Re: Build system (was: SVG format in ...)

[Sean Middleditch <elanthis awesomeplay com>]

On Thu, 2003-09-04 at 14:42, Marcin Antczak wrote:

> 
> I use RH 9 which is (I think) most popular linux distribution, but I
> still have to build/compile/whatever a lot of applications.

I might suggest you look at the various apt/yum sources around for
redhat.  Specifically, fedora and freshrpms.net.

> 
> And I have a lot of problems with broken dependencies - of course I cam
> write *.spec files for everything - but it is really time consuming job.

If we're talking single apps, then even you have agreed that ./configure
; make ; make install is fine.  If not, it would be a better use of
time, I think, to make binary packages more feasible than to redesign
already functional build systems.  For example, lend your skills to the
Autopackage project, they're making some *very* good strides now,
despite my earlier reservations.

> 
> And more - what if I want to have application with different options
> than it is by default?

User-oriented options should be runtime configurable.  If they aren't,
the coder was a dink, and needs some re-education.  (*hides the baseball
bat behind his back*)

-- 
Sean Middleditch <elanthis awesomeplay com>
AwesomePlay Productions, Inc.