V4 updates for beta testing

[Amerlander]

A static hosted version of these changes can be seen at betamc.calliope.cc

[Amerlander]

@abchatra we updated or removed all extensions inside preferredRepos in the targetconfig.ts.

[abchatra]

This is not just preferredRepos. We can't serve the extensions which doesn't have MIT license (This is more of a legal issue than technical). Even approvedRepos have to be MIT license.

For example: https://github.com/calliope-edu/pxt-SCD30 doesn't have MIT license.

Is there any issue in adding the MIT license for them? All these repos are severed text files any way so users can use them as library.

[joernalraun]

For example: https://github.com/calliope-edu/pxt-SCD30 doesn't have MIT license.

Is there any issue in adding the MIT license for them? All these repos are severed text files any way so users can use them as library.

We just didn't know that an MIT license is necessary. The license has been updated at all the extensions.
Maybe extensions without license could be automatically excluded?

[Amerlander]

@joernalraun we only updated the preffered repos, not all listed. The pxt-SCD30 has MIT, but its only mentioned inside the Readme, there is the License file missing.

I'll go through the list and add the MIT license or remove them if they have other licenses.

[Amerlander]

@abchatra I checked now every extension and removed it if there was no license file with MIT License included.

Since pxt-calliope is a fork of pxt-microbit there are several extensions you are still using in the Microbit Target.

The extension Tinkertanker/pxt-tinkercademy-microbot has no license at all (https://github.com/microsoft/pxt-microbit/blob/b9d2eeff8116b75fa50f663091b0e3acd800b7bc/targetconfig.json#L37).

The following extensions have a MIT License mentioned in the Readme, but wthout the full license text and no license file. So they are the same like the https://github.com/calliope-edu/pxt-SCD30 you mentioned:

Annikken/pxt-Andee
LaboratoryForPlayfulComputation/pxt-BlockyTalkyBLE
PaulDFoster/pxt-microbit-GY521
Tinkertanker/microDriver_SHT2x
Tinkertanker/uDriver_PCA9585
chevyng/pxt-ucl-junkrobot
mbitfun/pxt-katakana

I removed all of them in the calliope target, but they are still present in the microbit target.

[abchatra]

Thanks @Amerlander We do have an issue to track down these extensions authors in microbit for the license.
microsoft/pxt-microbit#1769

[abchatra]

We will probably remove these extensions from microbit as well if the license is not updated. However we don't want to add additional dependencies for these now in calliope.

Thanks for doing this and sorry for the inconvenience.

[joernalraun]

Thanks for doing this and sorry for the inconvenience.

Hi @abchatra is there anything else we could do now to help getting the process through?

[abchatra]

This is good to go. We are checking on the build failures and will merge after that.

[riknoll]

Weird, Github gave the commit a green checkmark even though the build failed. We need to investigate the yotta config for this repo... @Amerlander what is the state of https://github.com/calliope-mini/target-calliope-mini-classic-gcc?

[Amerlander]

@riknoll we have 16 and 32mb devices, therefore we updated the yotta target to be able to change the linker file depending on the enviroment variables in makecode. Version v1.2.3 should be fine and is working on my local test.

[Amerlander]

@riknoll If you have more questions we could also set up a video call now or the next days if you like.

[riknoll]

@Amerlander thanks! I think I've got a handle on things now, I'm planning on merging some changes to our backend later this afternoon to accommodate this. I'll let you know how it goes!

Out of curiosity, is there a reason that version 1.2.3 isn't merged into master?

[Amerlander]

@riknoll no, there isnt. I just merged it into master.

[riknoll]

@Amerlander cloud compile is updated! The C++ portion of the build is now succeeding on master.

The build is still failing on documentation checks, though. Our CI runs through all of the TypeScript snippets in docs to make sure they compile as a check for breaking changes.

[riknoll]

You can disable docs checking by editing the pxtarget.json and adding "ignoreDocsErrors": true inside the appTarget object. However, these checks are usually pretty useful because they catch errors in tutorials before they are published.

If the snippets in the docs are not meant to compile, you can also ignore them on a case-by-case basis by changing the code snippet in the markdown file to use the "typescript-ignore" language. For example:

```typescript-ignore
// code here
```

[Amerlander]

So it might be possible to disable these checks for having a public available beta version and enable them back again later?

The changes you just merged are a big improvement, but we still have a list of things that have to be changed for a final release. So our plan was to use this beta to get feedback from our community and improve it step by step from here until everything works as expected.
For that process, we plan to create issues and open separate PR to target each of them. That way we could also ask for help of the Microsoft team on issues where we are not sure how to solve them best. But everything starts with having a beta to have a common ground.

[riknoll]

I think that should be fine! @abchatra FYI

[Amerlander]

@riknoll I created a PR for this change: #154

@riknoll I created a PR for this change: #155

[riknoll]

@Amerlander the build is still a little broken, doesn't seem like it can update beta for some reason. I'm going to investigate, but in the meantime here is a build with the changes pushed:

https://makecode.calliope.cc/app/f3b8cb87d8c932e5673206a3808d227e36964416-1e24dc8c20

[Amerlander]

@riknoll thank you, I think that might be enough for now. We will start creating issues on that basis and improve it step by step, that might also solve the broken build process.