[X2Go-Dev] Maintaining VcXsrv and where to host it

Henning Heinold h.heinold at tarent.de
Thu Mar 5 17:32:39 CET 2015


On Thu, Mar 05, 2015 at 10:33:17AM -0500, Michael DePaulo wrote:
> Hi everybody,
> 
> This is something I wanted to discuss at our meeting today:
> http://wiki.x2go.org/doku.php/2015-03:day-2015-03-05?s[]=meeting
> 
> Intro:
> 
> For those who do not know, VcXsrv is a port of the X.org X server to
> Windows. Specifically, the MS Visual C compiler. X2Go Client for
> Windows bundles and uses it. So does PyHoca-GUI.
> 
> SourceForge lots you create personal git repos based off of official
> project repos. So here is my branch on my personal git repo:
> https://sourceforge.net/u/mikedep333/vcxsrv/ci/xp-1.15.2.x-x2gochanges/tree/
> 
> The differences from usptream VcXsrv are:
> 
> 1. I am currently maintaining the 1.15.2.x branch, rather than the
> 1.16.x branch of upstream. Upstream never maintains previous
> branches/releases.
> 2. I applied the nx-libs compatibility/bugfix patch from Alex,
> winmultiwindow.patch . I am keeping this on a branch with the suffix
> "-x2gochanges" branch because my convo with Alex indicated that
> upstream would not accept it.
> 3. I am maintaining Windows XP compatibility for the time being.
> 4. I respond quickly to security vulnerabilities in xorg-server and
> all the other bundled components (e.g., openssl, freetype2, X11 libs)
> Upstream simply updates/upgrades each component to the latest versions
> (even unreleased master branches often) on a seemingly arbitrary
> schedule.
> 
> There are a few problems with using SourceForge:
> 
> 1. SourceForge's support for git is terrible. Whenever I attempted a
> "request merge" from branch Y on my repo to the master branch on the
> usptream VcXsrv repo, it treid to merge my master branch instead.
> 2. SourceForge has recently done terrible things as GitHub has gained
> popularity:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SourceForge#DevShare_adware_controversy
> 3. My repo isn't very visible because it is a personal git repo, not a
> project repo.
> 4. Upstream VcXsrv (1 developer, marha) is horribly unresponsive. They
> ignore bugs and merge requests for CVEs. Only once have I gotten an
> email reply to a merge request. He had a valid reason to reject the
> merge request, but he didn't actually reject it, so it is still open.
> I never had a bug report replied to. So effectively, staying on
> SourceForge does not enable us to upstream anything.
> 
> Here is what I propose:
> 
> 1. Host VcXsrv on both code.x2go.org and
> https://github.com/arcticaproject , simiilar to how nx-libs is hosted.
> 2. Prefer github for issue tracking. If an issue does affect X2Go
> users, then use the X2Go BTS and link to the github issue tracker.
> 3. Create a README.md similar to the one for nx-libs 3.6.x
> https://github.com/ArcticaProject/nx-libs/blob/3.6.x/README.md
> 4. Do not rename VcXsrv. State in the README.md that Arctica and X2Go
> are maintaining branch X or branch Y currently, or possibly even 2
> branches at once. This is analogous to Linux distros maintaining a
> version of a package.
> 5. In the README.md or the github releases page, link to our builds under:
> http://code.x2go.org/releases/binary-win32/3rd-party/vcxsrv-modified-by-x2go-project/
> 6. Rebase to VcXsrv 1.16.x in time for X2Go Client 4.0.4.0.
> 7. Pull from upstream VcXsrv (the master branch) continuously.
> 8. Hopefully receive many pull requests via GitHub :)
> 
> -Mike#2
> _______________________________________________
> x2go-dev mailing list
> x2go-dev at lists.x2go.org
> http://lists.x2go.org/listinfo/x2go-dev

Sounds good to me.

Bye Henning


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