[HOpenGL] Re: [Haskell-cafe] Fw: patch applied (ghc): Remove the OpenGL familyof libraries fromextralibs

[Claus Reinke]

>> So, if one of you wanted to step forward and offer to keep these
>> Haskell bindings for OpenGL&co maintained, perhaps steward them
>> into the H(L)P, now would probably be a good time.
>> 
>> Just thought I'd forward this, for those not following cvs-ghc,
>> Claus
> 
> Note the OpenGL are still just as maintained as they used to be -- that
> is, it hasn't had a maintainer for several years.

Some people post the funniest rumours as if they were facts.

    $ ghc-pkg field OpenGL maintainer
    maintainer: sven.panne at aedion.de

At the end of this message, I also append the output of darcs changes 
since OpenGL 2.1 was supported, for those interested in what might
be involved in maintainance:

    Fri Nov 10 10:14:54 GMT Standard Time 2006  sven.panne at aedion.de
      * Updated Haddock module headers (now OpenGL 2.1 support, API is stable)

It just so happens that the library is very stable (unlike other libraries
I could think of;-) - Sven's last bug-fix patch was in March 2007, the 
patches since then have been build system evolution/maintainance. 

So the problem is not with the library, but with the environment - since 
its creation, the library has seen FFI tools appear and disappear, FFI 
spec and library hierarchy take shape, darcs appear and be taken on, 
Cabal appear and be taken on, packages and tools move on, split up, 
change their API, etc. - thanks to Sven and others, the binding has
weathered all that, without making a lot of noise.

And now, there is another enviroment change, with extralibs going and
the Haskell Platform aiming to improve the Haskell installation experience.

And new quality criteria will be prescribed that this old library will have 
to meet to be allowed in with the new kids on the block.

> The only change is that the GHC developers don't put them in a tarball
> on haskell.org/ghc prior to releasing GHC itself.

It isn't the tarballing, it is

(a) whether the library is run in the HEAD buildbots to flush out
    breaking changes to the environment early

(b) whether enviroment changes are reflected in the library to
    unbreak its build before user installations are affected

(c) whether the library can be relied on as being available on
    default Haskell installations (this would seem to be less of
    a problem with Cabal/hackage and user installs, but not all 
    clients have install privileges/tools - OpenGL building uses
    configure, which in itself might not be installed on Windows; 
    and in some University contexts, installation for public PCs 
    is on a centralised, yearly basis, not per student; etc.; adding 
    the GLUT dll has been a popular request ever since GHC 
    had Windows installers, meaning that every single time someone 
    forgets to put that dll in the installer, someone has reported it 
    as a bug/feature request)

I'm not aware of any urgent breakage in the OpenGL binding,
nor is the current source going away, and as Duncan says, he
expects OpenGL to reappear in the Haskell Platform later on.

But neither do I believe the rumour that OpenGL isn't much
used, and forwarding the removal notice gives those users the
opportunity to speak up now if they prefer no gaps in OpenGL 
presence, or forever to hold their peace, as they say.

Unless Sven wants to do the job himself, a maintainer would
mainly have to adapt the library to the Haskell Platform criteria,
keep up with the forever changing build environments, and counter 
rumours about the OpenGL binding being unmaintained or unused.

Claus

$ darcs changes --from-patch=stable
Thu Jun 19 13:43:50 GMT Daylight Time 2008  Ian Lynagh <igloo><earth.li>
  tagged GHC 6.8.3 release

Fri Jun  6 00:56:57 GMT Daylight Time 2008  Ian Lynagh <igloo><earth.li>
  tagged 2008-06-06

Sat Nov 10 01:11:04 GMT Standard Time 2007  Ian Lynagh <igloo><earth.li>
  tagged GHC 6.8.1 release

Sat Nov 10 01:09:54 GMT Standard Time 2007  Ian Lynagh <igloo><earth.li>
  tagged 2.2.1.1 release

Sat Oct 27 13:48:05 GMT Daylight Time 2007  Ian Lynagh <igloo><earth.li>
  * Bump version number

Thu Oct 18 18:31:37 GMT Daylight Time 2007  Duncan Coutts <duncan><haskell.org>
  * Specify build-type: Configure

Mon Jun  4 12:59:36 GMT Daylight Time 2007  Ross Paterson <ross><soi.city.ac.uk>
  * --configure-option and --ghc-option are now provided by Cabal

Thu May 24 15:56:14 GMT Daylight Time 2007  Ian Lynagh <igloo><earth.li>
  * Remove Makefile and package.conf.in (used in the old GHC build system)

Thu May 17 10:49:12 GMT Daylight Time 2007  Simon Marlow <simonmar><microsoft.com>
  * add includes: field

Mon Apr 30 12:17:32 GMT Daylight Time 2007  Ian Lynagh <igloo><earth.li>
  * Make configure fail if the package cannot be built

Sat Apr 28 20:58:51 GMT Daylight Time 2007  Ian Lynagh <igloo><earth.li>
  tagged GHC 6.6.1 release

Sat Apr 28 20:56:55 GMT Daylight Time 2007  Ian Lynagh <igloo><earth.li>
  tagged 2.2.1 release

Tue Apr 24 12:39:29 GMT Daylight Time 2007  Ian Lynagh <igloo><earth.li>
  tagged GHC 6.6.1 release

Tue Apr 24 12:38:31 GMT Daylight Time 2007  Ian Lynagh <igloo><earth.li>
  tagged Version 2.2.1

Sun Apr 22 20:50:57 GMT Daylight Time 2007  Ian Lynagh <igloo><earth.li>
  * Bump version to 2.2.1

Wed Apr 18 13:13:30 GMT Daylight Time 2007  Ian Lynagh <igloo><earth.li>
  * Follow Cabal changes in Setup.*hs

Wed Apr 11 02:22:21 GMT Daylight Time 2007  Ian Lynagh <igloo><earth.li>
  * Fix -Wall warnings

Sat Apr  7 18:41:16 GMT Daylight Time 2007  Ian Lynagh <igloo><earth.li>
  * Make Setup.hs suitable for building in a GHC tree

Tue Mar 13 17:46:09 GMT Standard Time 2007  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Importing hs_OpenGL_getProcAddres must use ccall instead of CALLCONV

  Patch provided by shelarcy><gmail.com

Sun Feb 18 11:02:00 GMT Standard Time 2007  Ross Paterson <ross><soi.city.ac.uk>
  * README about building from darcs

Mon Jan  1 12:50:21 GMT Standard Time 2007  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Note that we support OpenGL 2.1 now

Thu Nov 30 13:39:51 GMT Standard Time 2006  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Completed implementation of drawBuffers

Thu Nov 30 13:24:01 GMT Standard Time 2006  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Made drawBuffers a full-blown StateVar (getter not yet implemented)

Thu Nov 30 13:21:35 GMT Standard Time 2006  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Refactored (un)marshalling of modelview indices, fixing an off-by-two bug on the way

Thu Nov 30 12:39:56 GMT Standard Time 2006  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Changed the type of a few implementation limits to GLsizei for consistency reasons

Wed Nov 29 12:54:02 GMT Standard Time 2006  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Added current raster secondary color query

Wed Nov 29 12:17:05 GMT Standard Time 2006  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Added sRGB textures

Wed Nov 29 09:30:54 GMT Standard Time 2006  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Added pixel buffer objects

Wed Nov 22 13:01:06 GMT Standard Time 2006  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Made 'uniform' a 'StateVar' to allow queries, too

Wed Nov 22 12:36:56 GMT Standard Time 2006  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Added missing Storable instance for FogCoord1

Tue Nov 21 12:02:00 GMT Standard Time 2006  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Added vertexProgramTwoSide and vertexProgramPointSize

Wed Nov 15 15:19:08 GMT Standard Time 2006  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Do not return trailing NUL in shader string queries

Sun Nov 12 14:04:30 GMT Standard Time 2006  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Make Eq/Ord/Show/ObjectName superclasses of Shader

Sun Nov 12 13:12:25 GMT Standard Time 2006  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Added utility function 'majorMinor' to easily parse OpenGL's version strings

Fri Nov 10 13:19:51 GMT Standard Time 2006  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Extended the set of possible types for vertex attributes and uniform variables

Fri Nov 10 12:26:48 GMT Standard Time 2006  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Distributed shader-related stuff to the right modules

Fri Nov 10 10:14:54 GMT Standard Time 2006  sven.panne><aedion.de
  * Updated Haddock module headers (now OpenGL 2.1 support, API is stable)