Re: [fink-core] Running Octave from Fink?

[Alexander Hansen]

On 11/6/12 1:48 PM, Dave Vasilevsky wrote:
>> On 11/6/12 10:36 AM, Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso wrote:
>>> On 6 November 2012 11:09, Alexander Hansen <address@hidden> wrote:
>>>> I was told, by someone who knows a great deal about compiling on OS X,
>>>> that osx-gcc-installer does _not_ give a _fully_ functional build tool
>>>> set for OS X, in that it lacks proprietary headers and the like which
>>>> are provided by Xcode.
> 
> Hi Jordi, didn't expect to see you 'round these parts!
> 
> I'm not sure if this is true about osx-gcc-installer. But what I do
> know is that osx-gcc-installer is definitely Non-Free. It's not built
> from source, but produced by extracting files from Apple's installer.
> A number of these files are not Free, for example the AVFoundation
> headers. I'm not even sure why it would be distributable, except for
> the pragmatic reason that Apple doesn't seem to have cracked down on
> it (yet).
> 
> Sorry,
> Dave
> 

Ah, I misunderstood what osx-gcc-installer actually does.  I had thought
that it only used the stuff that Apple doesn't restrict distribution
of--and _that's_ what isn't sufficient for a comprehensive build chain
according to my source (Peter O' Gorman).

I guess a Fink fork that relies on an external FSF GCC compiler set
might work, but one would have to insist on _that_ compiler set and not
include Fink's FSF GCC packages in the distribution, or at least ensure
that it uses compatible options, such as being built with a single
architecture.  Or maybe one could use a Fink-built one as a seed to
ensure compatibility.

The ideal solution would be dedicated machines for a binary
distribution, but that's unlikely to happen.
-- 
Alexander Hansen, Ph.D.
Fink User Liaison
My package updates: http://finkakh.wordpress.com/