MacOS PIM Plugins Testing

[stevead]

Rick,

The fix has been done, it has built successfully.

The simplest way for someone to test quickly is to download the tarball from the following link and install using the "Import plugin" option.

If that works OK, then just need to work out how to simply replace the "old" version with the "new".

I wonder if I just delete the local & remote git tags, tag the new commit with the same tag version number, push to the remote git repo, let the build & cloudsmith upload run, whether it will just replace the existing cloudsmith tarball without requiring any change to the plugin xml catalog?

[rgleason]

Steve, Great. It's up to you what you want to do, but you can manually upload to your cloudsmith prod directory using the green upload button, select "Raw" and then drag the file to the location shown, then hit the green upload raw button at the bottom.


You will then need to make the normal PR to plugins to get it into PIM.

[bdbcat]

Steve...
"However I would still like to understand why the new OpenCPN release causes ABI problems. I thought the ABI was much lower in the stack, eg. at compiler & linker level, and a change from one version of wxWidgets to another, assuming the correct dylib versions are installed and they were created with the same compiler (or at least the same compiler ABI definitions) wouldn't result in any unresolved symbols."


In a perfect world, you are correct.
In our world, wxWidgets does not promise ABI compatibility between sub-minor versions. (e.g. 3.1.2 -> 3.1.5) Indeed, we have seen breakage, both on the MacOS and gtk builds.
IMHO, to be fair, preserving strict ABI compatibility makes it almost impossible for low level libraries like wxWidgets to evolve useful new functionality. So we pay the price, as a fair exchange for improved reliability, performance, and features.


Sorry you were one step behind on the error correcting MacOS wxWidgets version specification (-eq error). Rick and I just finished updating and testing a large set of plugins correcting this, and another similar bug.



Dave

[jongough]

Originally Posted by stevead

Rick,

[snip]

[/snip]

I wonder if I just delete the local & remote git tags, tag the new commit with the same tag version number, push to the remote git repo, let the build & cloudsmith upload run, whether it will just replace the existing cloudsmith tarball without requiring any change to the plugin xml catalog?

I try to avoid 'reusing' version numbers as it causes confusion if things don't work as expected. If it truly is a minor change then change either the PATCH or TWEAK number, at least it will identify which version is being used.


When the build has been completed there is only the need to:

• Pull the latest version of the plugins `master/beta/alpha`,
• create your own branch,
• 'download' from cloudsmith the xml files (download_xml_bash.sh is supplied for this in the root of the plugin manager git),
• validate the xml (validate.sh is supplied for this in the root of plugin manager git),
• add the new files to git and remove and delete the old version (if you want to),
• commit and push your branch of 'master/beta/alpha',
• create the pull request. If this passes the tests on git the pull will then be merged and a new `ocpn-plugins.xml` will be automatically generated.

[rgleason]

Steve, Jon is right about this I think. I always create a new version and build all the OS files and deploy to your "prod" repos with a tagged push. Then in your plugins "master" branch after (git pull upstream master to update your local repos) then

"download_xml_bash.sh <plugin -no pi> <version> opencpn prod"

to add your newly built plugins to PIM

[rgleason]

Dave has added these to PIM, please give them a try. Thanks. More coming.

GPS Odometer 0.6.6.1 -Lennart
DashboardTactics 1.6.10.0
Plots 2.2.10.0
Autopilot Route 0.4.3.0 - Thanks to big help from Jon

[SCarns]

Dashboard Tactics! Yay! Installed and is working. I had moved back to the Dashboard & Tactics combo, as DT had gotten kind of flakey in the versions for O5.2.4.

Just installed it and am very happy it’s back and working great on my MBP with Catalina.

THANKS!

[amajori]

Gps Odometer, Dashboard Tactics, Plots and Autopilot Route install correctly.

[CarCode]

Originally Posted by bdbcat

Steve...
"However I would still like to understand why the new OpenCPN release causes ABI problems. I thought the ABI was much lower in the stack, eg. at compiler & linker level, and a change from one version of wxWidgets to another, assuming the correct dylib versions are installed and they were created with the same compiler (or at least the same compiler ABI definitions) wouldn't result in any unresolved symbols."

In a perfect world, you are correct.
In our world, wxWidgets does not promise ABI compatibility between sub-minor versions. (e.g. 3.1.2 -> 3.1.5) Indeed, we have seen breakage, both on the MacOS and gtk builds.
IMHO, to be fair, preserving strict ABI compatibility makes it almost impossible for low level libraries like wxWidgets to evolve useful new functionality. So we pay the price, as a fair exchange for improved reliability, performance, and features.

Sorry you were one step behind on the error correcting MacOS wxWidgets version specification (-eq error). Rick and I just finished updating and testing a large set of plugins correcting this, and another similar bug.

Dave

I don't know what you are doing to build OpenCPN for macOS. But do you really think it is correct to use symbolic link files in the Frameworks folder of the bundled macOS version of OpenCPN?
Perhaps this is the reason of your problems and plugin developers have.

[stevead]

If it truly is a minor change then change either the PATCH or TWEAK number, at least it will identify which version is being used.

It is not a change. The source code & functionality are unchanged. It is just that the Darwin wx3.1.5 version was built incorrectly and linked to the wrong wxWidgets libs.

It would be more confusing for existing users on other platforms if the version, patch or tweak number was changed.

An alternative is to replace the one tarball in Cloudsmith with another, using exactly the same tarball name and same metadata, but with the correct dylib.

Unrelated to this specific issue, updating the plugin metadata xml file, do we have a tool or prescribed procedure for deleting the entries for superceded versions of plugins, or do we have to delete the entries by hand before issuing the pull request ?

[Far Horizon]

Originally Posted by bdbcat

Steve...

Are you seriously expecting plugin developers to debug, re-compile and re-release their plugins for the Mac ?

Yes. Seriously. This is in active progress now. Many are already done.


Sorry for the ABI breakage on moving to wx315. This will happen occasionally, every few Releases/years. Something we live with...


Dave

Every year Apple releases a new OS version that introduces new technology, breaks stuff that used to work and they remove older technology that they consider no longer fit for purpose (generally 4 years/versions of the OS). I run a company that develops business management software for Mac and Windows and every year we do battle with this.

We are forced to update/change for changing technology, changes due to new security, new hardware and whatever someone decided was a good idea. The OpenCPN developers have to live with this too as does anyone who develops the plugins.

We all live downstream from the OS and hardware vendors…. I know this doesn’t help with re-coding but I hope it helps clarify where most change emanates from.

Regards, David

[bdbcat]

Steve...
"It would be more confusing for existing users on other platforms if the version, patch or tweak number was changed."


I disagree. Updating a plugin to a new version, on any platform, is pretty easy. We should encourage users to download a new master catalog frequently, and and update the plugins indicated.


For the particular case here, I would (and have done for my plugins in similar situations) update the tweak number for all builds, and post a PR to the catalog.


"do we have a tool or prescribed procedure for deleting the entries for superceded versions of plugins,"


We delete superseded metadata manually. The "deletion" becomes part of the PR. The old metadata and tarballs are left on Cloudsmith, to eventually age out of the repo and get deleted automatically.

[rgleason]

Summary MacOS Plugins, users please test and advise, Pl Devs please update your plugins to support MacOS. Thank you.

INTERNAL
WMM OK
Dashboard OK
ChartDownloader 1.4 OK
Grib 4.1 OK

CHART
oeSENC 4.3.2.6 OK
oeRNC 1.2.11 OK
S63 1.17.9 OK

EXTERNAL
AIS-vd 1.1.30.0 OK
AIS Radar View 1.2.19.0 -- Not Tested
Autopilot Route 0.4.4.0 -- Not Tested
Findit 1.2.14.0 -- Not Tested
Celestial Navigation 2.3.11.0 -- Not Tested
Climatology 1.4.38.0 OK (fixed error)
Calculator 3.0.0 OK
DR 4.0.0 OK
DashboardTactics 1.6.9 OK (fixed error)
GPS Odometer 0.6.6.1 OK (fixed error)
Logbook 1.4.23.0 OK
otCurrent 3.1.0 OK
OCPN Draw 1.8.8.1 OK (was not present)
pypilot 0.30.3 OK
Polar 1.1.24.0 OK (fixed error)
Plots 2.2.9.0 OK (fixed error)
Statusbar 0.7.15.0 OK (fixed error)
ShipDriver 3.0.0 OK
squiddio 1.3.17.0 oK (fixed error)
Testplugin 1.0.185.0 OK (fixed error)
Weather_Routing 1.13.35.0 OK (fixed error)
Weatherfax 1.9.27.0 OK (fixed error)

NO MACOS VERSION AVAILABLE
AutoTrackRaymarine 0.3.4.12 Coded for Win only --Not Tested
Engine Dashboard 1.4.0.0 -- (had error)
NmeaConverter 1.2.0.2 Not Visible Not Tested
Photolayer 3.5.1 Not Visible Not Tested
Radar 5.2.2 Not Visible Not Tested
Race Start Display 1.1.0.0 Not Visible Not Tested
sar 2.8.2.0 Not Visible Not Tested
TwoCan Plugin 2.0.0.0 Not Visible Not Tested
Tactics 1.0.24.0 Not Visible Not Tested Rick next
VDR 1.3.12.0 Not Visible Not Tested Rick next
vfKaps 2.1.1.7 Not Visible Not Tested
Windvane 1.0.22.0 Not Visible Not Tested
Javascript Almost released, Not Tested

[amajori]

Today I tried the Climatology (1.4.38.0) plugin better and I encountered some crashes when I try to change the date manually. It gets a little better if I change the date with the slide-bar. MackBook (2015) and MacOS 12.0.1

[rgleason]

amajori in windows we have a dropdown bar only for picking MONTHS. There is no date involved. What plugin are you actually using? Please attach a photo.
Thanks.