[vtk-developers] VTK 4.2.4 and VTK 5

[Prabhu Ramachandran]

Hi Ken,

>>>>> "KM" == Ken Martin <ken.martin at kitware.com> writes:

    >> Personally I have no concerns of moving to VTK 5.  My biggest
    >> problem is letting users of VTK-Python and MayaVi have a stable
    >> and working VTK that has all the features that they would want

[snip]

    KM> In that type of situation, if they cannot use the latest
    KM> release then I would recommend tagging (or branching) the CVS
    KM> VTK for MayaVi. Then you can provide at least CVS instructions
    KM> (and maybe a tar file) for a version of VTK that works with
    KM> MayaVi.

That is a possibility, I never thought of that, thanks!

    >> My other major gripe is that this devel list is never told of
    >> new releases.  Only major releases (like 4.0) are announced on
    >> vtkusers and vtk-devel.  At no point of time am I sure of what
    >> is the latest release.  I have to look at the web site to
    >> figure that out.  If you did announce it please point me to an
    >> email on this list that was sent and I'll shut up. :)

    KM> The description of what is in VTK 4.2 was in earlier
    KM> emails. The last significant email was
    KM> http://public.kitware.com/pipermail/vtk-developers/2003-February/002316.html
    KM> which isn't really an announcement.
    KM> Regarding what is the latest release I'd recommend the FAQ
    KM> which specifically answers this question.
    KM> http://public.kitware.com/cgi-bin/vtkfaq?req=show&file=faq01.002.htp

OK, I actually meant the 4.2.x releases.  IIRC you always announce the
major releases.

    KM> Having said that, I appreciate the basic idea that more
    KM> communication would be good. I have stopped posting as much
    KM> partially because I didn't want to generate too much
    KM> noise. For example, in the past I would post CMake patch
    KM> release announcements to the vtk-developers list, but I
    KM> stopped doing this because it seemed like it wasn't critical
    KM> to vtk-developers (possibly interesting but not critical). I
    KM> almost never announce VTK patch releases although that is
    KM> probably a mistake. I'll start announcing those from now on.

Thanks very much, that would be excellent!  I knew 4.2 was the latest
stable (given that CVS is 4.3) but did not know too much about what
went into 4.2.4 and when it was released etc.

[snip]
    >> not sure if there are a bunch of Mac OSX related fixes in 4.3?
    >> The Mac issues are long running and I still am not sure which
    >> release I can point someone to who wants to use VTK-Python
    >> successfully on the Mac!  Those who do use seem to use VTK off
    >> CVS and I am not comfortable pointing everyone to use CVS.

    KM> Personally I'm not comfortable with the Mac changes. No real
    KM> reason, I just feel like the Mac and Python on the Mac are
    KM> moving targets that haven't matured yet. I'm concerned about
    KM> putting out a release with those changes because I lack
    KM> confidence that they work and will continue to work into the
    KM> future. I don't even know if we really support pre jaguar OSX
    KM> any more. My gut reaction on this is to leave MAC to CVS until
    KM> panther has been out for a while and then require VTK users to
    KM> use panther.

OK.

    >> How do you define "key" feature?  How about the gl2ps stuff?  I
    >> asked about it before 4.0 and it would be sad if users had to
    >> wait till 5.0 were released in mid-2004 to use it in a stable
    >> release.

    KM> It is a nice feature but I'd wait and let it be a part of the
    KM> VTK 4.4 snapshot.

Sure.

[PR on snapshots]

    KM> We will have snapshots, but they will not be full
    KM> releases. The FAQ etc will still point to VTK 4.2 as the
    KM> release but at least the snapshots will provide points for
    KM> people who need a recent but stable version of VTK. A rough
    KM> roadmap (I'll update the FAQ) is attached below:

[snip]
    KM> VTK 4.4 (intermediate release, end of year)
    KM> VTK 4.8 (intermediate release, end of February)
    KM> VTK 5.0 (major release, end of June)

Great!  That will do just fine.  Many thanks for patiently listening
to and addressing my rants! :)

cheers,
prabhu