Re: cairo, freetype, fontconfig, et al.

["Peter" <sw98234 hotmail com>]

On Tue, 17 Oct 2006 13:10:17 -0400, Joseph E. Sacco, Ph.D. wrote:

snip.....

> * The relevant content [executables, header files, and libraries] is
> available and easily located.
> 

I realize you don't trap configure output, but this can be useful in
spotting problems manually.

> * A simple mechanism exists to determine the version of the package
> 

That's a hoot! Seems like most packages do their own thing unfortunately.
And with different package managers, or lack thereof, that can be very
troublesome!

> * libtool files associated with the external package createno conflicts
> with other GARNOME packages.
> 

This is probably the hardest to predict and determine if I understand it
correctly.

> There has been a lot of academic work on the detection, construction,
> and maintenance of software dependencies. As is true of all problems of
> this genre, the easy things are easy the hard things are hard.
> 
Well said!

> What I believe can be done in the near term is pick away at some of the
> simple cases like pkg-config and revisit this issue on a recurring
> basis.
> 

Well, as a user, not expert, I would start with bootstrap, then
freedesktop which are non-gnome apps. If versions of installed
applications are OK, there should be no reason why a particular app needs
recompiling and separate installation. The platform directory MAY have
overlaps since almost most all distros install gtk+ and glibc but maybe
not the right version for the latest gnomes.

Anyway, if I can help parse or test, please let me know. Happy to do so.
Just let me know how.

-- 
Peter