What OS do patch testers use

[Bjarni]

As the question reads: what binaries would you like to see with a patch posted here?

I started to wonder how many people miss a binary since we only post win binaries. Maybe it's just a few people, but I would never know without asking

as for "None of the listed OSes (please post what OS)", it's not very likely that any other OS will be added unless a whole lot of people request it, which I don't think will happen, but I added it for completetion to get the big picture.

[EDIT]: to clear things up: the diff will always be posted. The question is what binaries people would use and if they are important. I mean this is for people that can't compile themselves or think it is rather hard to compile yourself. It takes to many extra clicks to upload more than one binary, that odds are that we will never upload all of the ones in the list. It would actually be easiest just to keep uploading the win only binary, but the question would be how many people it would preventing from testing it

[Conditional Zenith]

Also be aware that OTTD is GPL, so if you post binaries, you must post the source (not technically 100% true, but close enough).

[MeusH]

Answering "what binary would you prefer to use?" I picked Win32.
I really like to see diff, too, because I like to know how did others create the patch. It just takes too much time to merge and compile the source than just simple unpacking.

[lucaspiller]

Actually I disagree MeusH.

Compiling myself:

Code: Select all

cd /usr/src/openttd && wget http://mysite.com/my.diff && patch -p0 < my.diff && make && ./openttd

Using a binary:

Code: Select all

wget http://mysite.com/openttd-whatever.tar.bz2 && tar -xvjf openttd-whatever.tar.bz2 && cd openttd-whatever && cp /usr/src/openttd/data/sample.cat ./data && cp /usr/src/openttd/data/*.GRF ./data && cp /usr/src/openttd/openttd.cfg ./ && ./openttd

[Conditional Zenith]

I think he was referring to the compile time. That make step can take a while.

[webfreakz.nl]

Well I'm currently using Win XP but I should be using Debian at the moment.... had some disk trouble and lent my Debian installation DVD to a friend of mine.
Don't know what to vote :S

[Bjarni]

Also be aware that OTTD is GPL, so if you post binaries, you must post the source (not technically 100% true, but close enough).

To clear things up: the diff will always be posted

[Sacro]

I use Arch Linux (i686 compiled distro) its fast and it has none of the bloat that bog down others. I also use Windows XP because I'm waiting for a router

[Expresso]

Well, I'm on Linux and compile /everything/ from source (I like to tweak things). So, it's the diff for me.

[CobraA1]

Linux people usually don't mind compiling (many even prefer it), so I usually just post the Windows binary and the diff file.

[Bjarni]

Linux people usually don't mind compiling (many even prefer it), so I usually just post the Windows binary and the diff file.

this is why I made this poll. By just releasing the win binary, we will never know how many people, that looks and then just moves on because they need a different binary.

About the linux compiling thing: yes, it's the usual way, but I have been told that some wicked linux users don't even have GCC, which means that they need binaries.... but I don't get why you would want linux without GCC

[webfreakz.nl]

Linux people usually don't mind compiling (many even prefer it), so I usually just post the Windows binary and the diff file.

this is why I made this poll. By just releasing the win binary, we will never know how many people, that looks and then just moves on because they need a different binary.

About the linux compiling thing: yes, it's the usual way, but I have been told that some wicked linux users don't even have GCC, which means that they need binaries.... but I don't get why you would want linux without GCC

you can't be a linux freak without G++ / GCC / whatever!

[Sacro]

And its hard to create a "Linux" binary, as its had to define what versions of gcc, glibc, binutils, SDL etc to compile/link against, as well as processor optimisations.

[Brianetta]

.... but I don't get why you would want linux without GCC :shock:

You can't imagine life without a compiler because you're a dev. Speaking as one who runs a Linux user group, there are many, many Linux users who are *scared* of compiling. They don't understand it. Many don't even know what the difference is between source and a binary. They're the refugees from Windows, and they come not for the leet unix powers, but because they heard Linux crashed less and has fewer viruses.

For these people, thankfully, almost everything is available as a binary package. They think in terms of "install" and "uninstall," and for these people (who are mainly using an x86 platform, not that some of them could identify it from your list) a binary is a good idea.

This might not be such a problem, though, since getting OTTD running requires files from TTD - the sort of tinkering these people wouldn't want.

Me personally, give me the sauce. mmm, Tabasco.

[Brianetta]

And its hard to create a "Linux" binary, as its had to define what versions of gcc, glibc, binutils, SDL etc to compile/link against, as well as processor optimisations.

That's all pretty standard across recent x86 distributions, and minor version differences don't matter. I've not had a problem running any OpenTTD binaries (downloaded or home-compiled) and I have several machines with several different distributions on them. Versions of gcc and binutils are irrelevant unless you plan to compile, anyway.

There might be trouble with the x86-64 architecture, I haven't tested it.