Re: MacOS X 10.7 and gettext

[Bruno Haible]

Gary V. Vaughan wrote:
> > the "normal" way to install packages, for people who
> > are not used to fiddling with source code, is through MacPorts,
> > and MacPorts carries gettext 0.18.1.1 with the fix.
> 
> Actually MacPorts is not that widely used anymore, most people have long
> since migrated to Homebrew, which has a much better policy of not reinstalling
> packages that come with the system

Thanks for the info. And indeed, Homebrew also carries gettext 0.18.1.1
with the stpncpy fix:
<https://github.com/mxcl/homebrew/blob/master/Library/Formula/gettext.rb>.

Interestingly, while MacOS X 10.7 was released on 2011-07-20,
the stpncpy glitch was
  - fixed in MacPorts on 2010-08-13 (these people must have access to
    prereleases of MacOS X or its libc),
  - fixed in Homebrew on 2011-06-21,
  - reported to bug-gnu-gettext by a MacOS X user on 2011-08-12.

So, MacPorts and Homebrew are acting very proactively as distributors of GNU
packages, and we should probably look what kinds of patches they are
using, independently of what gets reported through our regular bug reporting
channel (list or savannah).

> a large font warning that the latest released version needs a
> patch from MacPorts to compile on  Mac OS would save plenty of Homebrew
> users from scratching their heads :)

Why? Since they have incorporated the patch in their build system already
before MacOS X 10.7 was released?

Bruno
-- 
In memoriam Annalena Tonelli <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annalena_Tonelli>