Originally published at The Pædantic Programmer. Please leave any comments there.

Hello, google. I would like to introduce you to our chat logs. Chat logs, google. Google, chat logs.

We will discuss things here such as Mono, GNOME and Debian. We may even use it to talk about work on the DLR project stuff.

Tags: colliertech, debian, dlr, freenode, gnome, irc, ironpython, ironruby, linux, mono, python, washington state ubuntu loco

Originally published at The Pædantic Programmer. Please leave any comments there.

It looks like the upload of the Iron* languages to Debian is imminent. We’ve gotten the debian/watch file downloading a tarball of the git tag we’ve chosen for this release. This was the last bit meebey needed in order to present it to the maintainer of ironpython in lenny. He has agreed to let the Debian CLI Libraries Team adopt ironpython under the conditions that our packaging doesn’t suck and that he remains in the uploaders list.

Now that we have a package suitable for review, we have now presented it for said review.

Let me take a moment to mention how excited I am to be involved in packaging for Debian one of the first pieces of DFSG-compliant software sponsored by Microsoft. This is a true community effort with great work done by a lot of hard-working contributors. I believe that Microsoft has put its money where its mouth is with this project.

I have spent a fair amount of time criticising Microsoft for its “embrace and extend” sort of monopolistic actions. Having the somewhat unique experience of being a Debian GNU/Linux early-adopter and growing up in Microsoft’s back yard has given me the opportunity to bring up the concerns that the Free Software community has with the development practices of the 800-pound gorilla. To my surprise, the blue badger engineers with whom I have spoken have been responsive and even proactive in addressing the issues that have made Microsoft so combative toward the F/OSS development community. I see this as a very important step toward reconciling some poignant differences in the community.

Tags: cli, colliertech, debian, dlr, free software, git, ironpython, ironruby, journalism, linux, microsoft, mono, software

Originally published at The Pædantic Programmer. Please leave any comments there.

I sent an email to the Fedora Legal list asking whether they will accept software released under the MS-PL license. My friend and former colleague, Brett Lentz mentioned that he was concerned that the Fedora folks might not accept software released under the MS-PL. So I asked. I also bcc’d a certain troll on said mail so as to get lots of flame mail. I’m practicing to become a master twitterbaiter.

14:43 < cj> wakko666: so… we are building ironruby/ironpython debian packages over on OFTC/#debian-cli
14:43 < wakko666> k
14:43 < cj> meebey just packaged up mono 2.4.2.3 in .deb
14:44 < cj> with some backported patches required to get the DLR language engines running correctly
14:44 < wakko666> k
14:44 < cj> we’re using xbuild to perform the build, thanks to ankit’s recent patches.
14:44 < cj> alarm went off. need to address food.
14:44 < wakko666> i know that mono is already in Fedora.
14:45 < cj> great. any idea what version?
14:45 < wakko666> http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/packageinfo?packageID=30
14:45 < cj> we’ll need 2.4.2.3 + some patches. This is pretty bleeding edge, but I expect the fedora packagers are as ‘on it’ as the debian folks
14:46 < wakko666> fedora tends to be a bit further ahead of the curve than the debian folks
14:46 < cj> we can supply them the patches required. they are also being merged into the 2.4 branch, so should be in the next official release
14:46 < wakko666> k.. shouldn’t be a problem.
14:47 < cj> here is the tarball we’re using to build the .deb
14:47 < cj> http://github.com/mletterle/ironruby/tarball/20090805+git.e6b28d27
14:49 < cj> most of the stuff you’ll need as far as build commands go are in debian/rules:
http://git.debian.org/?p=pkg-cli-libs/packages/dlr-languages.git;a=tree;f=debian;h=8e4c0abc01ba2db27fe66d508317cef3b574fd3a;hb=f3c10b84cf5f12cb670d14232263ac81662ff714
14:49 < cj> I’ve got to finish making lunch for kids ;)
14:49 < cj> back shortly.
14:55 < wakko666> cj: my main concern about packaging ironruby is licensing. Fedora will accept packages under the MS-Shared-Source license [ed: this is not at all true.], but the MS-PL isn’t on their list of acceptable license. [ed: it is now.]
14:58 < cj> wakko666: alrighty. jschementi is the guy to talk with about licensing issues. He’ll be back some time soon, I’m sure
14:58 < wakko666> of course, i can always write the spec file and you guys can host your own rpms, but it would be nice to actually get it into Fedora proper.
14:59 < cj> also, MS-PL is dfsg compliant and OSL-approved. Is it a decision to deny MS-PL or that it just hasn’t been reviewed yet?
14:59 < wakko666> not sure. we’d need to ask on the fedora-legal-list mailing list
14:59 < wakko666> http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing#SoftwareLicenses
15:00 < cj> alright. at another time. it’s nap time for scarlet and zelda. ;)
15:01 < wakko666> sure thing. if you ping the fedora-legal list, let me know what they have to say.
19:49 < cj> wakko666: firestorm initiated.

Tags: c#, cli, colliertech, dlr, feds, free software, freenode, friends, git, humor, irc, ironpython, ironruby, language, linux, microsoft, mono, security, social networking, software, xbuild

Originally published at The Pædantic Programmer. Please leave any comments there.

An update on recent changes to the IronRuby packaging.

1. We’ve changed the name of the source package because
2. We’re packaging IronPython as well as IronRuby (thanks doko!)
3. I’ve added the wrapper scripts (irake, igem, etc.). Maybe this is showing that I’m not a heavy user…
4. After building meebey’s packages and installing them:

   $ cat /etc/debian_version && apt-cache show mono-xbuild | grep '^Version' | head -1
   squeeze/sid
   Version: 2.4.2.3+dfsg-1~pre1
   

5. After installing my build of IronRuby:

   $ apt-cache show ironruby | grep ^Version
   Version: 0.9.0+dfsg-1
   

Tags: cli, colliertech, debian, dlr, free software, ironpython, ironruby, microsoft, mono, software

Originally published at The Pædantic Programmer. Please leave any comments there.

cjac@dev0:/usr/src/git/alioth$ sudo dpkg -i ironruby-cil_0.9.0+dfsg_all.deb
Selecting previously deselected package ironruby-cil.
(Reading database ... 67034 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking ironruby-cil (from ironruby-cil_0.9.0+dfsg_all.deb) ...
Setting up ironruby-cil (0.9.0+dfsg) ...
cjac@dev0:/usr/src/git/alioth$ which ir
/usr/bin/ir
cjac@dev0:/usr/src/git/alioth$ ir
IronRuby 0.9.0.0 on Mono 2.4.2.3
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

>>> exit

Tags: c#, cli, colliertech, debian, dlr, free software, git, ironruby, linux, mono, software

Originally published at The Pædantic Programmer. Please leave any comments there.

Thanks to Marek being a superhero, we have isolated the changes necessary to fix the compiler from the 2.4.2.3 tag so that we can build IronRuby with xbuild. I’ve delivered the patch to meebey, and he has included it in his debian/patches list.

Without this patch, I was going to have to package up the pathname2 gem and add a dependency on rake and this gem. Ick. Too much work, and we planned to move to xbuild eventually anyhow, so it would have been thrown away as far as I’m concerned.

In addition to this, Ivan has committed Ankit’s character case fix patch to Michael’s git repo.

Now all I’m waiting for is the diff.gz from meebey, then I should be able to get the IronRuby packaging done and commit it to pkg-cli-libs.

But rather than sitting around and waiting for this, I should really clock some billable hours…

Tags: bugs, c#, colliertech, compiler, debian, dlr, free software, irc, ironruby, mono, novell, software

Originally published at The Pædantic Programmer. Please leave any comments there.

I’m too busy to make two separate blog entries, so here is an update on my Mono work for the day.

I’ve helped get the mono-2.4.2 debs moving. The mono-api-diff tool was removed after the 2.2 branch, so I grabbed it from the attic, dusted it off and patched it for use by meebey. The solution is sub-optimal, but at least he’s able to use it get things moving again.

The other piece of news is from Ivan on the IronRuby/IronPython front. He mucked with the build script such that there are now two binary tarballs emitted. One for IronRuby, one for IronPython. I’ve fiddled with the build status report HTML template a bit and added separate links to each package. For an example, see:

http://dlrci.colliertech.org/integrity/ironruby

Keep in mind that these tarballs unpack to the current directory, so be sure to unpack in an emptry directory. I’ll ask Ivan to make this not happen in future versions, but until then: you’ve been warned.

Tags: c#, colliertech, dlr, free software, irc, ironpython, ironruby, mono, software

Originally published at The Pædantic Programmer. Please leave any comments there.

Ivan has updated the build script to produce IronPython binaries as well as IronRuby. Get your fresh DLR-powered, mono-friendly, dynamic language implementations here:

http://dlrci.colliertech.org/

There are now links to source and binary tarballs as well as source zips on each of the build result status messages:

http://ironruby.colliertech.org/integrity/ironruby

I’ve been putting some effort in to getting the .deb of ironruby put together, as well. Here are the current problems :)

* xbuild in sid is not new enough to successfully build IronRuby
* rake requires a gem called pathname2, which is not otherwise packaged, and debian policy strictly disallows using ‘gem install foo’ during build
* mono 2.4.2 does not include mono-api-diff, which is keeping us from making a .deb of xbuild and friends

Tags: c#, colliertech, compiler, debian, dlr, free software, freenode, irc, ironpython, ironruby, language, linux, mono, software, xbuild

Originally published at The Pædantic Programmer. Please leave any comments there.

Ivan has been doing some great work on the Mono/IronRuby continuous integration server recently. He and Ankit got xbuild support integrated, and now we have new tarballs being generated for each build. You can find them here:

http://ironruby.colliertech.org/

I’ll be using these tarballs as the ‘upstream’ source for the upcoming debian packages of IronRuby. I filed ITP for IR last year and haven’t gotten around to making it happen until now. Sorry world.

Tags: c#, colliertech, debian, dlr, free software, freenode, irc, ironruby, mono, pre-release, software, xbuild

Tags: colliertech, smtp, wiki