https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=98002

--- Comment #9 from jhertel <[email protected]> ---
Well, the build was unsuccessful. And just from reading the instructions, I
would have no idea whether the setup process doesn't work, or there is a
current bug in LibreOffice master that makes it unbuildable.

A lot of building went fine (19,475 log lines), but then this:

"   Creating library
C:/LibreOfficeDev/lode/dev/core/workdir/LinkTarget/Library/ivcl.lib and object
C:/LibreOfficeDev/lode/dev/core/workdir/LinkTarget/Library/ivcl.exp
[build CXX] accessibility/source/extended/accessiblelistboxentry.cxx
OpenGLHelper.o : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol
"__declspec(dllimport) public: static void __cdecl
CrashReporter::AddKeyValue(class rtl::OUString const &,class rtl::OUString
const &)" (__imp_?AddKeyValue@CrashReporter@@SAXABVOUString@rtl@@0@Z)
referenced in function "public: static bool __cdecl
OpenGLHelper::isVCLOpenGLEnabled(void)"
(?isVCLOpenGLEnabled@OpenGLHelper@@SA_NXZ)
C:/LibreOfficeDev/lode/dev/core/instdir/program/vcllo.dll : fatal error
LNK1120: 1 unresolved externals

mt.exe : general error c101008d: Failed to write the updated manifest to the
resource of file "C:/LibreOfficeDev/lode/dev/core/instdir/program/vcllo.dll".
Den angivne fil blev ikke fundet. [The specified file wasn't found]
C:/LibreOfficeDev/lode/dev/core/vcl/Library_vcl.mk:20: recipe for target
'C:/LibreOfficeDev/lode/dev/core/instdir/program/vcllo.dll' failed
make[1]: *** [C:/LibreOfficeDev/lode/dev/core/instdir/program/vcllo.dll] Error
96
make[1]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
Makefile:249: recipe for target 'build' failed
make: *** [build] Error 2"

Which is of course complete nonsense to someone that does not already know the
LibreOffice source code. 

And as a newcomer, I don't even want to know why
C:/LibreOfficeDev/lode/dev/core/instdir/program/vcllo.dll does not exist. I
want to solve or investigate a specific bug, and not something completely
unrelated.

I can see now by looking around that
http://tinderbox.libreoffice.org/cgi-bin/gunzip.cgi?tree=MASTER&brief-log=1456661833.19143
shows that exact error in the latest build, so this time it is actually a bug
in the LibreOffice code that makes the build fail. But just from following the
instructions, I wouldn't know that.

I guess the problem is that the setup process describes how to build the
bleeding edge master, which is often unbuildable, and not a version that has
actually been proven to be buildable. As a newcomer, you will have no idea
whether a failed build was due to something that was set up wrong on your
machine or due to an actual bug in the current master LibreOffice code that
simply makes it impossible to build. That's frustrating.

So, I am thinking that at least the process should tell the newcomer to have a
look at the current status of the correct column of
http://tinderbox.libreoffice.org/MASTER/status.html first, before even trying
to build. Currently there are three different Windows versions mentioned, and a
newcomer will have no idea what they are trying to build, so the instructions
should tell which column to look at. Personally, I still don't know which
column it is.

But I believe it would be even better to make the setup instructions tell the
newcomer how to build a version that is actually known to be buildable (and
buildable in the specific environment that the user was instructed to set up).
Because then he or she can check that everything is set up correctly for
building. In that way the newcomer would know whether a failed build was caused
by failing to set up the environment correctly, or whether the LibreOffice code
itself is unbuilable. That would take away a lot of frustration. Is there a git
tag or similar for the latest buildable version of LibreOffice?

I believe a newcomer should have an initial easy success experience, always
being able to build LibreOffice by following simple and clear instructions.
After that, he or she can learn more and become more accustomed to the
intricate details of LibreOffice source code and build environment, but there
shouldn't be a steep learning curve just to make a first successful build. It
should just work if the instructions are followed. 

I would love to improve the instructions to at least tell the user to check
Tinderbox before building, but being one of those newcomers I am talking about,
I still don't have enough information. Which build do the initial setup
instructions on https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Development/lode tell the
newcomer to set up? Jenkins_Win64_Dbg, Jenkins_Windows or Jenkins_Windows_Dbg?

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