Re: Sample Godot game packaging

Hi,

On 18/02/2021 20:21, Phil Morrell wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 09, 2021 at 11:27:57PM +0100, Sylvain Beucler wrote:
>> - Godot tries to maintain compatibility but there's no hard guarantee, and
>> incompatibilities may reveal themselves late in a game run. So it would be
>> good to track what Godot version each game was meant for (precisely, like
>> 3.2.3).
>> Multiple Godot packages (godot3.2-runner, etc.) could be an option.
> 
> I think that's a fairly common concern for development tool upstreams,
> but isn't always borne out in practice. Overly restrictive dependency
> versions like .lock files are just as much of a problem for packaging.
> The "target version" can probably just be inferred by timestamps.

I agree with not going overboard with precise versioning, because in 
practice minor bumps shouldn't matter.

As someone who had to do a belated godot2->godot3 project upgrade 
however, I disagree with the timestamp idea, documenting the 
target/intended/supported version is critical.

> In fact having the tutorial uploaded to debian would be a great test
> case that can show up any medium-term compatibility issues that need
> rebuilds. The complexity increase of splitting into minor versions can
> always be done later if needed, usually driven by reverse dependencies
> not supporting overlapping releases.

I believe upstream recommended we track versions so that we know, ahead 
of time, when a game is likely to partially break, so we avoid shipping 
games that mysteriously break after 10h of playing, leading the player 
to consider the game itself buggy.

We could fix by shipping a specific Godot version, but also by adapting 
the game.

> Probably worth documenting that, perhaps in the wiki, as something like
> "Considerations for packaging Godot games"?

You mean https://wiki.debian.org/Games/Godot ? :)

 > I attempted to build the tutorial, but it currently tries to
 > write to the build users home directory.

I gave Godot a writable home, I don't think there's a better way around?
https://salsa.debian.org/games-team/dodge-the-creeps/-/commit/58d716d94879d5c536ccdae435932b93381900b2

Cheers!
Sylvain