Juliacon workshop assistance

[barche]

On Sunday 26 July, there will be the CxxWrap Juliacon workshop ( schedule entry: https://pretalx.com/juliacon2020/talk/NNVQQF/ ). The tutorial files are of course not ready yet, since this date is still so far in the future (😱), but they will appear here: https://github.com/barche/cxxwrap-juliacon2020

The format of the workshop is online video presentation and screen sharing (by me) plus questions by chat (by the audience). I could use help with answering these chat questions, if any of you have time. Basically, if you have already wrapped a library using CxxWrap, the tutorial should be easy and you could probably answer a lot of questions.

@jstrube @fingolfin @SylvainCorlay @findmyway no pressure ;)

[findmyway]

I'll be glad to help 🤗 🤗 🤗

[jstrube]

No promises, but I'll try to be there and help out.

…

On Wed, Jul 22, 2020 at 5:06 PM Jun Tian ***@***.***> wrote: I'll be glad to help 🤗 🤗 🤗 — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#261 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AACX57WW24GGOSP63C6HX5LR455ILANCNFSM4PFFLNBQ> .

[rgcv]

I'll try to attend. If so, I can try and lend a hand too.

[barche]

Alright, thanks all! Could you please send me your email address (mail me at bart at bartjanssens.org) so I can have you added as session admin for the teleconference?

[fingolfin]

So there are two reasons why I won't be able to help out (sorry):

1. we're expecting a baby more or less around that day
2. I am a fraud and actually have never really set up CxxWrap.jl or written code using it myself, I just somehow sometimes end up debugging issues we are having with it anyway which I then turn into complaints which @barche then has to deal with 😂 (thank your for that, and sorry). But I hope there'll be a recording, then I'll make sure to watch it and finally learn how to use it 😉 . So I wish you good luck and a great session & much fun at Juliacon!

People who unlike me actually know what they are doing include @kalmarek @benlorenz @saschatimme; maybe one of them has time and interest to contribute

[barche]

1. we're expecting a baby more or less around that day

Congratulations, and no worries about the workshop, of course!

[barche]

I have updated the readme at https://github.com/barche/cxxwrap-juliacon2020 with instructions on how to use a Docker container, which is the approach I'll be using during the workshop. You may want to try it out, I have only recently discovered that Julia is also using this approach on the main repository, it works pretty well and it has the advantage that the procedure is exactly the same on all platforms.

[rgcv]

Got the dev container up and running on Windows, no problem. A couple of concerns arised though.

Firstly, a minor concern, while setting up the dev container: it might seem strange if the user lands in VSCode and they see no kind of status report. If the output of the dev container extension isn't shown automatically, the user might thing the extension hung getting the container. That's what I thought at first, thinking it was taking too long. Then I realized it was a relatively sizeable image so it would take some time to setup. This much to say that it might be worth just hinting at the fact setting up might take a while if people plan to set this environment up at or during the workshop instead of doing so beforehand, for example.

Lastly, regarding build_tarballs.jl, a more concerning issue: It seems the latest Julia_jll (v1.4.2) is straight up broken. A plain run, starting with targetting Linux x64 ARM, failed, incapable of finding julia. I was expecting this from the Windows x64 since the binaries for julia 1.4.2 for Windows are missing. Apparently, it affects all platforms. I checked the build directories for the aforementioned targets and could find no julia related files. My recommendation would be to specifically requiring another version of the Julia_jll artifact. Namely, version 1.4.1 should suffice:

--- a/build_tarballs.jl
+++ b/bulid_tarballs.jl
@@ -48,4 +48,4 @@
dependencies = [
    Dependency("libcxxwrap_julia_jll"),
-   BuildDependency("Julia_jll")
+   BuildDependency(PackageSpec(name="Julia_jll", version=v"1.4.1"))
]

[SylvainCorlay]

Unfortunately I am not available this sunday! Thanks for the ping.

[findmyway]

Firstly, a minor concern, while setting up the dev container: it might seem strange if the user lands in VSCode and they see no kind of status report. If the output of the dev container extension isn't shown automatically, the user might thing the extension hung getting the container. That's what I thought at first, thinking it was taking too long. Then I realized it was a relatively sizeable image so it would take some time to setup. This much to say that it might be worth just hinting at the fact setting up might take a while if people plan to set this environment up at or during the workshop instead of doing so beforehand, for example.

I share the same concern. According to my test, it takes around half an hour to set up the Docker & VSCode with a fresh new Windows environment. I just notice that an email from noreply@eventbrite.com was received before the workshop yesterday and today. Can we contact someone who manages that account to inform attendees to set up the environment beforehand?

[barche]

This much to say that it might be worth just hinting at the fact setting up might take a while if people plan to set this environment up at or during the workshop instead of doing so beforehand, for example.

OK, I have added a note to warn people that this step can take some time.

Namely, version 1.4.1 should suffice:

Good point, I'm only using target x86_64-linux-gnu in my tutorial, but it's better to use 1.4.1, I updated the build_tarballs file.

[barche]

Can we contact someone who manages that account to inform attendees to set up the environment beforehand?

I have posted a message on the discord and slack chat. The link to the setup was in the original description, so hopefully people will check back there.