In which John is reminded once again of why he doesn’t want to be a hacker:

make[2]: Entering directory `/home/jfleck/jhstuff/head/gnome-themes/HighContrast'
Makefile:359: *** missing separator.  Stop.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/jfleck/jhstuff/head/gnome-themes/HighContrast'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/jfleck/jhstuff/head/gnome-themes'
make: *** [all-recursive-am] Error 2
 
*** error during stage build of gnome-themes: could not build module *** [29/86]

Lather, rinse, repeat.

No doubt this error, seen when running jhbuild, is the result of dark auto* magic, and had I been paying closer attention during Defense Against the Dark Arts class I’d know the spell to fix it properly. As it is, a bunch of hackerly steps involving commenting entire directories out of the build seems to have gotten me at least temporarily past the point of immediate doom. No doubt someone out there will read this and can tell me the easy incantation to fix things. If I hear it, I’ll use it. But in the meantime I just need to get the damn thing built so I can work on the docs.

This sort of mess is increasingly a problem for the docs as building the latest GNOME grows in complexity. (Is it really growing in complexity, or am I just less patient?) One of the docs community newcomers recently asked me, in all innocence, how he could get a look at the latest CVS head version of the app he was working on so he could be sure his docs matched.

Just a reminder of why I don’t want to be a hacker.

There’s a photographer I work with named Richard who has this routine when we go out together on a story. He’ll work quickly, as soon as we get there, to get something in his camera that will work. So if the whole thing collapses, he won’t go home empty handed – we’ll have something to put in the paper. Once he’s got something, he keeps working, but you can see him relax a little bit. I’ve learned from him the value of getting something quick that will work into my notebook. The first thing may not be the best thing, but once you’ve got it you can relax and work the thing, knowing that if you the situation goes south on you, you won’t go home empty handed.

That’s the way I feel about the GNOME 2.4 release notes. I’m not relaxed yet, but I’m close. A section on accessibility improvements, some notes on the improvements to the control center, some screenshot magic from Jeff and we’ll have something publishable. Not great, but then I can relax and work on making it sing.

I’m not used to it taking this long to get the first shot in the camera.