New WinMMA maintainer needed

[bvdp]

I just got a note from David Asorey Álvarez saying that he can't maintain the winmma package anymore due to family and work pressures.

David made a great contribution to getting mma out in the big world of windows and I really appreciate his efforts.

Now, anyone else want to take on the task? Think of the glory and contribution to mankind you'll be making!

[kara]

What is such a maintainer supposed to do ?
What tools does he need ?

k

[Oren]

What is such a maintainer supposed to do ?
What tools does he need ?

Good questions....

[bvdp]

 David made a package by taking the current MMA binary disto and the docs and "packaged" them with a few other things. Off the top of my mind, this includes the complete Python distro and an editor. Then, he said the magic words which zapped them into one file and posted.

Oh, and there are some windows "batch" files as well. But, if you grab the latest winmma from his site you'll see pretty quickly what all is in the package.

I don't think it's all that complicated. The key is to have things in the right directory. Oh, and there is a windows install tool which encapsulates the entire mess.

As an aside, if we are going to do this packaging I'd welcome some discussion as to the necessity of including the editor and esp. Python ... seems, to me, like a lot of additional filesize for 2 items I would have thought most people already have???


The idea is that a windows user can download and install the entire package in one go. Python is included since that is not a standard package on windows.

If we get a volunteer I'm sure that David will forward any working scripts to him/her. And I'll be pleased to help as well.

Like I said, if this interests you as a little project (and, really, it is not a huge commitment) then grab the current winmma and see what it does, etc.

We'd have to find somewhere to put the package. Here on the mma site is fine by me. I don't know how we have other people accessing my site to do updates/installs without me revealing my password, but we can figure something out.

So, who's the man?

[Oren]

I just don't have the chops for this kind of action, Bob.

A more technically adept person is needed....

[kara]

Just an idea Bob,

Wouldn't it be simpler to create an executable with py2exe ? That way there wouldn't be a need to distribute or install python ?

 

[bvdp]

Honestly, I don't know. I had a quick look at the py2exc page and it appears to me that this utility wraps a python program and the interpreter into a single distro package. Cool. However, an installer is still needed for windows folks to get the package on their computers. So, honestly, why not just have the whole thing done in 2 steps: make sure python is installed and then install mma. Oh, sorry, we're talking about windows

Any other ideas? I really don't have time to support this myself!

[folderol]

I'm afraid I can't offer any help either. Not only is my home a Windows-free zone, but I have virtually no knowledge of the underlying architecture.

[david]

Hi to all.

I'm David, the ex-WinMMA maintainer.

I'm a silly persona and I've lost my Windows scripts when I swichted to Linux.

The first installer was made with Inno Setup, it install a full Python installation, with MMA and LeMMA in the same Folder, plus some batch (.bat) files.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

[kara]

. So, honestly, why not just have the whole thing done in 2 steps: make sure python is installed and then install mma. Oh, sorry, we're talking about windows

Because windows users don't like to install a complete developpement package 'just' to run a music software. Win is another world

I could see if I can create an exe using py2exe but I would need a volonteer to test the exe, since I have python on my pc it would allways work
 

[kara]

BTW. welcome here David 

k

[Oren]

.... and I've lost my Windows scripts when I switched to Linux...

David,
Making the switch to Linux seems to be the next logical step. My new computer runs on Ubuntu Studio, and I'm very happy with it. I keep another computer running on XP Pro so that I can work with the people who still use Microsoft, but when that computer dies, no more Windoze.

Welcome to Kara-Moon.

Oren.

[bvdp]

I could see if I can create an exe using py2exe but I would need a volonteer to test the exe, since I have python on my pc it would allways work
 

Please do. Let me know when you have something and I'll try it on my virtualbox xp installation.

Thanks.

[kara]

ok i'll give it a try this weekend

k