[Slackbuilds-users] Grip update recommended -> latest version builds, installs and runs just fine

[B Watson]

On 6/26/11, Nicolas Kovacs <info at microlinux.fr> wrote:

> I just experimented a bit, and found that the latest (GTK2) version of
> Grip has indeed some GNOME dependencies (as well as id3lib), but it's
> only something like less than a dozen, and what's more important,
> they're all currently on offer on SBo. In fact the "only" explicit
> dependency is libgnomeui, but this package in itself relies on
> gnome-vfs, which in itself etc. you know the song with GNOME libs.

Speaking as the grip slackbuild maintainer (but not speaking for the SBo
admins)... The whole point of having grip available is to avoid the "big"
desktop libraries (both KDE and GNOME). I have a need for a GUI CD ripper
that can run well on a crappy old laptop with minimal resource usage,
and can be installed on Slackware without the KDE packages installed. It's
also nice not to have to wait a couple hours for the Gnome libs to build,
on an older/slower/smaller system. Plus, the ancient version has all
the features I need (hey, it rips CDs... and encodes mp3s/oggs, too!)

> I'm only posting this as a hint to the current package maintainer, since
> I don't want to appear as a maintenance usurpator. In my humble opinion,
> it's worth the while to upgrade the SlackBuild for Grip to the latest
> version. The application runs just fine here, and it has quite some more
> functionalities than the old version.

I can see the point of wanting the newer version. I just don't have any
interest or desire to build or maintain it myself.

If you (or anyone else) want to submit a build for the latest
Grip-with-Gnome, I'm willing to rename my grip build to "grip2"
or "grip-gtk" or something, and you can submit a "grip3" or maybe
"grip-gnome" build for the newest version.

I'd rather not call it "grip-legacy"... eh, but I don't feel all that
strongly about it.

I'd also rather not have there be a new "grip" package (with the same
name as the old one) that suddenly requires GNOME. Better to have no
package at all simply called "grip" (make sure anyone upgrading grip
will have to consciously choose to stay with 2.x or move to 3.x). For
the same reason, the two packages' READMEs ought to mention each other.

> These GTK1 apps all have this sort of North Korean look about them

Another thought: if your main complaint is GTK1 vs. GTK2, I'm willing to
patch grip-2.96 to build with GTK2, if the admins are willing to accept
it as an *optional* part of the SlackBuild (e.g. "export GTK2=yes;
./grip.SlackBuild", but the default is to use the unpatched GTK1 source).

This would probably have to be done eventually anyway. I'm willing to
bet that sometime after GTK3 makes its way into a Slackware release,
GTK1's days will be numbered.