[vtkusers] [vtk-developers] Can we drop Visual Studio 6 support?

[Mike Jackson]

Just my 2 cents (not I actually use VS6).

State that VTK Version X.X will be the LAST version to support VS6.
Those that use vtk can continue to use VS6 with that version. It's not
like VS6 support is being removed from any previous release. Qt
followed this track and it gave developers time to figure out how to
upgrade to a new VS or decide to just stick with the last supported
version.

If a customer is using VS6 _just_ for C++ then I would really suggest
upgrading to the free VS Express editions. You get the same capability
for the same price.

Lastly, at some point every project needs to remove barriers that
allow the project to move forward. Apple does, Microsoft does it, Sun
Does it, Trolltech does it. What sets them apart was that their
developer communities had ample warning that the end was near and they
were given time to prepare for what was coming. Do the same with
VTK/ITK/ParaView and there will be _less_ moaning from the developer
community.

Fearing the day when (MinGW/MSYS) gcc 3.x gets dropped from one of my
projects but knowing it is coming.

Cheers/Peace
----
Mike Jackson

On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 3:09 PM, Bill Lorensen <bill.lorensen at gmail.com> wrote:
> Which tests...
>
> On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 3:02 PM, David Thompson <dcthomp at sandia.gov> wrote:
>>> I also have an argument for keeping VS60 support:
>>>
>>> Usually, developers break VS60 because it is on the continuous
>>> dashboard and it has tcl and python wrapper turned on. Sometimes the
>>> BCC on the
>>> continuous does not gives error because it does not have tcl and
>>> python wrappers on but nightly builds of BCC are then usually broken.
>>> Same for SunOS CC.
>>
>> Adding a continuous build that has wrapping turned on seems an easy fix
>> that doesn't require MSVC6.
>>
>>> Besides the big red dahsboard few weeks ago with the unicode features,
>>> there is no VS60 specific break. The last few days dashboard errors
>>> were on most platforms.
>>
>> There is more than just compiling cleanly. We have had many problems
>> where code compiles but tests run incorrectly (and, yes, only on VC6
>> builds).
>>
>>        David
>>
>>> (I make this remark is just in case Berk started ask the question
>>> because of the current VTK dashboard state).
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 1:59 PM, Francois Bertel
>>> <francois.bertel at kitware.com> wrote:
>>> > An argument in favor of stopping VS6 support:
>>> >
>>> > Even Microsoft stopped to support it officially. Microsoft stopped
>>> > "mainstream support" on 9/30/2004 and "extended support" on
>>> > 9/30/2005.
>>> > ref: http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=3003
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > A little remark (not an argument): VS60 is the last version to run on
>>> > the Windows 9x platform ( but who is still using Windows 9x in 2009
>>> > anyway?):
>>> > ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Visual_Studio#Visual_Studio_6.0
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 1:56 PM, Bill Lorensen <bill.lorensen at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> >> Berk,
>>> >>
>>> >> What sort of maintenance issues are you having?
>>> >>
>>> >> Are there other compilers the developers don't use? Visual Studio 7? Borland?
>>> >>
>>> >> I think the real issue is what compilers do the VTK installed base
>>> >> use? You may have customers that are using 3rd party drivers/libraries
>>> >> that are VS6. Actually, there is no way to know who the customers are.
>>> >>
>>> >> Bill
>>> >>
>>> >> On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 1:43 PM, Berk Geveci <berk.geveci at kitware.com> wrote:
>>> >>> Hi folks,
>>> >>>
>>> >>> We are thinking of dropping support for Visual Studio 6. It is causing
>>> >>> annoying maintenance issues since no one in the developer team uses it
>>> >>> and since VS 6 supports only a subset of modern C++ features. Are
>>> >>> there any objects? If yes, I would like to know why.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> Best,
>>> >>> -berk
>>> > --
>>> > François Bertel, PhD  | Kitware Inc. Suite 204
>>> > 1 (518) 371 3971 x113 | 28 Corporate Drive
>>> >                      | Clifton Park NY 12065, USA