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List:       crux
Subject:    Re: Errors during Compilation
From:       Mick Gards <driver () iinet ! net ! au>
Date:       2002-06-18 10:21:19
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hi,

it seems like everyone else has waded into this discussion topic. but there 
are a few questions that maybe need to be asked. should a regular user be 
required to view/edit Pkgfiles on a regular basis? i understand that being 
given access to the Pkgfiles increases the control over the software you'd 
like to install on your machine, which i personally think is a huge benefit, 
as people can easily tweak the packages to suit themselves, but should it be 
necessary to refer to these files when building and installing the packages 
as provided?

if the answer here is "yes", and the Pkgfiles should be read by everyone who 
installs a package, then perhaps a more rigidly commented Pkgfile is the way 
to proceed.

alternatively, if the answer is "no", that is, the Pkgfiles should do their 
job and remain largely unseen, unless there is a specific need to change a 
particular package, then perhaps, seeing as a large part of this discussion 
has been on the dependency checking issue, a simple line could be added to 
the Pkgfile

depends=( package1, package2 )

and then pkgmk could just print this out, before, or after the build( ), such 
as:

--- Remember: Package X depends on: package1, package2
--- You will need to build this package correctly

or similar, to the same effect. this would keep the control that pkgutils 
provides, ( ie it doesnt descend into dependency-hell like i've seen, for 
example, apt on debian do ), yet at the same time provide clear instructions 
for installing a package and its requirements.

on this point, and quoting from the crux.nu -> documentation page

>NOTE! There is no package dependency checking. 
>This means that it is up to you to figure out that if you 
>for example install the sendmail package you also 
>need to install the db package.
 
i think the key here, is that knowing the dependencies of a package shouldnt 
be left up to the user. no-one should be expected to *know* all the 
dependencies of a particular package. the responsibility of the system then 
would be to alert the user to the required dependencies, but not actually do 
the installation for him/her. i understand at the moment a #depends line is 
used by most package maintainers, but even so, this brings us back to the 
first question, should users really be referring to these files everytime 
they expect to build a port/package.

what are the suggestions on this?

mike.

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