Re: xcircuit 3.6.24-1 unusable on amd64
Dear Larry,
I don't mean to complain, but the recent upload of xcircuit 3.6.24-1
to unstable is completely unusable for me on amd64. This is unlike
any previous version of xcircuit. I get segfaults or illegal
instruction crashes within half-a-dozen X actions.
It helps to know these things, which is why you *should* be
complaining. Complaining is the only way to get things done in
the open source world (unless, as you say, you want to become
a developer yourself).
This is true even when I rebuild from sources, either in or out
of the Debian package framework. I note a large number of 64-bit
concerns flagged by the compiler (gcc-4.0.4), about half of them
in the Xw widget set. I tried fixing some of the worst of these,
and using gdb to find details of the crash, but have not yet
succeeded in finding or fixing the problem(s).
This leaves me with a number of questions:
2. is xcircuit the only Debian package using Xw?
I wasn't aware that the Debian package uses Xw. I thought
that the executable was compiled with Tcl/Tk, and assumes
Tcl/Tk as a dependency for the package.
3. where did upstream (that's you, Tim) get that copy of Xw
(and are you maintaining that copy yourself)?
Looooooong time back. I first used Xw (which comes from HP,
by the way) in a GUI front-end for a neural network in 1991.
I don't really maintain it at all. I've switched to Tcl/Tk
to handle the GUI. The Xw package remains there as a
backup for people who, for whatever reason, don't or can't
install Tcl/Tk.
4. will upstream accept 64-bit cleanups (and do you have
access to a 64-bit machine to test them)?
I have an AMD Opteron. I (somewhat) regularly compile
and test the Tcl/Tk version of xcircuit on it. I'll take
a look at the latest 3.6 version, and also with Xw, but
my suspicion is that updating Xw to be 64-bit clean is
probably a painful exercise, and of questionable worth.
5. will this be the kick in the pants I need to become
a Debian Developer and adopt this package?
I wouldn't want to force you to resort to drastic measures.
Regards,
Tim
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| Dr. R. Timothy Edwards (Tim) | email: tim.edwards@multigig.com |
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