Re: Desktops on non-x86_64 systems

[Ricardo Wurmus <rekado@elephly.net>]

Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> writes:

> We could try that, but IMO we first need a solution within 
> days—we just
> cannot reasonably let this branch go on for longer than that. 
> The
> librsvg 2.40 hack would give us Xfce (maybe GNOME?) on i686 
> today.
>
> Perhaps we can address all this in several steps:
>
>   1. apply the librsvg 2.40 hack now so we can merge
>      ‘core-updates-frozen’ this week for real;
>
>   2. later on, introduce some Rust binary for non-x86_64; that 
>   would
>      lead to rebuilds only on those architectures;
>
>   3. eventually, update mrustc (and have it call gcc with -O0 to 
>   reduce
>      its memory footprint), or use GCC-Rust instead of that’s 
>      viable.
>
> WDYT?

This sounds sensible.  Merging core-updates-frozen does *not* mean 
that it needs to be ready for release.  It’s been delayed for too 
long and further delays just serve to taint our morale and drain 
our energy, applying fixes again and again with no end in sight.

These ongoing delays have made core-updates-frozen grow so much in 
scope that we cannot afford to delay a merge any longer.  Let’s 
merge asap, even if that means using an older librsvg right now. 
Then add rust for non-x86_64 — either by cross-building it 
ourselves or getting an existing binary to restore feature parity. 
Then work on a long-term solution.


-- 
Ricardo