Building the web-ui:
--------------------

Get a copy / clone of qooxdoo (qooxdoo.org), put it ../qooxdoo and run

    ./generate.py build

to create the compiled javascript file.


Running the backend:
--------------------

Run
    npm install
    npm start


Current versions:
-----------------

Currently the backend application is set to qooxdoo 5.0.3, which is the
most recent version of 5.x.x released through the npm package management
system.

The qooxdoo checkout should be moved to the branch "branch_5_0_x".

This combination works on Debian bookworm (probably be released on 2023),
but requires an installation of python2-minimal to work, which needs to
come from the previous release (bullseye).

So when on bookworm, the source.list should look like
  deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main
  deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main

  # for python2-minimal
  deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye main

and a
  apt-get install python2-minimal

will get the required tool for now.


Upgrade path and issues:
------------------------

There are two major versions that were released after 5.x.x .


Trying to upgrade to 6.0.1 from the npm repository results in:

# nodejs boardfarm-backend.js
/home/devel/hstuebner/09_web/boardfarm/node_modules/qooxdoo/qx-oo.js:30475
    __timeout : qx.event.GlobalError.observeMethod(function()
                                     ^

TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'observeMethod')
    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/devel/hstuebner/09_web/boardfarm/node_modules/qooxdoo/qx-oo.js:30475:38)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1218:14)
    at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1272:10)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1081:32)
    at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:922:12)
    at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1105:19)
    at require (node:internal/modules/cjs/helpers:103:18)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/devel/hstuebner/09_web/boardfarm/boardfarm-backend.js:10:10)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1218:14)
    at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1272:10)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1081:32)
    at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:922:12)
    at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:81:12)
    at node:internal/main/run_main_module:23:47

The build system in both the 5.x.x and 6.x.x still uses the python-based
generator, which in turn has a hard requirement on python2.


In version 7.x.x qooxdoo changed their build system in a major way and
the npm-package no longer provides a pre-built qooxdoo js file but instead
integrates into their new nodejs-based compiler. The frontend application
also needs a major upgrade to use that.

So trying to make 6.x.x work is definitly a dead-end and 7.x.x will need
a bit of time to adapt both sides of the application.