Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 20:17:12 -0700 From: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> To: Mark Valentine <mark@thuvia.demon.co.uk> Cc: jos@catnook.com, arch@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Package system flaws? Message-ID: <3D2F9BB8.6C2F0D34@mindspring.com> References: <200207130235.g6D2ZhLq024901@dotar.thuvia.org>
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Mark Valentine wrote: > tlambert2@mindspring.com (Terry Lambert) > > Jos Backus wrote: > > > Also, fyi, see the ``Delegations'' section on > > > > > > http://cr.yp.to/slashpackage/names.html > > > > He is cheating. He is serializing name space allocations through > > an individual person, in order to avoid collisions. > > Um, you didn't read down to the ``Delegations'' section... I read it. It is not enforced. There is an escape mechanism through human serialization, and, given his organization, you would have to be insane not to take advantage of it. The problem is still one of back references for modules that attempt to add functionality to existing software at runtime, rather than at compile time, and compile time presence notification without explicit modification of the packages being notified (e.g. autoconf "finding" packages on the developers machine at compile time that are not explicitly listed as dependencies for run-time). Finding and using e.g. OpenSSL at runtime is OK; requiring it at runtime when it was optional at compile time, when it happened to be present, is not. The Perl and Java people resolve this by having packages register themselves into the hierarchy. Admittedly, they have an advantage, in that they have a module registration standard mechinism for "class factories" for specific implementation clases for abstract base classes... but that was kind of the point. 8-). You don't *have* to be an interpreter to do this, but it's very easy if you are. In a shell script, the same thing can be accomplished with "ls" and a "test -x" (ugly, but workable). -- Terry To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-arch" in the body of the message
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