Re: [platform-dev] [platform-swt-dev] SWT-GTK3 bugs for 4.9

[Robert Zenz <robert.zenz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 08.06.2018 17:51, Eric Williams wrote:
> Are you referring to "interim" GTK3 releases like GTK3.16/3.18/3.20?

I'm talking about the whole GTK+ release cycle. At least the last thing I've
heard is that a new GTK+ version is being released every two years, that means
that one version is dropped every two years. That means that you get two years
of instability (with the interim versions) and then two years of stability,
afterwards it's deprecated, dead and gone. I've already seen people calling for
removing GTK+2 from distribution repositories because it will be
deprecated...this whole thing is absolutely insane considering we are talking
about a toolkit! Imagine if libc, or the Linux kernels public API, had such a
release cycle. It's madness in my eyes and pretty much removes GTK+ from the
list of viable platforms to build upon.

But you may be the wrong person to rant to about this (and I doubt that I would
be the first to raise concerns and objections about this release cycle).

> In a perfect world we could support all of these versions. But with the limited
> manpower we have combined with the volatility of GTK3 API pre-GTK3.22, this is
> not feasible. There is no point (in fact it's even detrimental) to spend time
> fixing older GTK3 bugs in SWT when they have already been fixed in a newer, more
> stable GTK3 version.

No arguing you there (and never was my intention), I can completely understand
this from a SWT point of view.