Download raw body.
games/godot{,4}: reorganize for new versions
On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 16:27:11 -0800
Thomas Frohwein <tfrohwein@fastmail.com> wrote:
> Hi ports@,
>
> The Godot port keeps evolving. To keep things interesting^Wconfusing,
> there are parallel but only loosely connected versions in use. The
> pack versions determine which binaries can open a distributed game.
> For example, Godot 3.x uses pack version 1 consistently. However, with
> Godot 4, the pack version was 2 for everything up to 4.4.x, but with
> 4.5+, it was incremented to 3. This means that godot 4.5 can't open
> games made with Godot 4.0-4.4.x.
>
> While there isn't guaranteed API stability from even one minor Godot
> version to the next, it's not realistic to build binaries for every
> possible Godot version. I propose to build the latest runtime for each
> pack version at this point, starting with pack version 1 (Godot 3), up
> to pack version 3 (Godot 4.5+). This will allow keeping a significant
> compatibility coverage for games and other projects from the last few
> years.
>
> To not explode the build times, I propose to build the editor only for
> the latest version. Users of the editor can be referred to the
> official Godot migration guides [1].
>
> Proposed structure:
>
> Pack Version PkgPath: Bin Name
> ------------ ------- --------
> pack1 (3.x) games/godot/pack1 godot3
> pack2 (4.4x) games/godot/pack2 godot44
> pack3 (4.5+) games/godot/pack3 godot{,-editor}
>
> This would mean 4 full Godot builds (1x pack1, 1x pack2, 2x pack3)
> instead of what was previously equivalent of 2x pack1 and 2x pack2.
>
> Things to note that may need discussion/work:
>
> - Warning: @option no-default-conflict without @conflict (I followed
> examples of games/love/* and games/libgdx/*). I
> - Do I need to add REVISION=0 to godot-3.6.2 in pack1/ now (to
> distinguish it from 3.6.2 in games/godot)?
> - Installing the editor (now in pack3/) fails now with a collision of
> the desktop-file-utils stuff which would be intentionally named the
> same. Would set quirks to update from games/godot,-tools and
> games/godot4,-editor to games/godot/pack3,-editor. The editor works
> though (have tested it with a separate way to build/run).
> - There are a few new patches in pack1/ so that godot-sharp builds all
> the mono files/DLLs without needing to run the full build of the
> tools (the name for the editor in this version).
>
> Tarball of the games/godot directory attached.
>
> Happy to hear comments, criticism, other ways to plan this out. Goal
> is a structure more maintainable for incorporating future version
> updates with parallel versions available within reason.
>
> ok's also welcome if it looks reasonable.
>
> [1] https://docs.godotengine.org/en/4.5/tutorials/migrating/index.html
*ping*
This would bring our Godot better up-to-date.
Updated tarball attached, as in the meantime version 4.6 and 4.6.1 have
been released. This now has 4.6.1 for pack3.
Just for clarification: The content of the tarball is to pick up what
was games/godot and games/godot4, with further details in the original
mail.
games/godot{,4}: reorganize for new versions