Hi On Thu, May 14, 2020 at 2:32 PM Marc-André Lureau < marcandre.lur...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi > > On Mon, May 11, 2020 at 12:16 PM Marc-André Lureau < > marcandre.lur...@redhat.com> wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> About "Move code to C++": >> https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/spice/spice/-/merge_requests/62 >> >> I would like to know how the decision happened. As long as I have been >> involved in the Spice project, we had open discussions and did >> mandatory review for anything non-trivial. >> >> This change is substantial, and impacts the work and contribution of >> others. Where did the discussion happen? Who reviewed the code >> changes? >> >> > Since no real discussion nor public review took place, I propose to revert > the change and add a HACKING file to make the rules clear. See: > > https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/spice/spice/-/merge_requests/91 > > Based on the discussion there, and the fact that a majority of developper are willing to take the change, I closed the MR. Fwiw, beside the fact that the change wasn't done with review nor discussion (which on its own is detrimental), I think using C++ is wrong: - C++ is much more complex than C, and fewer developper know it. A good C++ developper is an even better C developper. - in our common ecosystem, QEMU, Linux, the GNOME desktop, are 90% C projects, and perhaps? 1% C++? (I don't know a single C++ system/core project tbh - only apps like KDE/LibreOffice/Firefox) - C++ projects are switching away from it (ex Firefox), I don't know of a core/system project talking about switching to C++ these days. - switching to C++ is going to be costly, as it is endless, and it will leave a bitter taste of previous/existing C. We could have used that time for other things... I would be pleasantly surprised if such refactoring would lead to regressions. - C has better interoperability story than C++, especially because the code was GObjectified. We could have added/exported more friendly API/bindings for GNOME easily. Overall, it's a waste of effort to me. What is the overall direction of the project? Except a few language improvements for a lower number of developpers, what does C++ bring us that we couldn't do with C for our users? Nevertheless, I will try to invest some time reviewing the changes. I hope we can agree on better project rules and directions for the future.
_______________________________________________ Spice-devel mailing list Spice-devel@lists.freedesktop.org https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/spice-devel
