Re: [libesmtp-devel] Away for a bit

[John Merryweather Cooper <john_m_cooper yahoo com>]

On 2001.10.19 09:21 Charles Kerr wrote:
> > I figure there are three options
> > 1) No .spec in the tarball and force RPM builders to make a choice
> >    when they configure
> > 2) .spec which builds OpenSSL dependent RPM
> > 3) .spec which builds RPM without dependencies.
> > 
> > As I see it
> > 
> > 1) is least convenient but the result is always the expected one
> > 2) is best but has dependencies
> > 3) is most convenient but omits useful functionality
> 
> How many projects do releases without RPMs?  I have to admit
> I'm surprised that there aren't RPMs on the libesmtp home page.
> Most people just don't build from tarballs.  My preference would
> be to have options 2 and 3 on the esmtp page:
> 

FreeBSD :)  There's a VERY strong preference to build from source in the
*BSD community.

>    * source.tar.gz (100K, source code)
>    * source.tar.bz2 (89K, source code)
>    * RPM - basic (123K, minimum dependencies)
>    * RPM - full (140K, ssl support, etc)
>    * [Debs, etc.]
> 
> 
> I do have a couple of questions about libesmtp from the past week.
> They probably just show my ignorance, but what the heck:
> 
> 1. If ssl is only used for md5, and we've already got md5 in
>    libesmtp, then why are we looking for ssl and adding it as a
>    dependency by default?
> 
> 2. Do we need plugins, and if so, do we have to use libtool for
>    them?  Would glib's dynamic module loading work?  Or could we
> bundle
>    the libtool files we need?  I ask this for two reasons:
> 
>    * I can't install Balsa on my Mandrake box from RPMs because of
>      libesmtp's "libltdl.so.0" dependency.  rpmfind can't find
> Mandrake
>      packages for this, and Mandrake Cooker is still on Balsa 1.1.0.
>      Requiring users to compile code is a terrible idea.
> 
>    * Both Pan and Balsa already require glib, which does module
> loading.
>      developer.gnome.org/doc/API/glib/glib-dynamic-loading-of-modules.html
>      has the scoop...
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> 

I would not recommend incorporating dependencies on glib--it's very
likely to make libesmtp dependent:  1) on the unstable peculiarities of
a particular glib release; 2) not build at all on non-Linux platforms.

-- 
jmc

MacroHard -- the perfection of form over
             substance, marketing over
             performance, and greed over
             design . . .