RE: The project
>
> On Mon, Jul 19, 1999 at 03:23:16PM +0200, Per Lundberg wrote:
> > I think this has to with the fact that most BSD people prefers
> > to compile stuff themselves, which makes the package handling quite
> > immature (esp. compared to Debian's, but you probably already know
> > that. :)
>
> I'd be interested to know what that is (that people prefer to compile
> from source). I can't see the advantage myself, especially
> for large packages
> like X and libc.
>
Could there be performance advantages achieved when you create a
platform-specific compile of a particular software entity? For example,
we all realize the benefits of compiling our own kernel, so that we don't
have code in place for hardware we don't own, etc. There may be some
advantage in compiling your own Perl interpreter using a compiler
optimized for your hardware. There is probably even less benefit in
compiling your own version of "bash". Maybe there is a range of
software types, some benefiting more than others from the "port"
methodology.
If so, one thing we could do (which could also benefit the Debian/Linux
side) would be to formalize a method for creating "source+diff" packages
that could be downloaded and "installed" by a non-technical person. The
"Rules" portion of the package could handle the build issues, the
dependencies would require that the user have all necessary tools and
libraries, etc.
-Brent
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