Partha Bagchi recently announced on Google+ (here ) that he had a Windows build of darktable for people to test out for him. A bunch of folks stepped up to the plate to help out.
I am starting this thread on the forum b/c the only mechanism to report issues to Partha was through email, which means many of us who may have the same problem cannot easily check if we should report it again or not.
Hopefully Partha joins the community to talk with us here (he can definitely see this post w/o an account though).
So, if you downloaded Partha’s build of darktable for windows (available here) and have run into any problems, please report them in this thread!
Please be aware that these builds are happening against the will of the
darktable developers, so while we can’t stop anyone we will not listen to any
bug reports or complaints and consider this endeavor a hostile move.
My intention is not to be “against anyone’s wishes”. There was a huge blog article on the Darktable website about Window’s users not stepping up to build Darktable for Windows or reporting bugs. So I stepped up.
The dev-mailing list has been down for almost a week and I stated up front that I wanted to discuss with the developers.
If you are a developer and feel that Window’s Users should not have Darktable, please say so and don’t say that Window’s Users don’t step up with “simple builds” etc.
I think there may be some crossed communications that I’d hate to see spiral out of hand…
I understand dt’s concern about having an active maintainer for a win build, vs. a packager. From what I understand they’d like to have someone actively maintaining a win version and able to contribute to that maintenance.
I can understand that part of the problem is the worry that someone will build dt, get a bunch of windows users on board (and all the associated bad things that the devs are worried about - more on that shortly), and then possibly leave or stop maintaining the build. Leaving many angry users hanging and possibly flooding any support channels they have…
I think the general perception of the last post was that the only thing lacking for a proper win port was a developer willing to be a maintainer (more on that in a sec).
So I guess, the questions are:
Will dt support a win port at all?
If yes, then can the dt team clarify exactly what their expectations of what a proper maintainer would be in their expectations?
This way, assuming dt is ok with a win port at all, it’s well understood ahead of time what is expected from someone willing to step up (avoiding any misunderstandings or unpleasantness).
About those windows users…
I know there’s some concern generally about the quality of user in terms of project feedback and bug-reporting, but I’d hazard a guess that early on the people using a win dt would most likely be more tech savvy than an average win user? Hopefully this could mean that more quality bug reporting and issues could be expected at a time when the port would be most fragile and benefit from better quality reporting (early).
I responded here because I was not aware of Mr. Houz’s comments on the DT blog. So, I visited it this morning and noted his comment.
Now I do see that he was asking whether I’ll be willing to maintain it. He also says that the Window’s builds are trivial. So, I am at a loss exactly what is required since he is already building for Windows? Now I am confused.
I am happy to provide Windows builds as a service and maintain my builds as I do with GIMP. Also, for GIMP I ask people to report issues to me.
Anyway, I don’t understand the hostility. Well, it’s his code and I suppose he is entitled to it.
I didn’t find a way to respond. There is a reply button under my post while none under yours.
So, here is my response:
As I mentioned, I am happy to build for Windows and also get Users to provide their feedback to me as I do for GIMP. I am not fine that you insult the first person who comes across your blog post and then steps up to build for Windows.
You know that I’m personally appreciative of the work you do with this, and I think that @houz is simply being cautious. (Perhaps a little overzealous in his caution, but it’s coming from a good place). The problem is simply that the team doesn’t have the manpower to effectively handle a possible flood of incoming support and bugs, and they are (rightfully) concerned about being able to handle the input with the scary possibility of little in terms of giving back to the project.
I think some more discussions with the dt team would help clarify their willingness to consider supporting a path forward. While I personally think it would be great to be able to offer win users good alternatives to commercial software from the open world, I am also ok with continuing to use dt in a VM when needed (it’s like my OS penance… - at least there’s an OSX build for home).
Let’s see if they might consider supporting some effort going forward.
It’s also possible to run darktable in Windows 10 now with WSL (Windows subsystem for Linux), and an X-server for windows like Xming. Which is pretty awesome. (Wonder if I should write an article…)
Please note that this particular build of darktable is old, unsupported and not looked upon kindly by the dt team. There is a possibility of a windows port in the future, and this path is a dead end.
If you must have darktable at the moment on windows, you can try it with WSL and Xming, but please don’t bug the devs about bugs or problems using this method - as it’s also unsupported. (If you do go this route, at least update your WSL install to Ubuntu 16.04 first, btw).
(Wonder if I should write an article…)