Re: About the osgearth package in Debian and Ubuntu
On 11/7/20 4:09 PM, Török, Attila wrote:
> We are the developers of the OMNeT++/OMNEST network simulation framework (
> https://omnetpp.org). Our software has provided some integration for
> including 3D graphics visualization in our users' simulation models by
> utilizing OpenSceneGraph and osgEarth for some years now.
> Upon upgrading to Ubuntu 20.10, we have noticed that the osgearth package
> is no longer present in the groovy release.
> After a bit of looking around, we found that the reason for this is that it
> was first removed from Debian as per your (Bas's) request:
> https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=962894
>
> We are wondering if this complete removal was intentional, and if there is
> any particular reason against reintroducing it; or was it just a lack of
> dependent packages, interest, or volunteer power/time?
The removal was very much intentional.
osgEarth doesn't maintain its libraries properly, when their ABI breaks
the SONAME is not bumped for example. And these ABI breaks tend to
happen for every new osgEarth release.
This made the globe support in qgis problematic, as every new osgEarth
release required changes to QGIS. Hence we stopped supporting this
feature in Debian, reducing the need to have osgearth available in Debian.
osgEarth also tended to break with newer OpenSceneGraph releases, this
made maintaining the package not worth the effort for someone who
doesn't use it himself.
> Is there a way for us to help osgearth come back into future (or maybe even
> the current) Debian and Ubuntu releases?
Work with upstream to handle library compatibility better for starters.
> Also: What do you think is the situation regarding the recently released
> osgEarth 3.0? Could it make it into Debian (and Ubuntu) in the foreseeable
> future? Even considering that it still requires GDAL 2.x, which might
> conflict with other packages?
I have not looked into osgEarth 3.0 and don't plan to do so. If this new
major release includes proper library management and backwards
compatibility, there may be a future for the package in Debian.
Without anyone working on maintaining the package in Debian there is no
chance of it being reintroduced in Debian and Ubuntu. If you want to use
the osgearth package available in Debian and Ubuntu for your work,
you'll need to step up and maintain the package.
osgEarth 3.0 will likely work with GDAL 3.x as well, but if not that is
a major blocker to get the package reintroduced. It will require working
with upstream to make it work (and keep it working with) recent GDAL
releases.
Kind Regards,
Bas
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