[PD-dev] [GEM] new postrender crashes OS X

Mark Danks mdanks at STORMFRONT.com
Tue Dec 17 18:58:38 CET 2002


Hi all,

  Couple of observations from afar (yes, I am still here watching how my
baby is doing :-)

  Having dealt with a lot of remote dev, etc before, I would _really_
recommend that you create a stable and experimental CVS branch as Guenter
mentions.  In past projects I have been involved with, the "active"
developers would work on the experminental branch, knowing that at any
moment, the entire thing could be broken.  "Normal" users or developers
would use the stable branch.  Every so often, when the experimental branch
is good to go, then it replaces the stable branch, and you fork out another
experimental one.  Also, labeling in CVS is easy and should be used whenever
a big checkin happens so people can get back to a known state.

  On the issue of the processImage stuff, I totally agree that the original
design assumptions I made 7 years ago aren't true anymore :-)  Remember that
all of that code started on an SGI Indy...machines are a bit faster these
days.  This is one reason why it is such a pain to do streaming pixel
manipulation (like on movies).  A complete overhaul of the pix system would
be a lot of work, but would probably help a lot.

  I have actually been looking into ways to have objects "advertise" their
connection abilities and just let them negotiate the best way to run.  This
allows for optimized processing for known formats, as well as conversion for
formats that the original code hasn't even seen before.  BTW, I would
recommend that YUV stuff is folded into the normal pix flow.  While I know
that there are significant differences, etc. between the two formats, it is
confusing to end users who don't know the differences.  If pixel operations
are dealt with differently on Mac vs all the other platforms, then it will
be harder to transfer patches and general GEM knowledge for most people
independent of the platform.

  Just my $.02

Later, Mark

==============================
= mdanks at stormfront.com
= Technical Director PS2/XBox
= http://www.danks.org/mark
==============================
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: chris clepper [mailto:cclepper at artic.edu]
> Sent: Monday, December 16, 2002 5:04 PM
> To: guenter geiger
> Cc: PD-dev at iem.kug.ac.at
> Subject: Re: [PD-dev] [GEM] new postrender crashes OS X
> 
> 
> >A slighlty different proposal. Having taken a closer look at Gem,
> >and specifically pix_ processing, I do completely understand that
> >Johannes wants to change everything in there. There is no way around
> >introducing bugs in this process.
> >
> >In order to make this transition less painfull, we could 
> make a stable
> >branch of Gem, which will only change for bugfixes, build system
> >enhancements etc (no new features !!).
> >
> >This means of course that there will be no yuv support.
> >
> >Is there a need for such a branch ?
> 
> Interesting proposition Guenter.  Maybe a stable and 'experimental' 
> branch could help ease transitions in code additions.  Another idea 
> might be to have a 'Core' Gem version that's cross-platform with 
> extra extensions to accommodate differences and unique features for 
> each OS.  That might alleviate some of our problems. The counterpoint 
> is that it would mean more work for administrators and potential 
> confusion for users.  Some thing to think about...
> 
> cgc
> 
> >Guenter
> >
> 
> -- 
> 
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