On 09/15/2009 02:49 AM, Alex Fernandez wrote:
(I see even less of a reason to worry about this given the progress on
native HTML output, which everyone who has considered the question and who
knows anything about the matter knows is the only sensible option, long
term.)
Ha ha ha.
This is pretty much the attitude that bothers me, and frankly I'm not
the only one it bothers. Some time ago, I made repeated offers to
collaborate on this sort of thing, and you repeatedly refused to become
seriously involved with LyX development. You want to do your own thing?
Fine. But you don't then get to insist that LyX adjust itself to it and
act as if we're all obstructionist because we won't accept whatever
patch you want us to put in for you. That is not the model of the bazaar
but a recipe for pure chaos, and that is why I am not the only one who
is resisting it. We have been down this road before, and we do not care
to go there again.
That said, I really am trying to be constructive here, and so I will
pass over things that I might otherwise have chosen to respond to.
And for what it's worth, native HTML output is probably 60% done. If
only I could find a stretch to work on it, or if I'd been able to get a
little help, it'd be completely done (well, as done as these things ever
get). So I'm a little unclear about the "ha ha".
Maybe this problem could be solved by using the Qt framework in a way we
presently aren't. Qt hides a lot of our cross-platform problems. And if it
doesn't, then you should look into some other issue in src/support/. That is
where the issues about spaces in filenames should be handled, NOT in
shipping some special library that is really needed only on Window$ and then
hacking the LyX sources to deal with this platform-specific problem.
The problem doesn't even come near Qt code -- it's all in the Python
parts. Yes, reconfiguring and launching converters is done in Python.
You might try one day to understand a problem before proposing
solutions. It really makes a difference.
I have repeatedly asked what problem this code is supposed to solve, and
I have yet to get a decent explanation, other than that there is some
bug in the Windows shell that has to do with spaces in pathnames. (As if
that is some kind of surprise.) But whatever. If there's a bug in the
Windows shell, then I'd like to know, among other things, why this bug
only causes problems for elyxer and not for any other converter we call.
If it's only a problem for elyxer, why does solving it require some
special code in LyX? And if (in principle) it's not just a problem for
elyxer, then we want some general solution, not some hack that deals
with this one case. That is why I suggested that (maybe, since no one
has told me what the problem actually is) doing something in
src/support/ and maybe using Qt as a way of hiding whatever the Windows
shell is screwing up. It seems like that isn't the right place to do it.
As I said, I don't know, because no one will tell me what the problem
is. Maybe what we need is some other way of calling converters. I don't
know that either. But I have been around here long enough to know that I
am not the only one who will insist that these are the right questions
to be asking and that this is the right way to approach this kind of
problem. Adding some glue code specific to elyxer is not the right way
to go.
So now, if someone wants to look into this issue, from this sort of
perspective, I and others will be happy to offer whatever help we can.
But if the answer is, well, sorry, but I only want to solve my problem
and can't be bothered to solve anyone else's, then, well, sorry, but
we're not interested in that kind of "help". As I said before, we have
been down that road.
Richard
