[liblouis-liblouisxml] Re: liblouisxml and Autotools
- From: "John J. Boyer" <john.boyer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: liblouis-liblouisxml@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:37:22 -0500
Eitan,
I am preparing to put a new version of liblouis up on
www.jjb-software.com . The moretables directory will contain the most
up-to-date versions of both the translationd hyphenation tables,
including the new ones from Lars. I think the hyphenation tables are
mostly the same as OpenOffice uses, but I can't be sure. This will make
the tarball quite a bit bigger. Sorry I'm not updating the SVN version
on code.google. I'm still having problems with my google login.
I'm looking forward to seeing how you set up liblouisxml with autotools.
The configure.am file will be interesting.
John
On Sun, Mar 30, 2008 at 05:03:05PM -0700, Eitan Isaacson wrote:
> Hi John.
>
> Like I was saying. Now that we are using autotools, this is all done
> programatically. So liblouisxml will find where liblouis put the
> translation tables. No need for hard-coding anything.
>
> This is how Orca is already making use of liblouis's autotooled version:
> We use pkg-config to determine where the translation tables are.
>
> I haven't looked at the mac app. But in general, it should be easier for
> the mac app if it uses autotooled libraries with proper pkg-config
> entries. I guess we'll have to think about backward compatibility.
> Worse case, a two line shell script could be written to put symbolic
> links wherever this application thinks the tables should be.
>
> instead of saying how it could be done. I'll just demonstrate with code.
> I'll make a working version of liblouisxml that uses liblouis's tables.
> You be the judge if the solution is good.
>
> Cheers,
> Eitan.
>
> On Sat, 2008-03-29 at 18:50 -0500, John J. Boyer wrote:
> > Eitan,
> >
> > Well, liblouis and liblouisxml are experiencing growing pains. You have
> > a good point about maintaining only one version of each file. However,
> > liblouisxml was coded to expect all the files it needed in the lbx_files
> > directory. The Mac application ss written with this in mind. So there is
> > a problem of backward compatibility.
> >
> > the tables in liblouis certainly should be up-to-date. I will do that in
> > the next version of liblouis. I'll probably change the moreTables
> > subdirectory to allTables. How will liblouisxml find the tables if
> > they are only in liblouis, especially in a cross-platform environment?
> > The
> > usr might have his own version of the tables in addition to the
> > system-wide version.
> >
> > John
> >
> > On Sat, Mar 29, 2008 at 10:24:26AM -0700, Eitan Isaacson wrote:
> > > Hey John.
> > >
> > > So the tables in liblouis are not kept up to date, while the tables in
> > > liblouisxml are? That's not good news for users who are only using
> > > liblouis.
> > >
> > > To avoid bugs and confusion, I would like to make sure that only one
> > > version of each file is maintained. There really shouldn't be a reason
> > > to have to deal with two versions of the same file.
> > >
> > > Could I suggest that all translation tables be kept up to date and
> > > maintained in liblouis, while all other transcribing files stay in
> > > liblouisxml?
> > >
> > > If you are worried about liblouisxml not being able to find the files
> > > that are in the liblouis installation, that should not be a concern,
> > > everything is being installed in standard paths, making discovery very
> > > easy.
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > > Eitan.
> > >
> > > On Sat, 2008-03-29 at 00:20 -0500, John J. Boyer wrote:
> > > > Eitan,
> > > >
> > > > Thanks much for taking on this task! I am answering your questions in
> > > > the body of your message below.
> > > >
> > > > On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 05:17:21PM -0700, Eitan Isaacson wrote:
> > > > > John,
> > > > >
> > > > > Thanks for those pointers. I started working on a local autotooled
> > > > > copy,
> > > > > it is looking promising.
> > > > >
> > > > > I have a few questions about the current liblouisxml tarball that you
> > > > > could hopefully clear up:
> > > > > - A bunch of files in lbx_files seem to be tables that exist in
> > > > > liblouis. Could we eliminate them, and have all braille translation
> > > > > tables only in liblouis?
> > > > No. the tables in lbx_files are actually used. The ones in liblouis are
> > > > only for testing and reference. The tables in lbx_files are kept
> > > > up-to-date. That is net necessarily true of the tables in the
> > > > moreTables
> > > > subdirectory of liblouis. In fact, that subdirectory might be
> > > > eliminated
> > > > and the tables provided in another way.
> > > >
> > > > > - louis.h exists in the "src" directory, this seems to be a copy of
> > > > > liblouis's public header. My autotooled version automatically pics up
> > > > > the path to the installed header. Could we get rid of this? It will
> > > > > also
> > > > > eliminate the 2 or 4 byte character problem.
> > > > Yes. liblouisxml inherits 2 or 4-byte characters from liblouis.
> > > >
> > > > > - There are a bunch of files that exist both in the doc directory and
> > > > > the lbx_files directory, for example the cfg files and the *.sem
> > > > > files.
> > > > > Could we consolidate them into the lbx directory? If not could we give
> > > > > them another name? maybe prefix them with example_ if the are supposed
> > > > > to be examples.
> > > > They are examples. However, since they are in a different directory I
> > > > didn't think it was necessary to change the file names. It might be a
> > > > good idea.
> > > >
> > > > > - The tarball had a compiled binary in lbx_files called
> > > > > makenemethdefs.
> > > > > I assume this was a mistake, and if anything only the source file
> > > > > should
> > > > > be there.
> > > > Both the binary and the source can be elimitated. They were used in
> > > > early developmnt.
> > > >
> > > > > - There are some files in lbx_files ending in ".p", should they be
> > > > > there?
> > > > No. they are fragments used in development. Also get rid of any files
> > > > that begin "old_". I'll have to do a better job of getting rid of junk.
> > > >
> > > > > - I hope to find a way for autogenerating sem_names.h like you did you
> > > > > your tarball, in the meantime, it is distributed statically.
> > > > That is ok for now. My updates will always have the latest semnames.h
> > > > anyway.
> > > >
> > > > > - Also a nice feature would be proper cfg file search paths: First
> > > > > look
> > > > > for cfg files in the CWD, then the users home directory under
> > > > > ".louisxml", and if nothing is found - go to the system default in
> > > > > "/etc". Obviously this will only work well in POSIX platforms, I'll
> > > > > think of something for Windows too.
> > > > The choices.h file is supposed to give a choice of where liblouisxml
> > > > will look for files and even allow changing the name of the lbx_files
> > > > directory. It was introduced to make assigning paths in a web
> > > > application easier.
> > > >
> > > > Thanks,
> > > > John
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Cheers,
> > > > > Eitan.
> > > > >
> > > > > On Fri, 2008-03-28 at 13:10 -0500, John J. Boyer wrote:
> > > > > > Eitan,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > liblouisxml has two dependencies, libxml2 and liblouis. I think
> > > > > > libxml2
> > > > > > also requires iconv. I was working on shell commands to test for
> > > > > > these
> > > > > > dependencies when I got involved with other commitments.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > John
> > > > > >
> > > > > > On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 10:25:18AM -0700, Eitan Isaacson wrote:
> > > > > > > On Fri, 2008-03-28 at 08:53 +0100, Lars Bj??rndal wrote:
> > > > > > > > Maybe you are also willing to make liblouisxml autotooled and
> > > > > > > > SVN-ed?
> > > > > > > > That would be great, I think!
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Now that you mention it, I'll get to it sooner rather than later!
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > For a description of the software and to download it go to
> > > > > > > http://www.jjb-software.com
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > For a description of the software and to download it go to
> > > > > http://www.jjb-software.com
> > > >
> > >
> > > For a description of the software and to download it go to
> > > http://www.jjb-software.com
> >
>
> For a description of the software and to download it go to
> http://www.jjb-software.com
--
John J. boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
JJB Software, Inc.
http://www.jjb-software.com
Madison, WI USA
Developing software for people with disabilities
For a description of the software and to download it go to
http://www.jjb-software.com
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