[Glass] Rowan status

[Dale Henrichs]

Gabriel,

The currently available versions of Rowan v2.x in GemStone 3.6 are not
ready for prime time. I would consider Rowan v2.x as an alpha release.
There are a handful of limitations that could be considered unacceptable:

   1. Jadeite, the Rowan development GUI (Windows only), is best used as
   SystemUser. Non-SystemUser work can be done, but there are some issues that
   need to be tolerated.
   2. There are a couple of outstanding bugs in Rowanv2/Jadeite, but none
   of the bugs would be considered show stoppers. Several of our internal
   developers and developers outside the company have been using Rowan v2 for
   several years.
   3. The creation of projects and packages can only be done from the
   command line.
   4. There is no Linux/Mac development GUI available.
   5. Rowan v2 is incompatible with the GLASS/GsDevKit eco-system.

On the plus side:

   1. Rowan reads and writes tonel and filetree repositories.
   2. With regards to CI support, the GsDevKit_stones project[1] was
   completed a couple of months ago with the express purpose of supporting
   smalltalkCI[2] and github actions for the GLASS/GsDevKit eco-system. There
   is on-going work[3] for supporting CI for Rowan projects and smalltalkCI
   issue #597[4] is tracking progress. There is more work planned for
   GsDevKit_stones to make it suitable for replacing GsDevKit_home[5].
   3. We support GemStone upgrades for Rowan v2.x extents. When Rowan v3
   becomes available, we will support Rowan v2 to Rowan v3 upgrades. Rowan
   upgrade tests are regularly run as part of normal product testing.

Given the alpha status of Rowan, we are not encouraging the widespread use
of Rowan v2.x, but if it can be used to meet your needs I will not
discourage you.

We have not committed to a release date for Rowan v3.0, but we are working
towards this goal. Work remains to be completed in the following major
areas:

   1. Finalize the Rowan v3 api.
   2. Topaz command support for working with Rowan projects.
   3. Linux/Mac development GUI.
   4. GLASS/GsDevKit eco-system support

Sooo, if you are still interested in more information, lets arrange for a
phone call or slack huddle, where I can answer any specific questions you
might have.

Dale

[1] https://github.com/GsDevKit/GsDevKit_stones
[2] https://github.com/hpi-swa/smalltalkCI
[3] https://github.com/dalehenrich/smalltalkCI/tree/rowanV2
[4] https://github.com/hpi-swa/smalltalkCI/issues/597
[5] https://github.com/GsDevKit/GsDevKit_home

On Thu, Jul 6, 2023 at 6:42 AM Gabriel Cotelli via Glass <
glass at lists.gemtalksystems.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> We're evaluating a possible migration of some backend services and a
> Seaside app for a new SaaS product to GS 64. We have code that can be
> easily exported in Tonel format and versioned in a git repository. Is Rowan
> the way to go for this kind of thing?  Is it ready for prime time?
>
> I've taken a look at the GitHub repository
> <https://github.com/GemTalk/Rowan> but it's not clear to me how to start
> using it.
>
> Using something like Tonel (not Filetree because it's impractical) and
> having some kind of CI support for building and testing new changes is a
> must-have.
>
> Any advice or experience to share in this kind of setup will be
> appreciated.
>
> Regards,
> Gabriel
> _______________________________________________
> Glass mailing list
> Glass at lists.gemtalksystems.com
> https://lists.gemtalksystems.com/mailman/listinfo/glass
>
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