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

[Bill Lorensen]

Mike,

I agree that if something is a barrier to progress it should be
removed fro a future release. But, "progress" and "barrier" are in the
eye of the beholder. Is there some feature in the wings that compiler
X is preventing VTK from presenting to its customers?

Bill

On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 3:29 PM, Mike Jackson
<mike.jackson at bluequartz.net> wrote:
> 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
>