[Pkg-javascript-devel] Bug#742347: overview of the tilemill situation and alternatives (mapbox, kosmtik)

[Antoine Beaupré]

so I am not sure this RFP is still relevant anymore. there hasn't been a
tilemill release since 2012. here's a summary of a discussion that
happened in #742347 (for some reason, I sent the discussion
there... sorry).

 1. Mapbox people have released a new product in september 2014 named
    [Mapbox studio classic][]. the code is a
    [still freely available][] and seems to be a
    [fork of tilemill][]. mapbox classic still has releases on github,
    last one is from november 2015

 [Mapbox studio classic]: https://www.mapbox.com/mapbox-studio-classic/#linux
 [still freely available]: https://github.com/mapbox/mapbox-studio-classic
 [fork of tilemill]: https://github.com/mapbox/mapbox-studio-classic/blob/mb-pages/docs/0000-01-01-common-questions.md#how-is-mapbox-studio-related-to-tilemill#user-content-how-is-mapbox-studio-classic-related-to-tilemill

 2. It looks like Mapbox studio classic has some sort of
    [Mapbox.com lock-in][], and there are certainly new copyright
    issues, if only with the [bundled fonts][]. but it could probably
    be packaged.

 [Mapbox.com lock-in]: https://github.com/mapbox/mapbox-studio-classic/blob/mb-pages/docs/0000-01-01-common-questions.md#can-i-use-git-with-a-style-or-source-project
 [bundled fonts]: https://github.com/mapbox/mapbox-studio-classic/blob/mb-pages/docs/0000-01-01-common-questions.md#what-cancant-i-do-with-pro-fonts

 3. Then there's [mapbox studio][], which is a
    [full rewrite of mapbox][]. You need to "signup" somehow to get
    access, even though parts of the code are free, namely the
    [Mapbox GL studio][] project

 [Mapbox GL studio]: https://github.com/mapbox/mapbox-gl-native/
 [full rewrite of mapbox]: https://www.mapbox.com/help/upgrading-from-classic/
 [mapbox studio]: https://www.mapbox.com/mapbox-studio/

 4. The [Openstreetmap-carto][] developpers have mostly switched to
    [kosmtik][] instead of Mapbox.

 [Openstreetmap-carto]: https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto
 [kosmtik]: https://github.com/kosmtik/kosmtik

 5. In short: Mapbox studio classic is not as good as Tilemill, Mapbox
    studio is very promising, but you still need to signup for access,
    and kosmtik seems to be working right now. 

 6. Ross has an [ITP for kosmtik][]. The package is waiting on other
    node dependencies to be uploaded (yes, again).
 
 [ITP for kosmtik]: https://bugs.debian.org/805308

 7. There is also an [ITP for Mapbox-studio][] yet it is unclear to me
    what that one means because the source code to Mapbox-studio
    doesn't seem to be available, as far as i can tell (and the ITP
    doesn't say either).

 [ITP for Mapbox-studio]: https://bugs.debian.org/#761914

 8. There's no WNPP bug for Mapbox studio *classic* that I can
    found. there's still an [RFP for tilemill][], which should
    probably be closed now because the project seems dead and plenty
    of alternatives exist. I wonder if node some dependencies that
    were packaged for Tilemill actually now need to be *removed* from
    Debian, because they have become useless leaf packages... I am
    leaving the Tilemill RFP open for someone to clean that up.

 [RFP for tilemill]: https://bugs.debian.org/644767

 9. Oh, and finally one could mention another Mapbox project,
    [Carto][], a commandline CSS tools that implements some sort of
    standard CSS language that all those tools end up using to talk to
    Mapnik, more or less. There are no RFPs for that.

 [Carto]: https://github.com/mapbox/carto

Phew! Sorry for the cross-posting among multiple bug reports, but
those tools all seem related in some way, and I kept on *not* finding
Mapbox while looking in the Tilemill RFP (and forgetting about
kosmtik).

With this point, I think all those tools are at least cross-referenced
and contributors can figure out where they want to put their energies
next.

A.

-- 
C'est avec les pierres de la loi qu'on a bâti les prisons,
et avec les briques de la religion, les bordels.
                        - Blake, William