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Esteban's ChangeLog week of 3 April 2017

by estebanlm＠gmail.com

Hello! This is my weekly ChangeLog, from 3 April 2017 to 9 April 2017. You can see it in a better format by going here: http://log.smallworks.eu/web/search?from=3/4/2017&to=9/4/2017 ChangeLog ========= 7 April 2017: ------------- * Fixed the small but annoying [issue 323](https://github.com/npasserini/iceberg/issues/323) (DNU when creating a local repository ) * Today I'm working on [Iceberg](http://github.com/npasserini/iceberg). I fixed a bug on locating existing repositories for +gitlocal:+ Metacello protocol, but most amusing, I added a new plugin: "Install Baseline", who allows you to install a project from a baseline listed in "Packages" tab from repositories browser. 6 April 2017: ------------- * I worked a lot preparing the new deployment model for VMs. Basically, now it will be like this: * nightly builds will be still built by our CI (to produce test VMs) * latest VMs will be produced on opensmalltalk-vm, using blessed sources. * stable VMs will be promoted by me :) I'm thinking on change a bit this scheme, but for now it will work like that. I finisged the [OpenSmalltalk](http://github.com/OpenSmalltalk/opensmalltalk-vm) part, now I need to adapt also [Pharo-Project](http://github.com/pharo-project/pharo-vm) (tomorrow). Then, we still need to fix one problem with a primitive... and we will be good to go. * I worked on [case: 19921](https://pharo.fogbugz.com/f/cases/19921), to allow Athens to run fine on 64bits (linux). 5 April 2017: ------------- * I worked on +UnifiedFFI+, making sure different architectures of linux (i386, x86_64) will have methods to find their libraries. In particular, I added: +#unix32ModuleName+ and +#unix64ModuleName+. Both are redirecting to +#unixModuleName+ by default as a way to provide backward compatibility (also, libraries could) be in same place in different architectures, like the case of libraries distributed by ourselves (libgit2, libssl, libssh2, libsdl2). 4 April 2017: ------------- * I made some fixes on [Iceberg](https://github.com/npasserini/iceberg)... in particular, this two issues: * [Issue 317](https://github.com/npasserini/iceberg/issues/317), which adds the posibility of removing a package from FileSystem. * [Issue 319](https://github.com/npasserini/iceberg/issues/319), forcing unix line endings to commit messages (as is required by git). * I fixed a problem when building the VM for Windows: thing is, as it was, it was building cairo library without freetype support, so frameworks like Roassal to fail. Problem was that pkgconfig was failing to find correct version of +freetype+ effectively letting it outside. I needed to change the build script (for Windows) to this: ---- $(THIRDPARTYLIBDIR)/$(CAIROLIBNAME): $(CAIROARCHIVE) tar x -f $(CAIROARCHIVE) -C $(THIRDPARTYDIR) cd $(CAIRODIR) \ && ./configure \ --prefix="$(THIRDPARTYOUTDIR)" \ --host=i686-w64-mingw32 \ PKG_CONFIG="$(PKG_CONFIG)" \ PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$(PKG_CONFIG_PATH)" \ CFLAGS='$(THIRDPARTY_CFLAGS) -I$(THIRDPARTYINCLUDEDIR) -march=pentium4' \ LDFLAGS='$(THIRDPARTY_LDFLAGS) -L$(THIRDPARTYLIBDIR) -march=pentium4' \ FREETYPE_LIBS="-L$(THIRDPARTYLIBDIR) -lfreetype -lz" \ FREETYPE_CFLAGS="-I$(THIRDPARTYINCLUDEDIR) -I$(THIRDPARTYINCLUDEDIR)/freetype2" \ --disable-silent-rules \ --disable-xlib \ --disable-dependency-tracking \ && sed -i '/.* sh .\/make-/i\\ttest -e \$$\@ \&\& rm \$$\@' test/Makefile \ && make \ && make install ---- Now averything seems working. cheers! Esteban

April 10, 2017

Re: [Pharo-dev] discord channel request

by Dimitris Chloupis

I forgot to add that yes Mee6 is hosted on its own server and I also created a Heroku account to host my own bot there. Heroku allows to host python apps (including web apps) for free and supports other languages too.

April 9, 2017

Re: [Pharo-dev] discord channel request

by Dimitris Chloupis

"I like the idea. What is necessary to make it work? Can you describe a bit more in detail the use case and required infrastructure? Do we have any code I could reuse?" Hey there , Discord has a web API that can be found here https://discordapp.com/developers/docs/intro There are wrappers of the API for several languages, I use wrappers for Python that can be found here https://github.com/Rapptz/discord.py to make a bot that can be found https://github.com/kilon/lighthouse A bot is basically a bit like a client because a bot has to get info about the messages , the members etc. You can use my Atlas project to use the python discord api from inside pharo, this way you avoid a full rewrite of a wrapper and you have access to a ton of python code, including my bot "There have been some requests to remove the bot. But I see that you've responded to feedback to tune its behaviour, so I'm happy to wait to see how that panes out. But oh! the irony... jecisc-Yesterday at 8:16 PM Can you delete this level thing with the bot please?(edited) Mee6BOT-Yesterday at 8:16 PM GG @jecisc, you just advanced to level 3 !" Mee6 is the name of the bot, its one of the most popular for Discord. I have it temporary , my bot which called Lighthouse can completely replace it at some point I am just waiting to see the needs of the community and of course the time I can invest on this. I started it the bot because Esteban wanted to move to Discord then I gave up on it because it was clear people wanted to stick with Slack. Then Esteban brought the subject of a complete migration to Discord so I am on standby to improve the bot if people start joining in. The level thing message was indeed annoying . "Its not just about searchability. Its a social barrier thing. If the regulars are rolling through some deep discussion, a newcomer may hesitate to jump in with a side topic. If you want to condense channels, then probably the #mooc and #help could be rolled into one. cheers -ben" I want beginners to feel comfortable with experienced Pharo coders , I do not want to accommodate their fears and insecurities. Many people when they join a community they feel like outsiders fools that waste other people's time. Its important to make them see we are one big family that see beyond experience and we all just here because we love Pharo and not because we have something to prove. For me this extremely crucial , facing this fear and stereotype, thus I am not in favor of any kind of "help" channel, mailing lists etc. BUT in the end I am not a dictator I am just here to help the community , if the community wants a #help channel that is what it will get but again I will need an #admin that will be there to help the newcomers and preferably more than one. I want admis on each channel because in the end it needs the cooperation of many to create a great community. For me admin is a lot more about making people feel comfortable than deleting posts and banning people. By the way you are already an admin for all channels , you can create new ones if you want. You do not need my permission to do so. Anyone who is serious about helping out and wants to become admin, join and drop me a message.

April 9, 2017

Re: [Pharo-dev] discord channel request

by Ben Coman

On Sun, Apr 9, 2017 at 8:09 PM, Dimitris Chloupis <kilon.alios(a)gmail.com> wrote: > #welcome is not necessary there is already a bot in place that provides a > welcome message and displays a command for help for newcomers There have been some requests to remove the bot. But I see that you've responded to feedback to tune its behaviour, so I'm happy to wait to see how that panes out. But oh! the irony... jecisc-Yesterday at 8:16 PM Can you delete this level thing with the bot please?(edited) Mee6BOT-Yesterday at 8:16 PM GG @jecisc, you just advanced to level 3 ! btw, where is the bot hosted? > #help is not necessary too, Discord has a search capability which could be > potentially used from inside a Pharo image but again the question is who is > going to do this Its not just about searchability. Its a social barrier thing. If the regulars are rolling through some deep discussion, a newcomer may hesitate to jump in with a side topic. If you want to condense channels, then probably the #mooc and #help could be rolled into one. cheers -ben > > #mooc , I am not against this idea but again we had a student yesterday > asking for help that is following Mooc , I had no problem providing it and > he had not issues with the process of getting his question aswered in > #general channel. If he asked at #mooc I would have missed it because I am > not going to keep a mind in all channels. > > For general questions I would prefer , even if they are mooc related , to be > at #general channel, lets not fragment our discussions for little > justification, > but for very mooc discusions, like where to find a specific > teach or reports of errors in mooc it makes sense to have a mooc channel. > > My policy is to point an admin for each channel , channel admis are > different than us general admins, we have full power they can only > > 1)manage message in a specific channel > 2) manage webhooks (for example github commits or rss feeds) > 3) create instant invites > > so if there is one person that is willing to become a mooc admin i will > create the channel and add his as admin > > On Sun, Apr 9, 2017 at 5:33 AM Ben Coman <btc(a)openinworld.com> wrote: >> >> Could we have additional channels: >> >> #welcome - which would be the generally advertised invite URL. A >> read-only channel that informs about community rules and summaries available >> channels etc (maybe including hidden channels and who to ask for invite) >> >> #help - To be referenced from in-Image Help Browser. Maybe later have an >> in-Image chat tool that connects to this channel. How cool would it be to >> have live help from within the IDE? >> >> #mooc - So people can maybe look back through history before asking >> questions, and also people further along might help others less advanced ==> >> more participation >> >> cheers -ben

April 9, 2017

Re: [Pharo-dev] stepping off the end of the debug stack

by Eliot Miranda

Hi Ben, hmmm, good thought. Seems to me that the right solution is in the primitive simulations in Context>>tryPrimitive... or Context>>doPrimitive... (*) so that the debugger process isn't terminated, but the process being debugged is. (* at my phone right now so don't have the code to look at to answer the correct selectors) _,,,^..^,,,_ (phone) > On Apr 8, 2017, at 7:23 AM, Nicolai Hess <nicolaihess(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > > 2017-04-08 6:46 GMT+02:00 Ben Coman <btc(a)openinworld.com>: >> >> >>> On Sat, Apr 8, 2017 at 12:32 PM, Ben Coman <btc(a)openinworld.com> wrote: >>> >>> I imagine a newcomer exploring the system could easily step off the end of the debug stack like this... >>> >>> (1 printString) "debugIt" >>> then StepOver six times where the image hangs at "Processor terminateActive" >>> >>> This could have a strong impact against first impressions. >>> What would it take to guard against this? >>> >>> cheers -ben >> >> As an immediate stop-gap I'm adding the following comment to BlockClosure>>newProcess >> >> "IMPORTANT! Debug stepping this deep infrastructure may lock your Image" >> "If you are not sure what you are doing, close the debugger now." >> >> cheers -ben > > > +1 >

April 9, 2017

Re: [Pharo-dev] discord channel request

by Juraj Kubelka

Hi, > El 09-04-2017, a las 09:09, Dimitris Chloupis <kilon.alios(a)gmail.com> escribiÃ³: > > #welcome is not necessary there is already a bot in place that provides a welcome message and displays a command for help for newcomers > > #help is not necessary too, Discord has a search capability which could be potentially used from inside a Pharo image but again the question is who is going to do this I like the idea. What is necessary to make it work? Can you describe a bit more in detail the use case and required infrastructure? Do we have any code I could reuse? Juraj > > #mooc , I am not against this idea but again we had a student yesterday asking for help that is following Mooc , I had no problem providing it and he had not issues with the process of getting his question aswered in #general channel. If he asked at #mooc I would have missed it because I am not going to keep a mind in all channels. > > For general questions I would prefer , even if they are mooc related , to be at #general channel, lets not fragment our discussions for little justification, but for very mooc discusions, like where to find a specific teach or reports of errors in mooc it makes sense to have a mooc channel. > > My policy is to point an admin for each channel , channel admis are diffirent than us general admins, we have full power they can only > > 1)manage message in a specific channel > 2) manage webhooks (for example github commits or rss feeds) > 3) create instant invites > > so if there is one person that is willing to become a mooc admin i will create the channel and add his as admin > >> On Sun, Apr 9, 2017 at 5:33 AM Ben Coman <btc(a)openinworld.com> wrote: >> Could we have additional channels: >> >> #welcome - which would be the generally advertised invite URL. A read-only channel that informs about community rules and summaries available channels etc (maybe including hidden channels and who to ask for invite) >> >> #help - To be referenced from in-Image Help Browser. Maybe later have an in-Image chat tool that connects to this channel. How cool would it be to have live help from within the IDE? >> >> #mooc - So people can maybe look back through history before asking questions, and also people further along might help others less advanced ==> more participation >> >> cheers -ben

April 9, 2017

Re: [Pharo-dev] discord channel request

by Dimitris Chloupis

#welcome is not necessary there is already a bot in place that provides a welcome message and displays a command for help for newcomers #help is not necessary too, Discord has a search capability which could be potentially used from inside a Pharo image but again the question is who is going to do this #mooc , I am not against this idea but again we had a student yesterday asking for help that is following Mooc , I had no problem providing it and he had not issues with the process of getting his question aswered in #general channel. If he asked at #mooc I would have missed it because I am not going to keep a mind in all channels. For general questions I would prefer , even if they are mooc related , to be at #general channel, lets not fragment our discussions for little justification, but for very mooc discusions, like where to find a specific teach or reports of errors in mooc it makes sense to have a mooc channel. My policy is to point an admin for each channel , channel admis are diffirent than us general admins, we have full power they can only 1)manage message in a specific channel 2) manage webhooks (for example github commits or rss feeds) 3) create instant invites so if there is one person that is willing to become a mooc admin i will create the channel and add his as admin On Sun, Apr 9, 2017 at 5:33 AM Ben Coman <btc(a)openinworld.com> wrote: > Could we have additional channels: > > #welcome - which would be the generally advertised invite URL. A > read-only channel that informs about community rules and summaries > available channels etc (maybe including hidden channels and who to ask for > invite) > > #help - To be referenced from in-Image Help Browser. Maybe later have an > in-Image chat tool that connects to this channel. How cool would it be to > have live help from within the IDE? > > #mooc - So people can maybe look back through history before asking > questions, and also people further along might help others less advanced > ==> more participation > > cheers -ben >

April 9, 2017

discord channel request

by Ben Coman

Could we have additional channels: #welcome - which would be the generally advertised invite URL. A read-only channel that informs about community rules and summaries available channels etc (maybe including hidden channels and who to ask for invite) #help - To be referenced from in-Image Help Browser. Maybe later have an in-Image chat tool that connects to this channel. How cool would it be to have live help from within the IDE? #mooc - So people can maybe look back through history before asking questions, and also people further along might help others less advanced ==> more participation cheers -ben

April 9, 2017

VM flavour for Pharo 6 release

by Ben Coman

Hi Esteban, What flavour of VM is going to be in Pharo 6 release? Do you think a move to the thread-beat one is a feasible? On Case 19820 "Epicea: GrafPort error when open browser" [1] I see the comment "These are two different VM versions. In both I have sometimes this crash, sometimes another crashes. The threaded VM version seems to be working (it's what I'm using now), but with the itimer ones I started to have this crashes." and I guess the thread-beat is more robust in interaction with third-party FFI signal handling. Should we particularly encourage everyone to update to latest thread-beat VM to provide additional testing before release? cheers -ben [1] https://pharo.fogbugz.com/f/cases/19820

April 9, 2017

Re: [Pharo-dev] stepping off the end of the debug stack

by Nicolai Hess

2017-04-08 6:46 GMT+02:00 Ben Coman <btc(a)openinworld.com>: > > > On Sat, Apr 8, 2017 at 12:32 PM, Ben Coman <btc(a)openinworld.com> wrote: > >> >> I imagine a newcomer exploring the system could easily step off the end >> of the debug stack like this... >> >> (1 printString) "debugIt" >> then StepOver six times where the image hangs at "Processor >> terminateActive" >> >> This could have a strong impact against first impressions. >> What would it take to guard against this? >> >> cheers -ben >> > > As an immediate stop-gap I'm adding the following comment to > BlockClosure>>newProcess > > "IMPORTANT! Debug stepping this deep infrastructure may lock your Image" > "If you are not sure what you are doing, close the debugger now." > > cheers -ben > +1

April 8, 2017