Making it easier to start contributing to LibreOffice development

[Hossein Nourikhah]

Hello,

Thank you for bringing this into attention. There are two things here:

1. Helping you build LibreOffice: As Ilmari said, we (me and him) can 
help you with possible problems in your build. If needed, I can provide 
screen sharing session to find the possible problems and fix them.

2. Simplifying the LibreOffice build: This is an ongoing effort. For 
example:

2-1 Simplifying the build instructions: The below Wiki page is my effort 
to make build instructions easier to use, by separating the platforms, 
and summarizing the instructions. It is not yet finalized, but it is 
usable:

Build LibreOffice from source code
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/User:Hossein/Build

2-2 Simplifying the build process: This is also an ongoing effort. Using 
cmake or meson can help simplifying the build, but it is a very complex 
task. The author of meson (Jussi Pakkanen) has tried to do experimental 
builds of LibreOffice, and he could achieve partial success. But, for a 
complete build more work is needed.

Building a part of LibreOffice on Windows using only Meson and WrapDB
https://nibblestew.blogspot.com/2022/01/building-part-of-libreoffice-on-windows.html

Compiling LibreOffice with Meson even further
https://nibblestew.blogspot.com/2022/02/compiling-libreoffice-with-meson-even.html

2-3 Automating instructions
Some of the tasks needed for the build are currently manual, but they 
can be automated. For example, installing individual Visual Studio 
components can be done using a script. I have opened a Bugzilla ticket 
for this purpose:

tdf#156708 - Automate installing and checking for individual components 
of Visual Studio on Windows
https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=156708

You can read more here:

Use command-line parameters to install, update, and manage Visual Studio
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/install/use-command-line-parameters-to-install-visual-studio?view=vs-2022

How to automate (from command-line) the installation of a Visual Studio 
Build Tools build environment, for C++, .NET, C#, etc
https://stackoverflow.com/q/62551793

2-4 Dropping some of the huge dependencies
There was disagreements in this area, but it is actually possible to 
drop some of the huge dependencies to simplify the build process. It is 
also a big task. This is an example patch from me:

Drop boost dependency for writerfilter
https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/c/core/+/139279

2-5 Making the actual build faster
I have just merged a patch that makes it possible to use ccache on 
Windows:

tdf#155446 Fix problem with ccache on Windows
https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/c/core/+/152277

On the other hand, there is still room for more improvement, by making 
it possible to use PCH (pre-compiled headers) and ccache at the same 
time, on Windows.

If you have time and you are willing to help, the above are some of the 
things to take a look at.

Regards,
Hossein

On 09.08.2023 20:31, Ilmari Lauhakangas wrote:
> On 9.8.2023 19.32, David Booth wrote:
>> SUMMARY:
>> I think it would help if it were easier to get started on contributing 
>> to LibreOffice development.   I tried, but gave up after 4+ hours.  I 
>> don't know where is the best place to make this suggestion.
>> 
>> BACKGROUND:
>> A few months ago I ran into a problem using LibreOffice.  Since I have 
>> experience with software development -- I'm a software architect with 
>> multiple degrees in Computer Science -- I wanted to help improve it.  
>> I followed instructions as I could find them, but found them them 
>> unclear.   After spending 4+ hours I was unable to reach the point of 
>> being able to get started and had to stop, due to other priorities.
>> 
>> Perhaps if I get another burst of volunteer energy I could try again 
>> someday.  And if I do, maybe a good first task would be to improve the 
>> instructions for contributing to LibreOffice development.   In the 
>> meantime I thought I should at least share my experience, in case 
>> someone else might be inspired to improve the instructions.
> 
> Hello,
> 
> it's true that depending on the platform (*cough* Windows) the build 
> setup can be tedious. This is not set in stone, however, and devs are 
> working on improvements.
> 
> You can send me a private email and we can schedule a mentoring chat 
> where we go through the first steps. It is normal these days for all 
> new contributors.
> 
> Regards,
> Ilmari Lauhakangas
> Development Marketing at The Document Foundation

-- 
Hossein Nourikhah, Ph.D., Developer Community Architect
Tel: +49 30 5557992-65 | Email: hossein at libreoffice.org
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