Re: [Caml-list] OpenGL support in LablGTK2?

[Jacques Garrigue <garrigue@math.nagoya-u.ac.jp>]

From: Matt Gushee <mgushee@havenrock.com>
> Jacques Garrigue wrote:
> 
> > After a bit more testing, it seems that the problem with gtkglarea2 is
> > not directly related to gtk, but rather to Xorg 6.7.
> > That is, after upgrading to Xorg 6.8.1, the problem was solved.
> > So I have no plans to switch to gtkglext anymore, as this doesn't seem
> > so much worthwhile.
> 
> Wow. Maybe I misunderstand, but are you really saying there's nothing to 
> worry about?

Yes.

> Now, it seems to me that you contribute a great deal to OCaml, and even 
> if that weren't the case, you're still a volunteer developer. So of 
> course you are under no obligation to add any requested features to your 
> software, and I don't wish to suggest otherwise. But the above rationale 
> seems horribly short-sighted. The problem is not so much that LablGTK 
> depends on a *broken* package, as that it depends on an *unmaintained* 
> one. That being the case:
> 
>    1) at some point in the not-too-distant future, gtkglarea will likely
>       become unusable due to incompatible changes in GTK itself.

Then something will have to be done about it at that time.
But this has been the situation for already a few years, and
gtkglarea2 is still working, so this doesn't seem a big concern.
Note also that the great thing about free software is that anybody is
allowed to fix a problem when it arises.

>    2) already, at least some Linux distributions are lacking a gtkglarea2
>       package. Thus, lablgtk with OpenGL support can't be provided as a
>       package for those distributions.

You just have to create a gtkglarea2 package together with the
lablgtk2 package. Not a big deal. Much less work than writing an
interface for gtkglext and all the compatibility bindings (the
compatibility bindings are the painful part.)

> Please don't be satisfied, just because the packages happen to build on 
> your system today.

I'm satisfied that the situation is not as bad as I feared.
Note that some configurations breaking with gtk is not an unusual
event. For instance, the GtkTree widget was unusable in 2.4.0, but
fortunately this was promptly fixed.

I know some people think that programmers should just adapt to the new
APIs, but this can mean lots of work when they are structured
differently, this is why keeping compatibility is important.

Jacques Garrigue