From: Greg Troxel Date: Wed, 09 Sep 2026 08:45:08 -0400 Subject: PostGIS 3.7.0rc2 released In-Reply-To: <000001dd3ffb$fb0f5490$f12dfdb0$@pcorp.us> (Regina Obe's message of "Tue, 8 Sep 2026 21:38:54 -0400") References: <001101dd3fda$7c978c70$75c6a550$@pcorp.us> <000001dd3ffb$fb0f5490$f12dfdb0$@pcorp.us> Message-ID: "Regina Obe" writes: > The compile error is just bogus. Stems from the fact that visual-examples > aren't built. > On my system I get this now from building from the tarball and running > commands: > > make -C doc html > > wrote /projects/postgis/postgis-3.7.0rc2/doc/html/postgis-ref-index.json and > /projects/postgis/postgis-3.7.0rc2/doc/html/postgis-ref-index.js; > commands=1, functions=630, operator pages=37, SQL keywords=63 > Makefile:626: *** Visual examples are missing. Run 'make -C regress > visual-examples' first.. Stop. > make: Leaving directory '/projects/postgis/postgis-3.7.0rc2/doc' > > Which I felt was much clearer than it recursing on each step and failing > cause it couldn't find the images. This follows from the bug that make docs doesn't build them. > Not sure why yours continues to recurse on. Before I made the change to the > steps to just exit, I was getting the same results you were. I don't think it does continue. >> Reading NEWS: >> >> To build docs, first run visual examples and make sure you have a > running >> PostgreSQL instance. >> >> `make -C regress visual-examples` >> >> this is really problematic and outside the normal boundaries. >> >> - "run visual examples" does not parse >> - "make sure you have a running postgresql instance" is not ok. When >> building packages, they're in a sandbox and while package building >> machines do run build tools, but requiring someone to start up a >> database is way too much for this kind of environment >> - "build docs" and "regress" do not belong together >> > > You need a running PostgreSQL to regress test don't you? I fail to see the > issue here. Yes, to run regression tests. But we are not talking about running regression tests; we are talking about building documentation. >> I'll look into this before, but I wanted to test/write quickly that >> rc2 is not suitable for release. I hope these issues are relatively >> easy to address. > > Yah I was debating that but I feared trying to change that would just break > things in more vulnerable ways. > Do you agree the best course of action is just to advice people to NOT try > to build docs unless they are contributing to the project > and just make it very clear where they can download them pre-built? No, I don't think that's reasonable. This is a regression from the previous stable branch. > Even if contributing I'd probably say it's not necessary as I document a lot > and never have had a need to build the docs myself. Always relied on the CI > to do that. That's the slippery slope to thinking telling people to run docker containers is ok. Seriously, I see a lot of projects that claim to be open source and then say "This is too hard to build. Just use our docker container", and seem to not perceive that as a serious project bug.