[Tux4kids-tuxtype-dev] Start development.

[David Bruce]

Hi Bart,

> 2. Reaction
>
> http://tux4kids.alioth.debian.org Already done this. My name is
> "mensfort-guest".

OK, you need to log into alioth and request to join project tux4kids,
and I will add you.

> After studying GIT in youtube, I was able to get a read-only version, but
> cannot find project files for building this project. Currently, I use editor
> ::blocks and also installed GNU, G++, GIT and SDL. Is this compatible?

Tuxtype, tuxmath, and t4k_common all use the GNU autotools build
system (that is, you build just by running "./configure; make; sudo
make install" from the command line.  Tuxmath and t4k_common also have
support for CMake, another build system that in certain respects is
easier.  But at least for now, tuxtype only has support for autotools.

We don't specifically support or require any IDE, although you are
welcome to use whatever you want.  I used to use KDevelop for
tux4kids, and kept the KDevelop project files on my local machine, but
after a while I found it more trouble-free to just use Vim as my
editor and run all the build and git commands from the command line.

> How do you clone a working environment where I can check-out files, change
> them and check-in and deliver?

git clone git+ssh://mensfort-guest@git.debian.org/git/tux4kids/tuxtype.git
git clone git+ssh://mensfort-guest@git.debian.org/git/tux4kids/t4kcommon.git

(not sure, but I think "git clone ssh://..." is equivalent to "git
clone git+ssh://...").

> I tried to put SMARTGIT on my PC but it
> doesn't run. GIT is working in a command window.

git is really a command-line program.  I doubt any of the core
developers of git use any of the gui frontends for it.

> t4kcommon, is this a seperate library to retrieve from GIT?

t4kcommon has its own git repository (see above).  To build tuxmath,
you first have to check out t4kcommon and build and install it.  The
INSTALL file in t4kcommon should say what to do, but briefly you need
to run "autoreconf -i", then "./configure", then "make", then "sudo
make install", all from t4k_common's top level directory.  You might
also need to run "sudo ldconfig /usr/local/bin" the first time you
install it.

> I feel we should change tuxtype very fast to t4k_common, else you can never
> merge anymore... could this be a job for me to learn the program? Or you
> need lots of kernel insight...

No kernel insight required, but it will be a big overhaul of tuxtype.
We will need to start linking tuxtype against t4kcommon (accomplished
in tuxtype's "configure.ac" file), then can start using the functions
provided by t4kcommon instead of the nearly-duplicated code in
tuxtype.  You should liook at tuxmath's code first to see how
t4kcommon is used.

> How does the team divide the work? It seems everybody can do anything..
> what's the limit? This sounds dangerous, because 2 people can start the same
> activity... is there a database with activities and bugs, where I can add my
> own activities.. or change a bug to "in analyse" or "in build" or "in
> verification" or "verification passed" ? How is your configuration
> managemant exactly organised?

We are a really small team without much formal structure.  I don't
think much of anything has been done with tuxtype in a few months.

Hope this helps - to get up and running, you are going to need at
least a basic grasp of git, and some peripheral familiarity with
autoconf and automake.  Most likely, you will want to just deal with
the C code and let me or someone more familiar with the project worry
about configure.ac and the Makefile.am files (the files that control
autotools).  Mainly, you have to mess with autotools if you add or
remove files from the program, or want to link against a new library.

David Bruce