From owner-freebsd-ports@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jan 30 19:57:09 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ports@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-ports@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7BF0716A420 for ; Mon, 30 Jan 2006 19:57:09 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from jbvb@sandstorm.net) Received: from sirocco.sandstorm.net (ip-69-33-111-75.bos.megapath.net [69.33.111.75]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0B25243D4C for ; Mon, 30 Jan 2006 19:57:08 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from jbvb@sandstorm.net) Received: from [10.2.1.14] (ip-69-33-111-74.bos.megapath.net [69.33.111.74]) (authenticated bits=0) by sirocco.sandstorm.net (8.13.3/8.13.3) with ESMTP id k0UJtjTI069996 for ; Mon, 30 Jan 2006 14:55:45 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from jbvb@sandstorm.net) Message-ID: <43DE6F90.7090206@sandstorm.net> Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 14:57:04 -0500 From: "James B. Van Bokkelen" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.6 (X11/20051013) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: ports@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.8 required=5.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED autolearn=failed version=3.0.2 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.2 (2004-11-16) on sirocco.sandstorm.net Cc: Subject: 6.0-RELEASE as an office desktop? X-BeenThere: freebsd-ports@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Porting software to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 19:57:09 -0000 I am using a Dell D610 laptop as a dual-purpose machine. The current release of the product I'm working on uses FreeBSD 6.0-RELEASE, and I am building kernels and applications using it. With this machine, I am trying to get away from using WinXP for mail and office documents. I installed the distributed Gnome 2-2.10.2 and generally like it. Because Gnome's mail tools don't do IMAP with local mail storage for off-line use, I installed the thunderbird-1.0.6 package. It is usable, but has problems fixed in 1.0.7 or 1.5. I attempted to build 1.5 from ports, and while the result worked, shared library changes apparently broke Gnome, so I reinstalled 6.0-RELEASE and went back to 1.0.6. Finally, it appears that no Open Office package is available for 6.0-RELEASE (1.0.3_6 wants much older ORBit and glib). I started to build OO from ports, but the makefile warned me it needed 9GB free, which would require another cycle of re-installation to obtain. So, it appears that I'm stalled. Building from ports introduces library skew issues which compromise the machine as a development environment. But obtaining Open Office for 6.0-RELEASE appears to raise the bar beyond what I can justify to get shut of Windows. I know the volunteer nature of this - the first software I released under a "copyleft" was for DECUS in the early 1980s. But I would like to suggest that future RELEASE distributions have a goal that a usable office desktop environment be obtainable in a straightforward way, either from the distribution CDs, or via the net using 'pkg_add -r'. The 6.0-RELEASE Gnome comes close, but the lack of a canned Open Office should, IMO, be remedied. And in the mean time, if anyone wanted to supply me a clue or two, or point me at a package built for 6.0-RELEASE for either Open Office 2.x or Thunderbird 1.5, I would be quite pleased. James Van Bokkelen Sandstorm Enterprises Inc.