[opensource-dev] Wild idea on building an install platform

[Oz Linden (Scott Lawrence)]

On 2011-02-19 15:47, Robert Martin wrote:
> As a sidebar to the whole autobuild system it would be cool if
> somebody could download a program and then verify that they have a
> Valid install platform (bonus points if it could also download the
> missing parts (i suppose that you could only pop the webpage for MS
> VStudio)

By 'install platform' do you mean "a platform on which I should be able 
to build and install a viewer" ?

I think that the way to approach the difficulties of setting up a proper 
development environment is:

    * Make the environment as simple as possible... unfortunately, ours
      already isn't simple.  Suggestions for how to remove the
      dependency on one or more tools are welcome so long as the result
      works at least as well at present.
    * Document it very cleanly - can always use improvement, but ours is
      not bad (our new CEO was able to follow the setup instructions and
      build a viewer on Windows)
    * Build in checks as early as practical in the build process that
      produce an error message that tells you what part of the
      environment you're missing.

That last could, in theory, be built as a separate tool as you suggest, 
but then we've got one more thing that can get out of sync.  Instead, I 
think we should try to find and correct all the places where something 
obscure happens and add hints.  In short, next time some new dev asks 
for help here on the list or in IRC because they could not understand a 
failure, let's try to:

   1. Check to make sure the setup documentation included the thing they
      missed
   2. Modify the build process so that when that step fails, a message
      comes out that says "check to make sure that you have xxx installed"


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