[Pan-users] To explain why I'm unwilling to up date my glib/gtk+/etc libs ATM…

[SciFi]

Hi,

I need to explain why I am unwilling to update my glib/gtk+ critters for a 
while yet anyway.  Bear with me, please.

In the past I've been a Mac-a-holic.  But not anymore.

I have been talking to a few people about the mess that Apple is causing 
everyone WRT the open-source projects.

Apple is about to release OSX version 10.7 AKA "Lion".  
(http://www.apple.com/macosx/)

Apple is also forcing us to (eventually/soon) get rid of Pure-GNU GCC type 
compilers, AFAISI.

(1)  All symlinks of the 'cc' family are being pointed to the related llvm-gcc 
critters, which is using GCC as a front-end parser but LLVM (http://llvm.org/) 
as the guts of the compiler, ostensibly for "compatability".

(2)  At least one of the "packagers" (http://www.FinkProject.org/) has placed 
'clang' (http://clang.llvm.org/) as the default compiler for any 10.7-level 
system.  If a 'port' has no override settings, it will get built with 'clang', 
which /will/ be free of GNU compilers, IIUC.

(3a)  Lion runs things strictly in 64-bit mode (even tho some Macs still use 
32-bit EFI/kernels).  I've been compiling everything in 32-bit mode, not 
worrying about the "universal binary" facility which would provide 64-bit 
libraries etc for easy switch-over to Lion.  But if I /do/ switch to Lion, then 
I /must/ re-build /everything/ in 64-bit mode.
(3b)  As an aside, Lion is also forcing many users to abandon their not-so-old 
machines, mostly those that still use the PowerPC CPUs, but also those that use 
the earlier Intel CPUs that cannot run 64-bit mode at all i.e. "Core-Duo" CPUs 
(OTOH the "Core-2-Duo [C2D]" is fine for Lion, at least for now).
(3c)  As another aside, Lion will not provide the Rosetta PPC emulator any 
more, for those apps that have no Intel version.  There are people saying they 
refuse to switch to Lion for this very fact alone, mainly because of the 
banking & business apps they use.  (Rosetta was actually licensed by Apple, 
from the Transitive Corp.  Here is where things got sticky.  IBM had 
essentially bought-out Transitive, so that IBM could support non-PPC systems on 
their own PPC hardware -- this is the exact opposite of what Rosetta provides.  
We can view the announcement of this buy-out only thru the "Way-Back Machine": 
<http://replay.web.archive.org/20090205053333/http://www.transitive.com/news/press_full/153>.
  This is now known as "PowerVM", and the transitive.com URL will now force you 
over to IBM's webpages, where Apple is no-longer mentioned anywhere there.  So 
we are quite sure Rosetta is a dead project anymore.  If Intel-Mac users still 
need to run PPC apps, they cannot switch to Lion, if/until a third party 
invents another way of emulation -- of course there are all sorts of emulation 
projects (MAME, BOCHS, WINE, etc.) but no-telling when a usable project will 
ensue for a PPC-on-Intel environment.  And BTW I do not want to get into the 
"bad flavor" left by the earlier Apple-IBM fallout.)

(4)  I have not seen any worthwhile updates to the Apple-provided GCC family at 
all, during most of this year.  Of course the *ix world has moved on far-past 
gcc-4.2.1, yet that's the "newest" "official" gcc we've got and will continue 
to have, ISTM.  Yes there /are/ problems with Apple's gcc-4.2.1, glitches in 
some compiled code that seem to exist over many years, actually.

…

Essentially, I've been wanting to "jump ship" for a very long time (years).  In 
fact, the people I've conversed with, have all agreed with me.  But I thought I 
would pay the yearly fee to join ADC (Apple Development Center, 
http://developer.apple.com/) to see what I could do to help.

(In case the reader does not know, I am medically disabled / retired, with 
38+years work on record.  I have "professional" experience in the system-level 
programming for a big huge shop which uses machines made by a famous 
three-letter international company.  I do this open-source stuff because I 
believe in it whole-heartedly.  Plus, in my "twilight years", it helps keep my 
mind sharp.)

I only have one single machine here, which also is used for making tons of OTA 
TV recordings.  I don't get much down-time to boot-up any other system.

I /should/ get another machine.  But the thought of "jumping ship" is plaguing 
my choices:  Do I get another Mac, or do I *really* jump-ship and get an 
AMD-based system, with a *real* open-source system (Linux, *BSD, etc.).  If I 
truly want to jump-ship, I do not want another Intel-based system, and I can 
see how other chipsets are no-longer viable (e.g. PowerPC, my fav).

Either way, even if I stick with my current Mac, I am going to be forced to 
recompile every single project, so they'll run under Lion, or so they'll run on 
another machine/system/platform.

And most if not all of the OSX "packagers" are not ready for Lion -- it can 
take a very long time (at least a year I'd say, based on earlier OSX versions 
experience) to get patches up-stream'd into the projects repos everywhere, to 
be able to compile "out of the box" (src tarballs) without further specialized 
patching.  (I really do detest these "packagers" esp'ly for Macs.)

So, that's where I am at, right now, trying to figure-out what to do.
Do I jump ship,
and if so,
to what?