried to use iBrowser for any length of time, but when I do, I
think it needs a lot of looking after.

> >   2) In order to
> > slightly decrease a load to our build servers, Alex
> >  proposes to build Debug version without any optimizations at all,
> >  thus increasing compilation speed. 
>  
>  I'd like to see the iso archive consistent.  Maybe we need more
>  buildservers so we can build more configurations?
>  
> >   For regression testing, release builds should be
> > used, since release
> >  builds are the most sensitive to possible errors. 
>  
>  ... and produce the least amount of debugging output. 
As a tester; I like debug output... but if you insist... :)

> >   3) RBuild
> > improvement - the "components bundles" concept should be
> >  (re)introduced: if I type "make <directory name>", I would like to
> >  get all components inside that directory to be built. 
>  
>  ++ 
++^2

>   
> >   4) Dependency map of ReactOS - maybe this should
> > be implemented
> >  inside of RBuild too. Dependency map is a tree, which shows how
> >  modules depend from each other. Fortunately, we don't need to do this
> >  by hand, since we can use rbuild's parsers/etc. Output format of the
> >  map - open for suggestions. 
>  
>  Unless it can generate a very detailed map, I think it should be done
>  by hand, possibly as punishment for breaking build/boot.  ;0) 
I don't see why it shouldn't. I forget what the GNOME system is called,
but the maps it produces are incredibly useful and detailed.