[GNC] Build From Source Near Impossible

[Adrien Monteleone]

I'll add that maybe a note should be made for non-LTS (rather than 
provide special instructions) that GnuCash is available to Ubuntu repos 
from upstream Debian Testing that is current as of the Ubuntu release 
date. (or is that the freeze date?)

So conceivably, since Ubuntu releases every 6 months, and GnuCash issues 
point releases every 3, a user on the non-LTS cycle would at most end up 
behind 2 GnuCash releases at any one time, but could be current at each 
OS upgrade. (though I think the packager is a release behind anyway to 
Testing, so maybe make that 1 or 3 GC releases behind respectively - 
still not so terrible.)

Regards,
Adrien

On 8/9/22 1:37 PM, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
> Seems reasonable to me.
> 
> I'd think the only versions with instructions that are useful are those 
> still supported by Canonical, namely, these LTS releases:
> 
> 14.04 - EOL 4/24 (ESS 4/19)
> 16.04 - EOL 4/26 (ESS 4/21)
> 18.04 - EOL 4/28 (ESS 4/23)
> 20.04 - EOL 4/30 (ESS 4/25)
> 22.04 - EOL 4/32 (ESS 4/27)
> 
> Plus:
> 
> 22.10, 23.04 & 23.10 (and other future non-LTS versions) when they are 
> released and nuances are determined to need special instructions. (with 
> those to be deprecated as they reach EOL)
> 
> Or maybe just only provide instructions for LTS and make a note that 
> non-LTS versions aren't supported for long enough by Canonical to 
> warrant their own documentation.
> 
> Note, the above EOL dates are based on Canonical's ESM (Extended 
> Security Maintenance) available for both Enterprise and Personal Use. 
> (free for the latter) See: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases
> 
> That is 5 years beyond 'standard support'. (indicated as ESS above)
> 
> If the dev team wants to stick with the standard support window, then of 
> course 14.04 & 16.04 can also be dropped.
> 
> Though, 16.04 was a breakpoint with respect to support for physical 
> 32-bit systems. At least some derivatives are still based on 16.04 for 
> that reason. (a recent thread from a user described some difficulty 
> getting a 4.x version to work on an older Linux Lite release.)
> 
> If someone can report their various results & mileage, maybe those older 
> LTS releases can be sent to a sort of 'archive' page along with a note 
> on the last version of GnuCash that could successfully build on them.
> 
> Of course, the recommendation can also be to advise the user to switch 
> to a current distribution still actively supporting 32-bit hardware. 
> (Debian/Devuan & Q4OS at least come to mind, I'm sure Distrowatch can 
> inform concerning others.)