Re: source-based package management

[Michael Heath]

There is a tool similar to the Ports system on BSD systems that (unlike ports) uses GNU Make. Gar Ports (www.lnx-bbc.org/garchitecture.html) is designed, when the program is made properly, to use the traditional ./configure and make steps, with the benefit of dependencies. It's also flexible so that it can take additional steps for programs with non-confomant configuration or make steps.

 

What would you say to adopting such a system? For comformant source distributions, creating a Gar Ports makefile is an easy process that consists of writing a couple lines of text.
 

Mike Heath
 

On 6/20/06, Alfred M. Szmidt <address@hidden> wrote:

Those who would like to have a easy way to compile source code should
work on improving autoconf in such a manner that one can write a
dependency tree that GNU Source Installer can use to download any
dependencies, improving badly written autoconf scripts.  The GSC can
then also use this information to make binary packages, having a
target for automake called `make binary-package' would be nice, then
the GSC would simply be a fancy for-loop.  Fixing broken Makefile.am's
that don't use DESTDIR is also a good task for someone who is is
looking for something to do.

Centralised source based system simply try to work around a GNU build
system that was improperly written, in addition of adding a extra
dependency on a third party to write this information and keep it
updated (URL's, options to ./configure, dependencies).  All of this is
better to handle where it is supposed to be handled, in the build
system of the package.


Please help improve the Hurd, GNU Mach, and other missing and broken
bits, this is far far more important.  A system that crashes while
compiling it self is not useful!


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