Re: Bug#262181: beast: missing essential binaries in /usr/bin/ (fwd)

[Tim Janik <timj gtk org>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 08:18:01 +0200
From: Sam Hocevar <sam zoy org>
To: Tim Janik <timj gtk org>, 262181 bugs debian org
Cc: beast gnome org
Subject: Re: Bug#262181: beast: missing essential binaries in /usr/bin/

severity 262181 normal
thanks

On Fri, Jul 30, 2004, Tim Janik wrote:
> Package: beast
> Severity: grave
> Justification: renders package unusable

   I'll revert the change, but this definitely does not render the
package unusable.

> however beast depends on its binaries to sit in ${prefix}/bin:
> - users may bypass the nice-level wrappers when starting beast or bsesh to:
>   a) allow non-priviledged synthesis rendering (especially important for
>      non-realtime rendering scenarios)
>   b) allow debugging (beast is still pre-1.0, so debugging is an
>      expected usage scenario)

   This can still be performed by launching /usr/lib/beast/beast-0.6.1
for instance. As for allowing non-priviledged synthesis rendering, this
should really be a commandline flag and not a whole extra binary to
launch.

> - plugin and script registration which are essential to proper operation and
>   usage of .bse files (beasts native file format) depend on all executables
>   to reside in ${prefix}/bin. since the move they fail to register and
>   execute.

   I did not know that, but this behaviour seems really broken to me. I
would expect for instance to be able to build my own version of beast
(with different compilation flags) without installing it, or installing
it in my home directory with a different DESTDIR, and still use the
system's plugins.

> if the versioned binaries were to be moved at all, that'd be a decision
> which has to be made and needs extra support *upstream*.

   My main concern was unnecessary bloating of the list of binaries in
PATH, and user confusion. You cannot expect the average user to know the
difference between beast and beast-0.6.1 (and this person will usually
launch beast through an entry in the menu system anyway), and a more
experienced user can find the binaries in /usr/lib/beast/.

   I am personally irritated with this extra entry when cycling through
binaries starting with "be" in my shell, but that's probably just my
problem.

Regards,
Sam.
-- 
Sam Hocevar <sam zoy org> <http://sam.zoy.org/>

      Racism is so gay! How could you ever be racist?