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Is there a "standard reference system" for testing installs?

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Re: Is there a "standard reference system" for testing insta

Postby Hooray » Thu Jan 12, 2017 11:19 am

Are there things available that can be done using the "as built" version of FG, without having to resort to recompiling or jumping through other development hoops?

That is exactly the kind of scenario I had in mind when I stated that some of us are working towards providing binaries that have most of the required machinery built right into the binary.

One of the most useful things that people like you can do pretty much immediately is to begin interfacing between the forum/devel communities, and helping review/triage bug reports, as well as getting involved in helping test nighly builds - basically, you can emulate wkitty42, who's doing a terrific job here, without having to be a core developer.
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Re: Is there a "standard reference system" for testing insta

Postby jharris1993 » Thu Jan 12, 2017 1:56 pm

Richard wrote in Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:58 am:
Microsoft provides a free version of Visual Studio that builds FG just fine. Installing Visual Studio Community 2015 will also get you the tools for debugging; and if you download the built binaries from Jenkins you should be able to use the debugging tools with the pre built version.

It's a little tricky to setup a build environment under windows; but it is helpful really only when you're building.

The rest of the debugging / symbol tools can be equally well used with a prebuilt executable provided that you have the PDB files.


Richard,

At least for the time being, I'd really rather not get involved with "build" environments in either Windows or Linux. Build environments can, and do, install "extra" utilities and executables needed for the specific task of building and it is essential that testing be done on a "clean" (no-development) system to disclose dependency conflicts and issues masked by having a development environment installed.

Jim (JR)
What say ye?

Jim (JR)

Some see things as they are, and ask "Why?"
I dream things that never were, and ask "Why Not".

Robert F. Kennedy

“Impossible” is only found in the dictionary of a fool.
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Re: Is there a "standard reference system" for testing insta

Postby jharris1993 » Thu Jan 12, 2017 1:59 pm

wkitty42 wrote in Wed Jan 11, 2017 11:31 pm:
good try at the pun! :)

WINE is actually a self-referencing acronym and stands for "WINE Is Not an Emulator"... WineHQ


I figured it was something like that - however I will admit that the pun was a blatant example of an absolute lack of self control when offered the opportunity to fuzz around with it. . . :D

Jim (JR)
What say ye?

Jim (JR)

Some see things as they are, and ask "Why?"
I dream things that never were, and ask "Why Not".

Robert F. Kennedy

“Impossible” is only found in the dictionary of a fool.
Old Chinese Proverb
jharris1993
 
Posts: 154
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Re: Is there a "standard reference system" for testing insta

Postby Hooray » Sun Mar 19, 2017 4:29 pm

Regarding bug reports that may or may not be related to the recent SIMD work:
Subject: Is there a "standard reference system" for testing installs?
erik wrote:I've seen these too when developing the SIMD code.



Have you considered exposing the cmake option as a property so that it can be shown in the help/about dialog for troubleshooting purposes:

http://wiki.flightgear.org/Howto:Create ... ep_by_Step
Image


http://wiki.flightgear.org/About_dialog
Image
Please don't send support requests by PM, instead post your questions on the forum so that all users can contribute and benefit
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Re: Is there a "standard reference system" for testing insta

Postby jharris1993 » Sun Mar 19, 2017 7:32 pm

Re: Exposing the "cmake option as a property". Works for me, and it should provide valuable information when trying to figure out obscure bugs.

Can similar information be exposed within Windows builds?

Thanks!

Jim (JR)
What say ye?

Jim (JR)

Some see things as they are, and ask "Why?"
I dream things that never were, and ask "Why Not".

Robert F. Kennedy

“Impossible” is only found in the dictionary of a fool.
Old Chinese Proverb
jharris1993
 
Posts: 154
Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2012 10:20 pm
Location: Worcester, MA. / Moscow, Russia
Callsign: $%^&ing Idiot!
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Re: Is there a "standard reference system" for testing insta

Postby Hooray » Sun Mar 19, 2017 9:21 pm

I haven't been following the commit logs at all, maybe this is already being done - likewise, it would seem to make sense to expose Qt availability (and version info) for pretty much the same reasons, as well as any other dependencies recently added - psadro_gm's recent GDAL/OGR commits would be another candidate: http://wiki.flightgear.org/Experimental_terrain_engine

At some point we may want to consider using a dedicated "dependencies" dialog instead of using the help/about dialog for that much info - or maybe use a Canvas dialog and a tabbed interface to better organize things there:

http://wiki.flightgear.org/Howto:Proces ... ing_Canvas
Image

(this is fully functional "as is", and it would only require editing a single line in menubar.xml to use the pui2canvas parser to render the dialog using the Canvas back-end for just this particular dialog)
Please don't send support requests by PM, instead post your questions on the forum so that all users can contribute and benefit
Thanks & all the best,
Hooray
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Re: Is there a "standard reference system" for testing insta

Postby jharris1993 » Mon Mar 20, 2017 10:29 am

Hooray,

I absolutely agree with what you said about creating a separate dialog. In fact, I was going to log-in to post the same suggestion.

I also like your idea of a tabbed interface within the "About" dialog:

1. It keeps the individual dialog screens uncluttered, and allows each dialog to concentrate on specific aspects of the program.
2. The use of tabs allows the dialog to incorporate new information - or re-arrange information by breaking items out as needed, without having to totally redesign the dialog. If I am correct, creating a new tab is done by simply creating a new "tab instance" for the desired information.

I would ask certain requirements for this dialog - in fact, these should be requirements for every dialog within Flight Gear:
1. The dialog should be re-sizable.
2. The dialog should allow text selection and copy.
3. The dialog should respect the dimensions of the display, and resize automatically as necessary. This includes preventing the top or bottom of the dialog from disappearing off the screen or behind the task-bar. If the information displayed is too large/long, scroll bars should automatically appear.
4. Text should re-format to accommodate the width of the dialog without needing to scroll horizontally. (i..e. Horizontal scrolling represents an abysmal user experience and should be avoided at all costs, whenever possible.)

This will give the best and most pleasant user experience.

Jim (JR)
What say ye?

Jim (JR)

Some see things as they are, and ask "Why?"
I dream things that never were, and ask "Why Not".

Robert F. Kennedy

“Impossible” is only found in the dictionary of a fool.
Old Chinese Proverb
jharris1993
 
Posts: 154
Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2012 10:20 pm
Location: Worcester, MA. / Moscow, Russia
Callsign: $%^&ing Idiot!
Version: Whatever..
OS: Win-10/ Linux MInt

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