PolyMakeInterface build doesn't report failures to BuildPackages.sh

[RussWoodroofe]

When running BuildPackages from GAP on a system without Polymake, PolymakeInterface (of course) fails to build. However, it doesn't report its failure, and doesn't appear in fail.log.

This is a follow-on to GAP issue #2971, linked here:
gap-system/gap#2971 (comment)
@fingolfin had some helpful comments there about what was wrong, and how to fix it.

[RussWoodroofe]

This is still an issue in GAP 4.11.

[mohamed-barakat]

@sebasguts @alex-konovalov. I am in favor of removing PolymakeInterface from GAP's distribution. We do not maintain it anymore. Internally we switched to NormalizInterface and can now access polymake through OSCAR (https://github.com/oscar-system/).

[olexandr-konovalov]

@mohamed-barakat @sebasguts are there any of your packages that have PolymakeInterface in their dependencies?

[kamalsaleh]

PolymakeInterface is a suggested-other-package in the Convex package.

[mohamed-barakat]

Yes, Convex should also be dropped from homalg_project.

[mohamed-barakat]

@alex-konovalov: Please drop PolymakeInterface and Convex from the future GAP distribution. They are now replaced by NormalizInterface and NConvex.

[mohamed-barakat]

We stopped supporting PolymakeInterface and Convex and they will not be deposited with GAP in the future. The part of their functionality we use in ToricVarieties is now covered by the deposited packages NormalizeInterface, CddInterface, and NConvex, the last two maintained by @kamalsaleh. Any future use of polymake will be through Polymake.jl which is a component of Oscar.

[mohamed-barakat]

I will close this issue soon.

[olexandr-konovalov]

@mohamed-barakat have you checked that the action is done? Because I do not remember sseing this and https://www.gap-system.org/Packages/polymakeinterface.html is still there. If this is still OK, please submit an issue at https://github.com/gap-system/gap-distribution or even a PR to https://github.com/gap-system/gap-distribution/blob/master/DistributionUpdate/PackageUpdate/currentPackageInfoURLList to withdraw the package.

[mohamed-barakat]

Thanks, I will make a PR.

I will then withdraw PolymakeInterface and Convex:

What about the two files

• `wininst/gap.nsi
• wininst/wininst.g

Do I need to modify them as well?

[olexandr-konovalov]

I will then withdraw PolymakeInterface and Convex:

Only the 1st one (Convex already replaced by NConvex)

What about the two files

wininst/gap.nsi
wininst/wininst.g

Do I need to modify them as well?

Modify only wininst/wininst.g please. The other is autogenerated.