Subject: Re: Newbie Help / Collapsible Outline Status Report
From: sam th (sam@bur-jud-118-039.rh.uchicago.edu)
Date: Wed May 31 2000 - 08:01:22 CDT
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On Wed, 31 May 2000, Randy Kramer wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am approximately on schedule in my 5 year plan to incorporate
> collapsible outlining in AbiWord. :-(
Welcome! It's always good to pull people in from the lurkers.
>
> I'm proving to be much more of a newbie than I expected (at Bash, C,
> C++, Make, CVS, patching, etc.)
>
Well, you've got to start somewhere. :-) I know I've learned lots since I
started working on this project.
> Currently, I'm trying to build AbiWord under Windows 95 and VC++ 5. I
> am struggling with Make and Bash. I am reading the GNU manual for make.
>
> Questions:
> Is there a set of step by step instructions for newbies specifically
> aimed at building AbiWord under Windows 95 and VC++? Is there a set of
> step by step instructions for newbies specifically aimed at developing
> for an Open Source project under Windows 95 and VC++?
>
As far as windows goes, I can't help you. As far as developing for Open
Source/Free Software projects, there shouldn't be much difference based on
platform. Probably the best introduction to developing for Free Software
was written by Havoc Pennington (a GNOME guy, who occasionally lurks this
list). Try searching for it on google.
> By newbie, I mean someone who is reasonably familiar with MSDos and
> Windows, including some programming in Pascal, Visual Basic, and batch
> files (and other languages from long ago), but is not familiar with
> Linux (Unix), make, Bash, CVS, patching, etc.
>
patch is pretty easy, once you figure out that the syntax usually goes
like this
patch -p0 < patchfile.diff
I've never had to muck much with makefiles (at least until I started
changing them). make has an extensive manual at
http://www.gnu.org/manual/make-3.77/make.html
the best way to learn cvs is from the book at http://cvsbook.red-bean.com
I haven't found bash to affect abiword much, but if you have specific
questions, I suspect someone here knows the answer.
As for linux, try http://linuxdoc.org/LDP/gs/gs.html, the best guide to
linux around.
> I've read the recent threads on the developers list: "CygWin x Win32";
> "(Incomplete) Patch for Borland C++"; "Cygwin 1.1.0 build problems, a
> clue"; "Cygwin Make causing a Kernel32.DLL fault"; and "Cygwin 1.1.0
> patch"; but the information there is at least two steps ahead of what I
> am presently ready to absorb. (I've been lurking on the developers list
> for over 6 months.)
>
> To give you an idea where I am, I just recognized that there is a file
> called "abi_defs.mk" and started reading it. It seems I will have to
> uncomment some lines in that file to make progress.
>
> If there is not a set of step by step newbie instructions, or the
> beginning of such a set of instructions, I will attempt to keep notes
> and then make such a set of instructions as I wend my way toward
> building AbiWord under Windows 95 and VC++,
>
> --UNLESS--
> I'm making a mistake by even attempting to build and develop under
> Window 95 and VC++?
>
Certainly not. While I reccomend Linux personally (no flamewars, please),
AbiWord needs all kinds of developers.
> Background: Over the next several months, I anticipate switching to
> Linux. Even so, I am used to working in an IDE with a debugger. (From
> Turbo Pascal days and, more recently, Visual Basic.) I dread using a
> command line debugger which I understand gdb is. I think that for the
> forseeable future I'd like to debug in VC++ with its' integrated
> debugger, object browser, etc.
>
Well, you can always use Emacs :-)
Seriously, on Linux there are IDE's, and there are certainly graphical
debuggers (built on gdb, IMHO one of the world's great programs).
> Is that a terrible mistake? Will I be able to effectively develop
> within VC++, or should I switch to gcc? Will I be able to make
> effective patches from VC++ and the "windows" tools?
>
Well, patch is available for cygwin, as is diff (AFAIK). And Bruce, Paul
and others never seem to have a problem creating patches. If, however,
you got gcc to work in Cywin X Win32, we would all be very happy. :-)
> Is it a mistake to attempt to document this oddysey?
Documentation == ++Good (That's doubleplusgood, for you Eric Blair fans
:-> )
>
> Thanks,
> Randy Kramer
>
Hope that helps.
And again, welcome.
sam th
sam@uchicago.edu
http://sam.rh.uchicago.edu
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