openMSX desperately searching for Windows testers/packagers/developers

Paragon (1902)

29-11-2007, 22:38

The openMSX team is still searching for a Windows maintainer! At this moment, there is no one in the openMSX developers team who can (or is willing to) build openMSX for Windows on a regular basis.The openMSX team is still searching for a Windows maintainer! At this moment, there is no one in the openMSX developers team who can (or is willing to) build openMSX for Windows on a regular basis. Therefor, the openMSX team does not have the possibility to test new functionality on Windows, or fix WIndows specific bugs.

In the end, this means that, if we cannot find a Windows maintainer, new versions of openMSX will not run on WIndows anymore! If you are interested in openMSX for Windows, please contact the openMSX team. You do not have to have extra-ordinary programming skills, the team can and will help you in whatever way possible, if you show the willingness to support the openMSX team!

We won't bite! :P

By Yukio

Paragon (1540)

29-11-2007, 23:18

Interesting.

By FiXato

Scribe (1743)

29-11-2007, 23:20

We won't bite!

you won't? :'(
then I think I will have to retract my offer to try and help out

By Sousuke

Master (177)

30-11-2007, 01:31

Hmm I think it could be helpful if you describe the maintainer's job a bit more in detail. Like which development kit is needed, how often one has to run tests, etc.
IMO it's then easier to estimate, whether one has got enough (time) resources to help you guys out. I'm not saying that it sucks spending much time in this (great, btw!) project, but it doesn't really help if the maintainer only got one spare day a month or so

By Manuel

Ascended (19678)

30-11-2007, 09:09

Some more details then:

the build environment etc. is all explained in this document. This means you only need to have a Windows 2000 or higher installation and for the rest some free software (mostly MinGW and MSYS). Nothing more.
it is very useful if you're easy to contact, so being on IRC one or two evenings a week is very helpful. This is to easily communicate with the other developers.
Testing new functionality would be very useful. So, run a newly built openMSX about once a week (minimum). Keep an eye on the ChangeLog (you can get mail notifications if you like).
Having a few spare hours per week is mostly a lot more useful than having a spare day a month.
Additionally, when Windows specific bugs are found by the tester, we need him to help find where the bugs got introduced. This requires building a few older versions to find where the bug got introduced. This is a matter of a few simple Subversion actions and recompiling and testing.
If the Windows specific stuff is too specific to fix for us, it would be useful to have a way to contact a Windows developer who can help. (Doesn't need to be the same person as described above, because this requires a lot more knowledge than the other things!)

I hope this helps? Let me know if you need more details.

The biggest problem is that we need someone to do this all structurally. So, not for a few weeks and then disappear again. Then we have the problem back. It's not much work, but we do need it to be done on a structural basis. Someone should feel a bit dedicated to this; a bit responsible for the quality of the Windows port. In other words: someone should really care about it. That's what we're missing at the moment.

By PingPong

Enlighted (4155)

30-11-2007, 11:48

[*] If the Windows specific stuff is too specific to fix for us, it would be useful to have a way to contact a Windows developer who can help. (Doesn't need to be the same person as described above, because this requires a lot more knowledge than the other things!)

I hope this helps? Let me know if you need more details.

@Manuel: after some analisys of the openmsx job requirements i can offer my best help i can do actually:

The main problem is as you said above, the continuity. For me is a pain, there are some periods where i'm almost totally idle, 2-3 days on average on month, others where i have a busy factor of 300%!, So, trust me, i will be pleased to help in any way i can, but actually my life prevent me for a continue support, even as little.

however feel absolutely free to contact me for
Help in Fix specific windowze bugs

Sorry, but actually i can't do more.

By FiXato

Scribe (1743)

30-11-2007, 14:42

But if there are more windows testers, the continuity will be better, since if one of the testers/testbuilders doesn't have time, it will hardly be noticed since the other fills in.
The chance of all testers being unavailable / not having time, in a period will be pretty small

By Manuel

Ascended (19678)

30-11-2007, 17:17

PingPong: I appreciate it! I'll definately keep that in mind. And as what FiXato says: if there are more testers, they could fill in for each other to still report regularly about problems (if applicable).

So, any more people who want to do regular testing?

By Sousuke

Master (177)

30-11-2007, 19:46

I'm also ready to help maintaining the Windows build. Guess it'll be best, if I just show up in your IRC channel beginning next week? (Unfortunately I'm too busy during this weekend...)
In the meantime I'm going to set up my Windows machine.

By Manuel

Ascended (19678)

30-11-2007, 20:43

Sousuke: great!! Yes, show up on IRC as soon/often as you can, that makes things easiest and enables us to help you if you have problems getting started.

By ro

Scribe (5059)

01-12-2007, 10:11

Well, I'm considering....
As a programmer I'm always interested in such project. But as always time's an issue. I've got too many side projects in live. (too much inspiration is killing me sometimes) And, hey there's some news, my wife and I expecting our first offspring next January. .. .

I'll wait and see if others will participate, if the need is still very high (say somewhere in 2008) ask me again...