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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Kstars 3.5.0 OSx

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Replied by Rob Lancaster on topic Kstars 3.5.0 OSx

So the answer to this is slightly complicated. The sounds in KStars come from a library called Phonon (the VLC based version), which was originally supposed to be a cross platform sound system. But I found it to be incredibly hard to build the vlc backend for it on OSX. A couple of years ago, I managed to get it built after several hours of hard work, but the changes I had to make were in a number of different places in libraries owned by different people. I very carefully saved the binaries, and now in the DMG build I just copy them in from a zip file. The sounds do work just fine in the distributed version of KStars, but not in the development versions. So you might ask, why don't we just copy them in to the app bundle here, wouldn't they work here too? Well yes, it does work, I tried it, but the issue is that the phonon files I am referring to reside in the plugins in the app bundle, but since everyone is using a different version of QT, the plugins on your system might be different, so really we should be using the plugins directory from QT, not an internal plugins directory in the app bundle. There could potentially be issues or conflicts with file versions if we do that. So you might think, well what if we copied it into the plugins folder on the user's system in QT? Well I don't think I should copy files into people's QT directory from my script first, but also, the libraries in the vlc folder and the phonon backend are linked to the libraries in the app bundle. I am not sure they would work in the QT directory. Maybe with a bunch of work they could.

So it's complicated. And from my perspective, I am a volunteer working on a hobby project, this isn't my full time job, and just getting KStars to work on OS X in the first place and then to keep it working and fix all the issues that pop up is difficult enough. And this year I just decided to develop a cross platform plate solving library called StellarSolver. These things do take a lot of time, but they are really interesting and they do make a difference in the world, so I do have to pick my battles. The sound issue is not really at the top of my list. But other folks like yourself helping out would greatly help the cause and allow more of these sorts of issues along with many others to get fixed. That is one really big reason that the KStars-INDI-Mac-Dev Repo has been a priority of mine, so that I can get new folks started and helping out. Because we all benefit from this open source collaboration that we are undertaking here. Last year, I got somebody started coding on KStars and INDI using this repo and he started small and then started working on bigger projects. He is now one of our main contributors, though he did decide to move to coding for KStars on Linux because of the challenges on OS X, but he hasn't stopped, and thats the important part! I am hoping though, to get this repo to a state where it is good enough that people enjoy using it just as much.
3 years 4 months ago #63315

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Replied by AirBourn on topic Kstars 3.5.0 OSx

OK - great - just wanted to make sure that was expected behavior, and not an issue with the build itself. Are there good docs on the Qt build process I can peruse? Although I have years and years of MacOS experience, I know nothing about Qt.
3 years 4 months ago #63328

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Replied by Rob Lancaster on topic Kstars 3.5.0 OSx

I am not sure why my post is not posting, but I will try to separate it to see if that helps. Part 1:

So, I wouldn't probably call QT a build system as much as I would call it a library of cross platform functions, objects, and methods. The great benefit of QT is that we can do something on one operating system and it will mostly work on another out of the box. This is true of the entire program, from the methods to the system functions to even the user interface. Also, its great because it is free as long as you are doing open source. QT creator is also a very nice IDE, in a number of ways it is better than Xcode.
3 years 4 months ago #63339

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Replied by Rob Lancaster on topic Kstars 3.5.0 OSx

Part 2:
If you are referring to Qt documentation for libraries, functions, etc, then I think the best place is here: doc.qt.io. Although I will say that when I have a question about an object or method, such as if I am working with a QLabel and I'm wondering what methods it has, or descriptions of its methods, or examples of using it, I just do a google search. Usually the google search comes back to the QT docs, but not always.
3 years 4 months ago #63340

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Replied by Rob Lancaster on topic Kstars 3.5.0 OSx

Part 3:
For building KDE based programs such as KStars on Windows and Mac, because many linux executables and libraries are not available on Mac or Windows, we use the the craft build system. We used to use homebrew for Mac builds of KStars, but while homebrew was really great for the more basic software packages, I found it to be rather unstable for building the more advanced KDE libraries. So a couple of years ago, I spent a lot of time transitioning to the Craft build system since it is designed for the task. So for the main KStars build, we use the craft build system. If you want to find out more about that, there is a lot of documentation here: community.kde.org/Craft. Just note that currently there are a bunch of programs that we need for KStars and INDI that the current craft recipes do not make, and there are a few more that don't make the libraries with the options that we need and I had to change the recipe. So, I did write a whole bunch of recipes for them and keep them in a separate repo. I am hoping that they eventually get integrated into the main craft recipes repo, but for now, they are separate until we can get somebody to look at what I did and work with me on perfecting them. But for now it works. My kstars-on-osx build script makes use of those alternate recipes.
3 years 4 months ago #63341

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Replied by Rob Lancaster on topic Kstars 3.5.0 OSx

Part 4:
Craft Documentation: community.kde.org/Craft
Craft Repo: github.com/KDE/craft
Official Craft Blueprints/Recipes: github.com/KDE/craft-blueprints-kde
My Alternate Recipes: github.com/rlancaste/craft-blueprints-kde
My build script: github.com/rlancaste/kstars-on-osx-craft
3 years 4 months ago #63342

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Replied by Rob Lancaster on topic Kstars 3.5.0 OSx

Sorry, that was in 4 parts, but I tried posting it so many times and it didn't work. For some reason, all of it worked when I split it up?????? Not sure.
3 years 4 months ago #63343

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Replied by Jerry Black on topic Kstars 3.5.0 OSx

Most of this is beyond me, but I'd like to get to a QT environment on OS X. My current problem is in opening the CMakeLists.txt in QT.

I get.
Running /Users/jerry/Qt/Tools/CMake/CMake.app/Contents/bin/cmake -S /Volumes/Data_Raid/kstars_dev/src-forked/kstars -B /private/var/folders/2j/rl4qjhx13tj22xnht5hhzwrw0000gn/T/QtCreator-SSiACh/qtc-cmake-HSzmudjE -GNinja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:String=Debug -DQT_QMAKE_EXECUTABLE:STRING=/Users/jerry/Qt/5.15.2/clang_64/bin/qmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH:STRING=/Users/jerry/Qt/5.15.2/clang_64 -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER:STRING=/usr/bin/clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER:STRING=/usr/bin/clang++ in /private/var/folders/2j/rl4qjhx13tj22xnht5hhzwrw0000gn/T/QtCreator-SSiACh/qtc-cmake-HSzmudjE.
-- The CXX compiler identification is AppleClang 12.0.0.12000032
-- The C compiler identification is AppleClang 12.0.0.12000032
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working CXX compiler: /usr/bin/clang++ - skipped
-- Detecting CXX compile features
-- Detecting CXX compile features - done
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working C compiler: /usr/bin/clang - skipped
-- Detecting C compile features
-- Detecting C compile features - done
CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:64 (find_package):
  Could not find a package configuration file provided by "ECM" (requested
  version 1.7.0) with any of the following names:
 
    ECMConfig.cmake
    ecm-config.cmake
 
  Add the installation prefix of "ECM" to CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH or set "ECM_DIR"
  to a directory containing one of the above files.  If "ECM" provides a
  separate development package or SDK, be sure it has been installed.
 
 
-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!

I see a file at: /Volumes/Data_Raid/kstars_dev/ASTRO-ROOT/share/ECM/cmake/ECMConfig.cmake

but I'm not sure what the problem is at the moment.

Sorry Rob, if this is more work than it might benefit.

Cheers
3 years 4 months ago #63346

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Replied by Rob Lancaster on topic Kstars 3.5.0 OSx

Right Jerry, the reason I made the repo and script is because it is incredibly hard to get everything all set up and working starting from scratch, a huge uphill battle. So the idea is that I set up the script so that you can run it, all the hard parts of the setup are done for you, and then you can follow the instructions in the repo to setup qt creator to go ahead and use it. That way you can get all setup to make useful contributions to KStars and INDI without having to deal with all the setup crap.

Based on what you posted, if you are trying to follow my instructions in qt creator to get it set up, I expect you didn’t select the build directory where it is already all setup for you.
3 years 4 months ago #63354

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3 years 4 months ago #63355

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Replied by Rob Lancaster on topic Kstars 3.5.0 OSx

For anybody who was waiting for it, the OS X build error in INDI with endian.h was just fixed by the author of the change, so it should be all good now
3 years 4 months ago #63366

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Replied by Joaquin on topic Kstars 3.5.0 OSx

@rlancaste There is a limitation on the number of url links you can have in a post
Last edit: 3 years 4 months ago by Joaquin.
3 years 4 months ago #63368

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