[tde-devels] Ray-V Slackware Build Scripts

Some Slackware related build script observations that hopefully reach Ray-V. Some time ago I used your build scripts with the R14.0.12 release. Recently I used them with R14.1.1. * While git is popular among many computer people, some folks are not familiar. There are no instructions in the beginning of the README file how to download the zip file that creates the build environment. Selecting the little green 'Code' drop-down widget in the upper right of the web page might seem obvious to git users but not so straightforward to other folks. * Some mention in the README would be helpful that the zip file creates the expected build environment. * Some mention might be helpful that the source tarballs will need at least 630 MB or so of disk space. More space is needed if adding packages not directly supported by the default build environment. * A note would be helpful about how much build environment space is needed. The default is to build and store in /tmp yet many people now use tmpfs. My first pass at building the packages halted because I chose not to delete temporary files and soon filled my /tmp using tmpfs. I chose not to delete anything because I wanted to study the environment and copy the packages to a local repo. Perhaps mention that for tmpfs users the TMP environment variable needs to be changed or the parent BUILD-TDE.sh script needs to be edited. * A related note would be helpful that building koffice requires about 2.5 GB of temporary storage space. * I'm not an original Slacker from 1993, but I have been using Slackware since 2001. In those years I do not recall seeing a package touch the stock /etc/profile or the root user's ~/.bashrc. Likewise with modifying stock /etc/profile.d scripts. Unorthodox for sure and unsettling to us old farts. Traditionally such changes are added with new /etc/profile.d scripts specific to the package. * The build scripts provide users a nice way to download source files. The file names of those sources are not the same as the parent sources provided at the TDE mirrors. Seems incidental but I had already manually downloaded and untarred the TDE 'R14.1.1-complete.tar' source tarball. I got confused why the build script was still downloading source files. I am one of those unfortunate folks who still has a slow internet connection with monthly caps. I resolved the problem for myself but why the source files need to be renamed seems confusing. * Mentioned in the TDE wiki and SlackBuild README is the need for a special TDE related cmake file. The build script downloads this source file, but the parent TDE 'R14.1.1-complete.tar' source tarball seems to be missing that special tarball. This information probably should be forwarded to whomever automates building the parent tarballs. * My first run building tqt3 failed with a gcc error not finding -lpng. The solution was to toggle off the visibility setting in the parent build script. Perhaps this visibility option could be better explained. * The inline EOF patching is unorthodox from Slackware tradition. Stock and SBo build scripts have followed the same template for many years. The template method is to merge separate patch files. The EOF method is interesting but clunky, requiring more effort for a person who wants to fine tune a local build environment or add local patches. * Likewise with the unorthodox EOF way of creating the package 'slack-desc' file. * As far as I can see there is no support to include debug symbols. This long has been a shortfall of Slackware packaging. Without symbol support, users struggle to post helpful crash reports. Perhaps the build scripts could be tuned to allow keeping the debug symbols with the usual disclaimer that doing so will create larger packages. * Perhaps consider a parent build script question to build only core packages. When the build list dialog appears, all packages up to tdebase will be preselected but none others. This could be handy for people who tinker a lot. I'm not frothing about any so-called 'Slackware way' or demanding anything, but I have been building Slackware and SBo packages for many years. Also long ago I was part of the TDE team. I have ample experience to make all of these changes for myself, but these unorthodox approaches tend to be confusing. These are your build scripts, but I hope this information helps. Thanks for the build scripts.