--environment anyone?

[Daniel Stenberg]

Hi,

The --environment command line option has existed since April 2002 and is
documented to be specifically for RISC OS builds. It is also enabled in
src/makefile.dj for DOS-builds.

I now want to remove that option and all code related to it since it is such a
niche feature, there doesn't seem to be any RISC OS builds updated since years
and I see no reason why DOS builds specifically should need/use this either.

The pull-request for doing so is already submitted, see link below.

If you object to me merging this, please speak up and tell me why!

https://github.com/curl/curl/pull/1463

[Jeremy Nicoll via curl-users]

Post by Daniel Stenberg
Hi,
The --environment command line option has existed since April 2002 and is
documented to be specifically for RISC OS builds. It is also enabled in
src/makefile.dj for DOS-builds.
I now want to remove that option and all code related to it since it is
such a niche feature, there doesn't seem to be any RISC OS builds
updated since years

But maybe the existing builds are fine for RISC OS users? RISC OS is
certainly
still around and in use, with successive new versions of the OS and
support
for a variety of newer hardware.

I have no idea if the specific feature you mention is actually used by
RO users
these days... but how would you find out? If people are using it and it
works,
why would they come along and tell you that?

Probably the best place to find out what the current maintainers of the
OS, and
major apps, think, is to ask here:

https://www.riscosopen.org/content/

[Daniel Stenberg]

But maybe the existing builds are fine for RISC OS users? RISC OS is
certainly still around and in use, with successive new versions of the OS
and support for a variety of newer hardware.

The only existing RISC OS download we point to from the download page is curl
7.11.0, released in 2004. I haven't found a newer version anywhere else
either.

That version will certainly still work exactly like it already does...

but how would you find out? If people are using it and it works, why would
they come along and tell you that?

Because this is the primary (and only?) curl tool mailing list and I'm asking?
This is the place we discussed the feature when we added it, this is the place
we're discussing removing it!

Really, if people want to have a say in what we do in curl and with curl, they
would need to come here. It can't work otherwise. If they're not involved, it
means they leave it to us to run the project and development to the best of
our abilities.

[Jeremy Nicoll via curl-users]

Post by Daniel Stenberg

But maybe the existing builds are fine for RISC OS users? RISC OS is
certainly still around and in use, with successive new versions of the OS
and support for a variety of newer hardware.

The only existing RISC OS download we point to from the download page is curl
7.11.0, released in 2004. I haven't found a newer version anywhere else
either.

Maybe (I don't know) if people have made newer builds they've grabbed
the
source and built it themselves? Those people might well be relying on
RO-
specific features in the codebase even if you don't know they're out
there.

Post by Daniel Stenberg
Because this is the primary (and only?) curl tool mailing list and I'm asking?
This is the place we discussed the feature when we added it, this is the place
we're discussing removing it!

I understand the purpose of this list. I read this list because I'm a
programmer
& I've used curl a little in the past... and I like to stay in touch
with what's going
on with all the tools I might one day use again.

I used to be a RO user, but I haven't been for ages. I am not uptodate
with what
is going on in RO development, except that I read various other mail
lists where
many of the subscribers still do use RO.

Post by Daniel Stenberg
Really, if people want to have a say in what we do in curl and with curl, they
would need to come here. It can't work otherwise. If they're not involved, it
means they leave it to us to run the project and development to the best of
our abilities.

I only happened to notice that RO was mentioned in your post at the
start of this
thread, by accident. I read the post because I was a little bit
intrigued by its
subject line, NOT because I'm a current RO-user of curl and recognised
that the
subject represented a threat (if it does) to how a RO user would use
curl.

I don't know how long you've been contemplating this change, nor whether
you've
made any attempt to find out if there are lots/any RO users of curl
reading this list.
But it seems to me that mentioning RISC OS in a subject line would be a
better way
of finding out.

Or asking the people who maintain it.

[Jeremy Nicoll via curl-users]

Post by Jeremy Nicoll via curl-users
I don't know how long you've been contemplating this change, nor whether
you've made any attempt to find out if there are lots/any RO users of curl
reading this list.
But it seems to me that mentioning RISC OS in a subject line would be a
better way of finding out.
Or asking the people who maintain it.

I've sent the RISC OS maintainers an email saying that this discussion
occurred.
Hopefully, if it matters to them, someone will get in touch with you.