[Scribus] make error

[Peter Linnell]

On Sun, 2004-04-11 at 23:17, Philipp Wagner wrote:
> Peter Linnell wrote:
> > On Sunday 11 April 2004 08:11 pm, Philipp Wagner wrote:
> > 
> >>Craig Bradney wrote:
> >>
> >>>On Mon, 2004-04-12 at 01:46, Philipp Wagner wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>Hi,
> >>>>I downloaded the newest development version (1.1.6) of Scribus and get
> >>>>the following error during the compiling:
> >>>>
> >>>>[...]
> >>>
> >>>What version of gcc? I need to be 3.0+, 3.2+ preferably.
> >>
> >>philipp at crystal:/usr/include/freetype2/freetype$ gcc -v
> >>Reading specs from /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i386-linux/2.95.4/specs
> >>gcc version 2.95.4 20011002 (Debian prerelease)
> >>
> >>That's the first thing. Then I looked once again on the 'system
> >>requirements' page and found that freetype2 2.1 or higher is required.
> >>Could that be the problem, too? Because an update of freetype would be a
> >>bit easier than an update of gcc (ok, both are not really fun,
> >>especially under Debian - but I don't have anything else here ;-)).
> >>
> >>
> >>>Craig
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Complete compiling requirements:
> > 
> > http://ahnews.music.salford.ac.uk/scribus/documentation/index-2.html#ss2.2
> 
> Yes, I found that now, too. Independent from that problem now, I think 
> the configure script should check a couple more things (like which 
> version of freetype2 or the gcc version), that makes the thing a whole 
> lot easier.

True.

> I looked at first at the System Requirements page under 
> http://web2.altmuehlnet.de/fschmid/sysreq.html and there is nothing 
> about the GCC version - it's only a recommendation, but what means 
> 'strongly recommended'? Eather I need it, or I don't, but 'strongly 
> recommended' doesn't say anything.

That is an omission on that page and will get fixed very soon. However
www.scribus.net is the canonical home page for Scribus. 

"strongly recommended"

It sure does mean something. It means for optimal stability, performance
and feature completeness. For example, the recommendation for for
Ghostscript 8.14 is a: it is the latest stable version. b. It provides
more reliable EPS import, as well as it has features which improve the
print preview. Only GS 7.07+ has the pngalpha device which enables the
print previewer to display transparency properly.

The reason for recommending GCC 3.2+, is its superior support for c++
templates and ability to optimize c++ code among others. 

I have been testing GCC 3.4 snapshots and it is interesting to discover
a: it finds a lot of crufty c++ code b. It really does improve the speed
of c++ apps which do compile cleanly, like Scribus.

>From the 1.1.2 Release notes, linked on the front page:

"This is the first in a series of merges of optimizing patches for
improved performance (they work!) and adherence to stricter, more modern
C++ coding practices.  Hence, Scribus 1.1.2 and after will not compile
on any version of GCC older than 3.0. GCC 3.2+ is highly recommended.The
Scribus Team decided the performance gains and cleaner code made it
necessary to forgo supporting 2.95.x compilers. It would be impossible
to implement these improvements with 2.95.x compilers."

When this was decided by the team, a survey was made to the mailing list
asking for comments. Uniformly, the feedback was positive.

Peter