Re: Why do QT version changes require `porting?'

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Re: Why do QT version changes require `porting?'
by John Levon on Wednesday 27/Sep/2000, @07:14

As you say, you are not a programmer, and you clearly are not familiar with the concept of major versions.

Major versions break APIs. This is a good thing, because it means you can fix things that were wrong in the previous version, and add plenty of new features and facilities. This is exactly what happened with Qt 1 => Qt 2.

At the same time, KDE has been re-written almost completely. It hasn't been "ported" as such.

To illustrate, it would have been possible for the KDE team to have produced KDE2 using Qt 1.x (a bad idea, but possible). But since they were changing major version, it made perfect sense to move to the much-improved Qt 2 at the same time.

In actual fact, a simple port of a KDE1 app to KDE2 is pretty easy. Programmers don't generally bitch about API changes between major versions, because that is what major versions are for.

Related Links

·   Articles on KDE Official News
·   Also by John Levon
·   Contact author

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Re: Why do QT version changes require `porting?'
by George Smiley on Wednesday 27/Sep/2000, @07:33

OK, thanks for the clarification. I understand that going from qt1 to qt2 was necessary, and since KDE was completely rewritten anyway, I guess the apps would have to have been ported even if KDE had continued to use qt1.

But will the same thing happen while going to qt3? I guess there won't be much difference in features between kde2.0.x based on qt2 and kde2.2.x based on qt3. Will apps require porting or will a mere recompile do?

George.

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Re: Why do QT version changes require `porting?'
by KDE User on Wednesday 27/Sep/2000, @07:34

A mere recompiling they say. It will be mostly source compatible but not binary compatible.

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