Subject: Re: potential developer/questions
From: John L. Clark (jlc6@po.cwru.edu)
Date: Sun May 06 2001 - 15:33:27 CDT
On Sun, May 06, 2001 at 09:38:09PM +0200, Peter Allin wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've been looking at Abiword for some time now, with the intent of joining
> the project. In this time I've
> lurked a bit on this list and looked some at the sourcecode. This has of
> course resulted in a couple
> of questions and comments.
Hi Peter, good to hear that you're interested in helping out.
>
> - The build system
>
> I try tracking the latest CVS version in order to keep up to date with the
> development. Most of the time a CVS update results in compiler/linker
> errors when I try compiling afterwards. Deleting the abi directory and
> checking a new one out solves this. So it seems that some of the files
> aren't recompiled. Since I haven't seen anyone else complaining I guess i'm
> doing something wrong here. Any hints?
Yes, the build system is a bit quirky. In particular, we have only
recently begun work on migrating to autoconf. The hesitation in the
past has been due to the fact that autoconf is not as XP (cross
platform) as one might hope. In our current system, which is based
solely upon makefiles, dependency tracking is not supported, so what
happens is that when a header file is changed, the make system has no
way of knowing which object files might be affected by that header
change. So, some object files compile with one version of the header,
and some still know about the old version, and blammo - you get linker
errors. You shouldn't need to redownload the entire source, instead,
delete the object file directory (.../abi/src/Linux_2.4.2_i386_DBG, for
example), and then recompile. True, that's also annoying, but less so,
and our increasing autoconf support should help (once I learn how to use
it, that is).
> - Source code structure
>
> I guess this one is a FAQ... Any hints about how to get an overview of the
> source code? I've been looking at it for quite some time without really
> getting a feel for it. Maybe the best way is to start working in one small
> part and get to know that first? In that case: Any hints for good "beginner
> projects"?
The second bug you mention below might make a good introductory project,
if it's confirmed. I'll take a look at it later tonight when I get back
to my box. Tackling little things like this has been a good way for me
to get a feel for the code, I have found. Also, the online tools (LXR,
Doxygen, et al) are really handy. Would be nice if we could get all the
functionality of LXR working properly. :)
>
> Highlight color stays after block delete:
>
> If I highlight some text with a color and then delete a block containing
> this text then the highlighting color stays. It disappears after the next
> redraw of that region (if the window is minimized then maximed, or another
> window is dragged past).
>
>
>
> Thats all for now.. I hope I'll be able to put some work into this project
> :-)
>
Take care,
John
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