[Debichem-devel] Bug#749861: Bug#749861: qutemol: Please update to use wxwidgets3.0

[Michael Banck]

tags 749861 +help
thanks

Hi,

On Fri, May 30, 2014 at 10:01:30PM +1200, Olly Betts wrote:
> Source: qutemol
> Version: 0.4.1~cvs20081111-3
> Severity: serious
> Justification: Blocks an on-going transition
> User: freewx-maint at lists.alioth.debian.org
> Usertags: wx3.0
> Control: block 748169 by -1
> 
> Dear maintainer,
> 
> We're aiming to migrate the archive to using wxwidgets3.0 instead of
> wxwidgets2.8, and intend to drop wxwidgets2.8 before jessie is released.

OK, but can you explain why it blocks an ongoing transition?

I would assume the work-flow would be to file wishlist/normal bugs for
a migration to wxwidgets3.0 first, and then later on upgrade them to
serious if 2.8 really cannot be supported for jessie.
 
> I've tried rebuilding qutemol with the BD updated to use
> libwxgtk3.0-dev, but the build fails due to wx API changes.  I've
> attached a log of my attempt in case it's useful.  A quick look suggests
> qutemol is dead upstream, so you may find wx upstream's overview of
> changes since wx2.8 useful:
> 
> http://docs.wxwidgets.org/3.0/overview_changes_since28.html
> 
> One of the most common reasons for packages failing to build seems to
> be that wx3.0 drops compatibility with things which were deprecated in
> wx2.8 (so for example you now must use wxFD_SAVE not wxSAVE).  Updating
> these should remain compatible with wx2.8, so shouldn't block pushing
> fixes upstream even if your upstream still cares about supporting wx2.8.
> 
> Another thing to be aware of is that wx3.0 turns on "WXDEBUG" mode by
> default, and some applications throw up a lot of assertion failed
> dialogs due to using the wx API in invalid ways.  If you compile your
> package with -DNDEBUG then such assertions aren't checked, and the same
> fallbacks which were quietly used in wx2.8 are used instead.

Thanks for the report.  You are right that qutemol is dead upstream, so
we need somebody from Debian to port it to 3.0.  I don't have any
WXWidgets experience, so patches are welcome.


Michael