Re: GNOME vs GNU gcc & glibc

[sungod <sungod atdot org>]

On Thu, 8 Apr 1999, Sergio Brandano wrote:

>  Self contained means, in this context, that you can untar it,
>  configure it and compile it just on top of GNU/GNOME code
>  (gettext and grep).

Why gettext and grep?

I suspect your answer might be something like, "Because they provide
functionality which is useful to GNOME, and by using these packages, we
can eliminate needless waste and replication of coding effort." The same
argument, of course, which can be applied to many of the libraries upon
which GNOME depends. Imlib, for example, is an excellent library for
managing graphics on displays with a wide variety of capabilities. By
using Imlib, GNOME itself becomes very portable to displays of all
bit-depths, as well as taking on features like pixmap caching and
color-correction, all of which are very desirable features which can be
used without needless waste and replication of coding effort.

> >> Then GNOME depends on non-GNOME code
> 
> >Yes.  On a modern Unix or Unix-like system, pretty much all programs
> >depend on outside code and libraries.
> 
>  Well, it should not.

Good luck finding any two Unix or Linux gurus who agree on which basic
libraries should be considered "inside." The LSB is making an attempt to
do so, from what I heard, and not having a very good time of it. Distro
wars are made of such fruitless disagreements. I find it's much better
just to accept that having CHOICE is a feature, not a bug, and deal with
the fact that not everyone sees the "perfect system" the way I do.

>  GNOME is part of the GNU project, which aims at free software. This
>  is a very general statement but, in principle, what happens if one of
>  those non-GNOME programs become commercial software?

GNOME itself, as well as the Linux kernel and all of the GNU project, are
already commercial software. I believe the word you were looking for is
"Proprietary," and thanks to the "copyleft" feature of the GNU GPL, it
isn't possible. I haven't looked at the exact licenses for all the
packages you named, but of the ones I recall (GTK+, glib, imlib, etc.)
they are all either under the GNU GPL or the LGPL.

>  Ok, then we are speaking the same language. However, let me resume
>  the original problem, why do we need to compile 18+ source codes in
>  order to compile gnome-libs? 

Because your distribution hasn't already done it for you. Wait for a
distro to come out that has, already, or cope with the realities of
installing a large project. Either way, there's little room for complaint,
as I see it.

>  I find it constraining.

Aww, gee.
-- 

"The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you
get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the
office." -Robert Frost