[isabelle-dev] Towards the release

[Makarius]

On 26/10/16 00:05, Gerwin.Klein at data61.csiro.au wrote:
> I’m planning to switch over to Sierra this week, and can hopefully report back next week on any issues with our l4v proofs, AFP, and isabelle itself.
> 
> Do we know who is administering macbroy30 and macbroy2? It think it would make sense to switch them over to 10.11 and 10.12 (if the hardware is still supported).

The PLATFORMS file documents the current situation for Isabelle support
of certain Mac OS X versions, see
http://isabelle.in.tum.de/repos/isabelle/file/4f0acbd97491/Admin/PLATFORMS#l25

In the past we've had particularly enthusiastic Mac system
administration at TUM, but I don't see that at the moment. So I am
reluctant to change a running system, especially macbroy2, which is very
important for the Isabelle administration and release process.

After the release, we can probably discontinue Mountain Lion, and update
macbroy30 to El Capitan or Sierra.  Both macbroy30 and macbroy31 are
MacBookPro6,2 from Mid 2010, so it looks like Sierra still works, but
that might be also the latest possible version.

Note that in the long run, it is more important to have reference system
installations for older Mac OS versions that for newer ones: the newer
ones are more likely to be installed by current users, although that is
not really a systematic test.


Generally, the reference systems according to Isabelle/Admin/PLATFORMS
are required for three main purposes:

  * Compilation of Isabelle components (via ssh) -- on the *oldest*
supported version.

  * Routine batch-builds of Isabelle + add-on tools -- on *all*
supported versions. This is usually done by the administrative cronjob.

  * Occasional interactive tests (via Screen Sharing), to figure out GUI
portability problems, to test the Isabelle.app integration etc.


We have come quite far in the Isabelle platform support, not just on Mac
OS X (or mac OS). It would be sad to loose that for no particular reasons.


	Makarius