OpenGL Haskell binding discussions

Claus Reinke | 2 May 2009 17:58

FYI: Haskell Platform release candidates

Having stumbled over recent activities on the long-silent Haskell 
Platform mailing list, I have noticed few OpenGL voices. So, for 
those here who haven't yet seen the Haskell Platform (HP) discussions:

- now is the time to make sure that using OpenGL with Haskell
    will once again be as easy on all platforms as it used to be before 
    GHC dropped the ball. This is what your clients will use to run 
    your code (at least those clients who don't install OpenGL/GLUT 
    themselves just to try out your code), so it might be a good idea 
    to check that it works on your platforms.

- initial release appears imminent, so it is too late to get bug fixes
    in now, but you could test the installer release candidates.

- a bug fix release of the HP seems planned within a few weeks,
    and Sven is obviously working through old emails/bug reports,
    prompted by the surprising change in gear for the HP, so this 
    would be a good time to bring out any hidden bug reports, or 
    OpenGL issues with the HP (I understand that Sven's recent
    patches will be in the first bug fix release of the HP, not in the 
    initial release - HP policy arguments).

- I'm not sure whether the HP policy arguments would affect Sven's 
    recent feature additions - they won't be in the initial HP release,
    but the question is whether they'll be in the planned bug-fix release,
    soon, or in the next major HP release, which is nowhere near.

    OpenAL/ALUT seem to be in the latter category, if at all:
    http://projects.haskell.org/pipermail/haskell-platform/2009-April/000120.html 
    http://projects.haskell.org/pipermail/haskell-platform/2009-April/000140.html

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Sven Panne | 2 May 2009 18:36

Re: FYI: Haskell Platform release candidates

Am Samstag, 2. Mai 2009 17:58:23 schrieb Claus Reinke:
>    [...] so it might be a good idea to check that it works on your
>    platforms.

Exactly. Of course reports about problems and suggestions for improvements are 
always welcome, but I wouldn't mind reports about working platforms, too. 
Currently I don't have a clear picture which package works where...

> - initial release appears imminent, so it is too late to get bug fixes
>     in now, but you could test the installer release candidates. [...]

Regarding the OpenGL/GLUT packages I would consider the upcoming HP release 
alpha quality only, because all the recent bug fixes will *not* be included. 
Nevertheless, give it a try to see if the installer/RPM/whatever works and for 
serious work, wait for the next minor release of the HP.

This raises a point which is a bit unclear, at least for me: Where do users of 
the HP report a bug? It can be a bit tricky to decide if it's only a packaging 
bug, which I can't fix, or a real bug in the OpenGL/GLUT binding. Has this 
been discussed in the "HP inner circle"?

> - I'm not sure whether the HP policy arguments would affect Sven's
>     recent feature additions - they won't be in the initial HP release,
>     but the question is whether they'll be in the planned bug-fix release,
>     soon, or in the next major HP release, which is nowhere near. [...]

I really, really hope that the minor HP release will allow feature additions 
where the major version number of the package stays the same. Everything else 
would bring down distribution of much-wanted features to a crawl and force 
people to install the packages by hand once again. But again, I don't have a

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Claus Reinke | 3 May 2009 15:04

Re: FYI: Haskell Platform release candidates

> Exactly. Of course reports about problems and suggestions for improvements are 
> always welcome, but I wouldn't mind reports about working platforms, too. 
> Currently I don't have a clear picture which package works where...

I've installed OpenGL-2.2.1.1 and GLUT-2.1.1.2 with ghc-6.11.20090320,
on windows xp, using cygwin&mingw, though I had to add a configure option

    cabal install opengl --configure-option="--host=i386-unknown-mingw32"
    cabal install glut --configure-option="--host=i386-unknown-mingw32"

(that is with "GLUT for Win32 version 3.7.3 as of October 2nd 2000").

> This raises a point which is a bit unclear, at least for me: Where do users of 
> the HP report a bug? It can be a bit tricky to decide if it's only a packaging 
> bug, which I can't fix, or a real bug in the OpenGL/GLUT binding. Has this 
> been discussed in the "HP inner circle"?

I'm a square, I belong to no circles!-) You'd need to ask on the HP list.

But OpenGL/GLUT don't have a trac instance yet, and I've had little success 
in the past with cc-ing you on issue reports, so having all OpenGL/GLUT 
reports on the HP trac, in a OpenGL/GLUT component, wouldn't be a bad 
start, would it? Of course, you could add an OpenGL/GLUT trac on 
trac.haskell.org:

    http://community.haskell.org/

and then there'd be the question of which trac to use for what.. I'd expect
bugs to be reported on either trac, then forwarded to the other one if
necessary. The same as currently happens with ghc vs hackage/cabal

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