Package or not? (was Re: [Xastir] Can't find ImageMagick lib)

[Gerry Creager N5JXS]

Realizing that, as a RedHat user I'm a little discontinuous... because I 
don't mind building from source, and keep the 'make uninstall' 
capability around, I'd like to politely disagree.

What we need to do is provide a makefile designed to unpack a set of 
tarballs, sequentially configure them, make then and run a chrooted make 
install of the interim libs.

2 things happen.  First, we get the programs/libs installed properly. 
Second, most of these users will, over the course of seeeing data stream 
across before their beady littl.... very eyes, (sorry, got carried away) 
start noticing what it's doing, and not be as offended by, or afraid of, 
the idea of compiling.

Regards,
Gerry


Jack Twilley wrote:

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>>>>>>"Curt" == Curt Mills <Curt> writes:
>>>>>>
> 
> Curt> Is there any way that we can make the output of this test
> Curt> program appear in the main text while doing a configure?  It
> Curt> sounds like some of the supporting libs for ImageMagick (and
> Curt> perhaps others?)  are getting to be a problem, particularly when
> Curt> they're not visible to the user, who just sees a general failure
> Curt> for the main library being queried.
> 
> Well, the ImageMagick config bit is one of the few bits I didn't
> touch.  It's filled with chaos and randomness.
> 
> Curt> If we could make it visible somehow, for all of the optional
> Curt> libraries, that would make it much easier to help these people
> Curt> in the future.  Don't know if it's easy to do this, just
> Curt> throwing it out there.
> 
> I agree with Reuven, though, that this stuff isn't our problem.
> 
> There appear to be two types of xastir users:
> 
> 1.  Those who prefer building from source.
> 
> 2.  Those who prefer installing packages.
> 
> Users of the first type are in general very successful with xastir.
> There are occasionally problems with building certain libraries in the
> wrong order, or being the first one to notice what stupidity has
> afflicted the ImageMagick team lately, but other than that, they're
> quietly happy running high-quality software.
> 
> However, most Linux users -- and most xastir users -- are of the
> second type.  Building xastir itself requires that a user be
> of the first time in order to take advantage of all its features.
> 
> If the goal is to make xastir available to users of the second type,
> then the packaging game has to be played.  If we want more RedHat
> users, then we need to build RPMs of xastir which have the right
> dependencies.  If we want more Debian users, then we need to build
> debs of xastir which have the right dependencies.  If we want more
> FreeBSD users, then we need to build a port of xastir which has the
> right dependencies.  If we want more Solaris users, then we need to
> build a package of xastir which has the right dependencies.  
> 
> This is the only way to avoid the constant questions.  I will leave it
> to others to determine whether or not the work involved is worth the
> benefits. 
> 
> Jack.
> - -- 
> Jack Twilley
> jmt at twilley dot org
> http colon slash slash www dot twilley dot org slash tilde jmt slash
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-- 
--
Gerry Creager
AATLT/Network Engineering
Texas A&M University
979.458.4020 (Phone)		979.847.8578 (FAX)