Wondering about development

evster · Red Pill Joined: Oct 25, 2005 Posts: 8

Hi there,

I actually just started using mac a few weeks ago, so far I like it. I am a software developer (I use linux for my main os) and I was wondering about helping in developing NeoOffice. A couple overview questions, how many people are currently working on it? I am pretty busy over the next few months but in January I am going to have a lighter free time schedule and I have always wanted to join an opensource project.

So basically I am wondering what kind of tasks I could expect to help out with. This would be my first time developing on mac os so it will take a bit of time to get used to I am sure.

Thanks!
Evan Kirkland

sardisson · Town Crier Joined: Feb 01, 2004 Posts: 4588

Welcome! Patrick or Ed are the ones with the real, detailed answers, but just a couple of things and links until then....

Neo/J (soon to be just NeoOffice) has two developers right now, Patrick (pluby) and Ed (OPENSTEP); Patrick works full-time on Neo parts of the year, resources available, and Ed hacks after he gets home from his day job Smile

Recently, James McKenzie has helped out with building the latest development code and catching "alpha" issues before the code gets released as a Test Patch for the rest of us, and also in ensuring the Java 1.4.2 code builds with OOo 1.1.5 so we could use that as the basis of Neo 1.2 Alpha....

Just getting the OOo core to build usually stops most folks who show up wanting to help; OOo is not a pretty picture Sad

I hate to be doom-and-gloom in the first message because we (the NeoOffice community as a whole) are always looking for new developers to help Patrick and Ed out...but that seems to be how things play out. A lot of the build/development process seems to be fairly *nix-y stuff, so aside from the Mac OS X/BSD quirks (and the hairyness of OOo), you might not feel too far from your Linux roots.

Ed does have a set of specs for smaller-scale tasks than the MacIntel port, more native widget work, and migration to OOo 2.0.x codebase, the three big tasks for the coming year or so.

There's not much developer documentation, either; I've just updated the Build Instructions page in our wiki with some info and threads here on trinity that seemed helpful (at least at the moment).

Anyway, I hope I didn't scare you off already. Patrick and Ed have often said how developing Neo/J is one of the most worthwile, satisfying things they've done (and those of us in the community doing non-dev work will say the same about our efforts on behalf of users and the community), in spite of the difficulties. So welcome again, and we hope you'll join us.

Smokey

evster · Red Pill Joined: Oct 25, 2005 Posts: 8

Sounds good! I will start by first trying to get the code on my machine and get it building. Now, my wife uses the mac and neo office a lot so will having the development version on my computer effect the stable version I have installed? I am new to mac os, so i'm not exactly what all is done with applications. I know in windows I always have problems because of registry values and such, will there be any similar problems with this?

Thanks!

jakeOSX · Ninja Joined: Aug 12, 2003 Posts: 1373

unlike windows, there isn't a registry system in mac os x.

however there may be an issue with patch installers trying to update both versions... patrick or ed could probably speak better on that.

and welcome aboard.

Guest · Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 11:09 am Post subject:

evster · Red Pill Joined: Oct 25, 2005 Posts: 8

So I have managed to check out the code and got a compile error (which I expected). I was going to start diving in to the code to see if I can figure this error out but then I remembered reading in the build instructions that it won't compile on 10.4. I just want to make sure this is the case. If it is the case would it be worthwhile for me to still try and track down the source of my compile errors and then submit patch sets if I figure it out?

Thanks!
Evan

sardisson · Town Crier Joined: Feb 01, 2004 Posts: 4588

The 1.1 Release tag cited on the official planamesa.com build instructions won't, but Ed got gcc 3.3-based 10.4 compilation working in late July, so any more current tags should have that code.

(At least that's what I understand; if not, I need to update the wiki Smile

Ed?)

If you're trying a gcc 4 build, that doesn't work after several months of trying (not sure what tag/branch those patches are on).... Sad

Smokey

jakeOSX · Ninja Joined: Aug 12, 2003 Posts: 1373

i believe there is a way to force gcc3 compiling on 10.4 (it is the gcc4 part that is the issue).

or am i thinking about forcing java 1.3 compiling...

(it is monday morning)

-j

Guest · Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 6:15 am Post subject:

You use gcc_select.

evster · Red Pill Joined: Oct 25, 2005 Posts: 8

Just to let everyone know, it is in the process of compiling. I didn't realize that I hadn't checked out HEAD. Since it is not my machine I have trouble finding a large enough time span to do a complete build. Hopefully it will finish eventually...

I'll let you know when it finishes.

evster · Red Pill Joined: Oct 25, 2005 Posts: 8

This is frustrating.... Since it is a laptop I keep having to cancle the build. When I run the build a second time does it restart it all or does it resume where it has left off? If it doesn't resume does anyone know if people have been able to build it with a cross compiler on linux?

pluby · The Architect Joined: Jun 16, 2003 Posts: 11949

Guest · Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 8:57 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the encouragement! I have been a co-op student at 5 companies now so I am used to starting from scratch with massive programs. I know that it only takes time to understand what the heck is going on. I also understand the amount of code that needs to be compiled and that's why I have stuck with it so far Smile

. I am suprised it hasn't failed yet actually! I can't wait for it to finish building so that I can start looking into some of the code and figure out what is going on.

So, as I mentioned before since it is such a big build process I want to make sure that "make all" does the usual "make all" in that it doesn't re-do stuff that has already been built. Because if that is the case then I may easily spend the rest of my life trying to build it Smile

.

Thanks!
Evan

evster · Red Pill Joined: Oct 25, 2005 Posts: 8

Whoops....fogot to login....that last post was me....

kmorris · Sentinel Joined: Dec 19, 2004 Posts: 23

I built Neo on my laptop a few months ago - it took over a day (15" powerbook, 1G memory, mac os 10.3). The main problem was keeping my family away from the laptop while it was building Smile

.

Unfortunately I don't have time to dedicate to development at the moment, though I may look at Ed's set of specs for smaller tasks in January (when I hope to have a bit more free time). Will I need to upgrade to Tiger before being able to help out?