[GNC-dev] automated tech for setup of builds + HELLO

[John Ralls]

Dale,

There is no "one command" that will build all of GnuCash for three operating systems, nor is it possible to do so. The Windows build can be accomplished with two commands, one to set up the environment and another to do the build. The MacOS build takes four commands to set up and two to build. The various Linux packagers have their own build scripts tailored to their distribution's packaging requirements, and those with a Gnome inclination can easily set up a jhbuild environment for themselves.

If all of the developers were to die, building the package would be a small problem compared to new people learning the 1.5M LoC well enough to restart development.

Regards,
John Ralls

> On May 10, 2019, at 7:06 AM, Dale Phurrough via gnucash-devel <gnucash-devel at gnucash.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi. I'm Dale and introducing myself + an inquiry.
> I migrated Quicken->Gnucash 3.5 in April. I chose GnuCash so that I can
> contribute.
> 
> ===Inquiry
> *Where is the standard automated setup and build process for gnucash app
> and docs?*
> 
> One of the issues I encountered is a doc issue. To resolve, I need to
> edit/build gnucash docs. I also read recently on this mailing list someone
> trying to get a dev build environment setup. And what happens when all the
> devs currently compiling official releases on GnuCash die...what is the
> project continuance? These are common problems likely with a shared
> solution using technology like containers/Docker.
> 
> I found in the git repo the Docker pieces for Travis. However, I have not
> found a standard automated setup and build process for creating
> release-quality apps and docs. What is the one command I can execute that
> will do all setup and build of everything needed to make runnable assets at
> a quality level like those assets provided with a public GnuCash release?
> 
> The multiple pages of wiki documentation, HACKING file, and exceptions for
> setup of a build environment is unwieldy. Doc is good, yes. Automation of
> that doc is better. We can automate the entire setup of the OS install,
> dependencies, and the c/make. Like the Six Million Dollar Man, "We can
> rebuild him; we have the technology"
> 
> If there is no such automated setup and build process tech, *I offer to
> create the first two of them*. One to build doc, and one to build an x86_64
> for Ubuntu 14.04. Naturally, I'll leverage the work with Travis and consult
> with people on this mailing list. When these are successful, I also offer
> to insert documentation into the existing build docs to offer people the
> second option of a one-step container that will setup/compile.
> 
> ===Intro on me
> One of my lives was a 13-year career at Microsoft building front- and
> backend solutions for hundreds of millions around the world. I did this as
> program mgmt and dev, as an individual contributor and a leader of
> leaders/teams. Made lots of inventions, one was public/patented. In my
> current life, I am an occasional-landlord and independent tech/artist/dev.
> Ongoing, I make software for researchers, educators, and artists to use the
> Kinect sensor.
> 
> During my Quicken->Gnucash migration I captured many first-time/migration
> issues that can only be captured once per person. Because after that
> first-time, a person and their data is forever tainted. I see a lot of
> opportunity in this space that I can contribute. Some of these issues I
> already opened bugs in your tracker. A few dozen others I have offline that
> may lead to new bugs in the tracker if I can I isolate them and develop
> clear repo steps.
> 
> I currently live in Berlin, Germany. Mein Deutsch ist...funktional.
> English-US is my mother tongue.
> 
> --Dale
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