FOP, gcj, classpath, oh my!

[Karsten Wade]

Can someone give fedora-docs-list an update about our ability to put out
a 100% free, gcj-compiled DocBook toolchain?

I've totally lost track of where this is at or who was working on it.

Thanks - Karsten
-- 
Karsten Wade, RHCE, 108 Editor    ^     Fedora Documentation Project 
 Sr. Developer Relations Mgr.     |  fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject
   quaid.108.redhat.com           |          gpg key: AD0E0C41
////////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

[Thomas Fitzsimmons]

Hi Karsten!

Karsten Wade wrote:
>  Can someone give fedora-docs-list an update about our ability to put
> out
>  a 100% free, gcj-compiled DocBook toolchain? 
I've been meaning to test this against Rawhide but haven't got to it yet.  When 
I do, I'll report the status here.  (I have a feeling there will have been 
improvements because of the Java2D work in GNU Classpath).

Tom

[Mark Wielaard]

On Thu, 2006-09-07 at 10:37 -0400, Thomas Fitzsimmons wrote:
>  Hi Karsten!
>  
>  Karsten Wade wrote:
>  > Can someone give fedora-docs-list an update about our ability to put out
>  > a 100% free, gcj-compiled DocBook toolchain?
>  
>  I've been meaning to test this against Rawhide but haven't got to it yet.  When 
>  I do, I'll report the status here.  (I have a feeling there will have been 
>  improvements because of the Java2D work in GNU Classpath). 
Yes, I have CCed Cameron and Francis who might have the most up to date
status on all this. If we have a good description of what really must
work then we can concentrate on those parts of gcj, classpath, batik and
fop that are essential to the documentation team.

I installed FC6test3, but cannot find the fop package that Tom created
(or did I only dream that he did? maybe it was never submitted?). We
might need to import/backport some recent classpath CVS fixes into the
FC6 libgcj to make it all work since I know just days ago some new
support for batik went into GNU Classpath (hi Francis, hi Cameron).

Cheers,

Mark

[Cameron McCormack]

Hi people.

Karsten Wade:
>  > > Can someone give fedora-docs-list an update about our
> ability to put out
>  > > a 100% free, gcj-compiled DocBook toolchain? 
Thomas Fitzsimmons:
>  > I've been meaning to test this against Rawhide but
> haven't got to it yet.  When 
>  > I do, I'll report the status here.  (I have a feeling there will have been 
>  > improvements because of the Java2D work in GNU Classpath). 
Mark Wielaard:
>  Yes, I have CCed Cameron and Francis who might have the most up to
> date
>  status on all this. If we have a good description of what really must
>  work then we can concentrate on those parts of gcj, classpath, batik and
>  fop that are essential to the documentation team.
>  
>  I installed FC6test3, but cannot find the fop package that Tom created
>  (or did I only dream that he did? maybe it was never submitted?). We
>  might need to import/backport some recent classpath CVS fixes into the
>  FC6 libgcj to make it all work since I know just days ago some new
>  support for batik went into GNU Classpath (hi Francis, hi Cameron). 
Yes, I’ve just last week started to try to identify what Classpath
problems are preventing Batik from working.  Since the Fedora people will
(presumably) only be interested in rasterising static SVG documents,
this should avoid having to deal with any Swing issues just yet.

We are collecting the issues regarding FOP and Batik here:

  http://wiki.apache.org/xmlgraphics/GnuClasspathCompatibility

One thing I have noticed during my limited testing so far is that the
rasteriser (and the SVG browser, too) is running pretty slowly compared
to on Sun’s JVM.  My first guess would be a mismatch of ColorModels
between what Batik is providing and what the Cairo layer underneath is
exepcting (which was a problem for Batik running under Sun’s OSX JVM a
while ago), but I haven’t checked into this yet.

Some simple files work, others don’t.  I really have to do some more
testing before knowing which areas need to be looked at.  I will report
back (and update the wiki page above) when I have found out more.

If the Fedora documentation people want to provide examples of the kinds
of things they will be processing, that would help to prioritise the
work.

I am not sure about the state of FOP running with Classpath.  Jeremias
Märki (CC’d) should know more.

Thanks,

Cameron

-- 
Cameron McCormack, http://mcc.id.au/
	xmpp:[e-mail]  ▪  ICQ 26955922  ▪  MSN cam(a)mcc.id.au

[Thomas Fitzsimmons]

Mark Wielaard wrote:
>  On Thu, 2006-09-07 at 10:37 -0400, Thomas Fitzsimmons wrote:
> > Hi Karsten!
> >
> > Karsten Wade wrote:
> >> Can someone give fedora-docs-list an update about our ability to put out
> >> a 100% free, gcj-compiled DocBook toolchain?
> > I've been meaning to test this against Rawhide but haven't got to it yet. 
> When 
> > I do, I'll report the status here.  (I have a feeling there will have been 
> > improvements because of the Java2D work in GNU Classpath).
>  
>  Yes, I have CCed Cameron and Francis who might have the most up to date
>  status on all this. If we have a good description of what really must
>  work then we can concentrate on those parts of gcj, classpath, batik and
>  fop that are essential to the documentation team.
>  
>  I installed FC6test3, but cannot find the fop package that Tom created
>  (or did I only dream that he did? maybe it was never submitted?). 
Yes, I never submitted my packages as they were major hacks.  Building 
Batik from the JPackage RPMs is not really feasible, because of the web 
of dependencies (rhino brings in many), the worst one being maven.  None 
of these dependencies are packaged in FC or FE.  On the FOP front, the 
FOP developers have done work in CVS to eliminate com.sun dependencies, 
work that hasn't been released and packaged yet.

I'd recommend building Batik and FOP from CVS if you're trying these out 
since then you can configure out the rhino dependency, and so you're 
working with the updated FOP.

Tom

[Francis Kung]

Hi,

>  Yes, I’ve just last week started to try to identify what Classpath
>  problems are preventing Batik from working.  Since the Fedora people will
>  (presumably) only be interested in rasterising static SVG documents,
>  this should avoid having to deal with any Swing issues just yet.
>  
>  We are collecting the issues regarding FOP and Batik here:
>  
>    http://wiki.apache.org/xmlgraphics/GnuClasspathCompatibility 
22938 - java.awt.BasicStroke.createStrokedShape unfinished

is also done; I committed a patch for it a couple of months ago, but the
ticket hasn't been closed yet (waiting for some feedback).


>  One thing I have noticed during my limited testing so far is that
> the
>  rasteriser (and the SVG browser, too) is running pretty slowly compared
>  to on Sun’s JVM.  My first guess would be a mismatch of ColorModels
>  between what Batik is providing and what the Cairo layer underneath is
>  exepcting (which was a problem for Batik running under Sun’s OSX JVM a
>  while ago), but I haven’t checked into this yet. 
AFAIK, we pass everything to Cairo in premultiplied ARGB32 for image
data, if that helps.

I've also run across some problems recently with our ARGB
implementation, mostly with the ordering of bands (resulting in weird
discolouration), but that doesn't sound related...


>  Some simple files work, others don’t.  I really have to do some more
>  testing before knowing which areas need to be looked at.  I will report
>  back (and update the wiki page above) when I have found out more. 
I'll wait to hear.

Cheers,
Francis

[Karsten Wade]

On Thu, 2006-09-14 at 19:21 +1000, Cameron McCormack wrote:
>  Hi people. 
Hi Cameron:

I'm going to leave your reply intact below, just dropping a note that I
sent a separate message to fedora-docs-list summarizing the thread so
far and calling attention to what we can do to help.

Of the tools-herders, some are busy with test3 packaging, but we
certainly must have some people with documents they want to test (into
PDFs).

I'll keep both lists informed, for now.  Thanks,

Karsten

>  Karsten Wade:
>  > > > Can someone give fedora-docs-list an update about our ability to put out
>  > > > a 100% free, gcj-compiled DocBook toolchain?
>  
>  Thomas Fitzsimmons:
>  > > I've been meaning to test this against Rawhide but haven't got to it
> yet.  When 
>  > > I do, I'll report the status here.  (I have a feeling there will have been
>
>  > > improvements because of the Java2D work in GNU Classpath).
>  
>  Mark Wielaard:
>  > Yes, I have CCed Cameron and Francis who might have the most up to date
>  > status on all this. If we have a good description of what really must
>  > work then we can concentrate on those parts of gcj, classpath, batik and
>  > fop that are essential to the documentation team.
>  > 
>  > I installed FC6test3, but cannot find the fop package that Tom created
>  > (or did I only dream that he did? maybe it was never submitted?). We
>  > might need to import/backport some recent classpath CVS fixes into the
>  > FC6 libgcj to make it all work since I know just days ago some new
>  > support for batik went into GNU Classpath (hi Francis, hi Cameron).
>  
>  Yes, I’ve just last week started to try to identify what Classpath
>  problems are preventing Batik from working.  Since the Fedora people will
>  (presumably) only be interested in rasterising static SVG documents,
>  this should avoid having to deal with any Swing issues just yet.
>  
>  We are collecting the issues regarding FOP and Batik here:
>  
>    http://wiki.apache.org/xmlgraphics/GnuClasspathCompatibility
>  
>  One thing I have noticed during my limited testing so far is that the
>  rasteriser (and the SVG browser, too) is running pretty slowly compared
>  to on Sun’s JVM.  My first guess would be a mismatch of ColorModels
>  between what Batik is providing and what the Cairo layer underneath is
>  exepcting (which was a problem for Batik running under Sun’s OSX JVM a
>  while ago), but I haven’t checked into this yet.
>  
>  Some simple files work, others don’t.  I really have to do some more
>  testing before knowing which areas need to be looked at.  I will report
>  back (and update the wiki page above) when I have found out more.
>  
>  If the Fedora documentation people want to provide examples of the kinds
>  of things they will be processing, that would help to prioritise the
>  work.
>  
>  I am not sure about the state of FOP running with Classpath.  Jeremias
>  Märki (CC’d) should know more.
>  
>  Thanks,
>  
>  Cameron
>   
-- 
Karsten Wade, RHCE, 108 Editor    ^     Fedora Documentation Project 
 Sr. Developer Relations Mgr.     |  fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject
   quaid.108.redhat.com           |          gpg key: AD0E0C41
////////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\