Re: [as-devel] 1.8 release woes
charlie schmidt (ishamael@themes.org)
Mon, 31 Jan 2000 19:53:59 -0500 (EST)
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i have come to agree, as it seems 1.8+ascp may not be as far off
as many seem to think. however, even when 1.8 is release, there
is the key issue of themes. they are slow. the key problem is
the Restart installastheme.pl sends AfterStep. this is
only there for backwards compatibility, when the theme.handler
still grabbed information from the module config files ['wharf',
'pager','winlist']. since it really doesnt need to anymore,
as all look|theme information is really in the look, installing
a theme could be as simple and quick as a ChangeLook.
therefore, i am working on some perl to convert all the old 1.6 and
old 1.7 themes on as.themes.org into working 1.7.164 themes
[where all the neccassary information is in the look file, and
no info is grabbed from module configuration files.]
once this script is complete, i hope to merge it with the theme
handler, thus keeping backwards compatibility, but increasing
the speed at which themes are applied dramatically.
this script would also, theoretically, be able to convert 1.6
look files and module configs [seperate from themes]
into working 1.8 looks [and perhaps themes].
any comments, suggestions, or help in this area is of course
much appreciated.
On Mon, 31 Jan 2000, David Mihm wrote:
>
> There has been a great deal of disagreement on the 'upcoming'
> release of 1.8. In my opinion, the latest devel needs to have a
> no-brainer method of going from 1.6 to 1.8. The documentation also needs
> to be 100% _complete_ and _accurate_ - FAQ, man pages, READMEs (Solaris,
> HPUX, etc). The current look/feel/etc files need to be thuroughly
> inspected to verify that they are indeed current with the latest
> 'expected' contents (AfterStep:function specification requires "name" in
> [Nop]. is one that is continuously output with default files). The
> test.steprc needs adjusting to work; feels need _every_ cursor definition
> in them. This might not be an inclusive list of things, but it's on my
> TODO.
> As for ascp, it is my opinion that releasing 1.8 w/o ascp is a
> BadThing. Everyone seems to disagreee with mw on this point, but it's my
> feeling. We need, as a minumun if ascp won't be released as 1.8, some
> method to transfer 1.6.x config files to the new format. A lengthy text
> file telling the user what to do is _not_ the answer; there needs to be a
> script - be it perl, shell, java; I really don't care, but a methodology
> needs to exist.
> Now this is in the forefront and open for debate/discussion/law
> suits/etc.
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charlie schmidt ishamael@themes.org
http://as.themes.org http://afterstep.davidv.net
as.t.o project manager AfterStep FAQ