Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Wed, 16 Mar 2005 01:03:49 +0100
From:      Michael Nottebrock <michaelnottebrock@gmx.net>
To:        freebsd-ports@freebsd.org
Cc:        Andy Fawcett <andy@athame.co.uk>
Subject:   Re: complaint
Message-ID:  <200503160103.55083.michaelnottebrock@gmx.net>
In-Reply-To: <20050315164021.C84655@april.chuckr.org>
References:  <20050315145741.H84655@april.chuckr.org> <200503152304.05248.andy@athame.co.uk> <20050315164021.C84655@april.chuckr.org>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
--nextPart61719512.OBTkXOtX3e
Content-Type: text/plain;
  charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Disposition: inline

On Tuesday, 15. March 2005 22:56, Chuck Robey wrote:

> My own suggestion?  Every port have an OPTIONS list, which is a variable
> that lists EVERY available makefile option, and naming be such that their
> use should be opbvious.

Well, the ports that do use OPTIONS are self-documenting already. Not every=
=20
port has been converted yet of course.

> Maybe, if it's not going too far, add a target=20
> that lists, port by port, the available options.  I personally think we
> should have fewer ports of higher quality.

Not a good approach. The trouble with compile-time switches that trigger=20
dependencies is that they do not translate to binary packages. And the=20
reverse approach - make a (slave-)port per option that changes dependencies=
=20
isn't desirable either - at least plenty of people have voiced the opinion=
=20
that this would result in just too many ports with too little gain in the=20
past.

=46urthermore, most software just isn't designed to be easily compiled piec=
emeal=20
in an automated fashion - some software isn't even designed to deal with=20
adding and removing optional parts of it arbitrarily. You probably guessed =
it=20
by now: KDE's CUPS support is design-flawed like that. That's why=20
kdelibs-nocups is the best we can do about it right now.

And that's why it is indeed hard and difficult, more often than not, to do=
=20
these things.

The reasonable approach here is to identify where there's enough user-inter=
est=20
in more granularity (easy enough to do, the complaints usually arrive by=20
mail-to-maintainer), analyze the feasibility of providing it, and then=20
eventually do it.

The unreasonable approach is, if I may say so, wide-sweeping bitching about=
=20
some allegedly easy-to-solve-yet-totally-not-addressed problems. The OPTION=
S=20
framework does exist and is in use and port-maintainers are usually=20
cooperative when presented with legitimate concerns and reasonable proposal=
s=20
made in the spirit of teamwork.

=2D-=20
   ,_,   | Michael Nottebrock               | lofi@freebsd.org
 (/^ ^\) | FreeBSD - The Power to Serve     | http://www.freebsd.org
   \u/   | K Desktop Environment on FreeBSD | http://freebsd.kde.org

--nextPart61719512.OBTkXOtX3e
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (FreeBSD)

iD8DBQBCN3frXhc68WspdLARAjHuAJ9IRPIyWPJ3biHZiyl7B8asb4+2+ACcCiVz
WzBo9vw1YDNLaklUMfZgWDo=
=Fal+
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--nextPart61719512.OBTkXOtX3e--



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?200503160103.55083.michaelnottebrock>