Re: Making prerequisites easy

[James Henstridge <james daa com au>]

I suppose creating a convention (say a file called REQUIRES in the root of
the package) for specifying the dependencies of the package would help.
The file may just have a number of lines like:
  gtk+ >= 1.1.2
  libxml  # any version
  imlib >= 1.8

and so on.  We would also need to put this into the FAQ and CVS guide
pretty prominently (maybe with some clues to find out what versions you
have).

Also, for people compiling out of CVS, by looking at package names only,
you could automatically adjust the build order when necessary.

This may also have the effect of lowering the number of compile problems
caused by version problems that are reported to the list.

James Henstridge.

--
Email: james@daa.com.au
WWW:   http://www.daa.com.au/~james/


On Wed, 14 Oct 1998, Elliot Lee wrote:

> As GNOME is being built, the authors of various programs/libraries often
> realize that they could make use of already existing libraries instead of
> reinventing the wheel. As GNOME is being installed, users often grumble
> about the prerequisities that they must install in order to get GNOME up &
> running. :)
> 
> As a result, authors sometimes shy away from requiring libraries that
> would benefit GNOME as a whole. An example I can give right now is the
> audiofile library (a library that loads various audio file formats), which
> Tom Tromey suggested to use for loading sound effects and other useful
> sound-related functionality.
> 
> Does anyone have ideas for making it easier to get GNOME installed, and
> making the prerequisites look less threatening to new users?
> 
> Thanks,
> -- Elliot
> "In film you will find four basic story lines. Man versus man, man
>  versus nature, nature versus nature, and dog versus vampire."
>     - Steven Spielberg
> 
> (PS. I'm not suggesting that program authors add prerequisites flippantly,
> but even ignoring new libraries that might be nice to use in GNOME, there
> are quite a few existing prerequisites).
> 
> 
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