Re: portability as a goal for debian?
On Tue, Mar 06, 2001 at 07:58:39PM +0000, Colin Watson wrote:
> Is using GNU make, say, really a design flaw? Look through the
> portability sections in the info file. Consider how much unnecessary
> work it would be to eliminate every use of everything mentioned there,
> and how much easier it would be just to port GNU make, given that it can
> be built, has been built, and is regularly used on just about every
> system in existence anyway.
>
> What's the point of writing all this cool GNU software if we can never
> use any of its features? [snip]
I consider GNU extensions just another form of "embrace & extend". If
a Solaris user is happy with the Solaris tools, then they shouldn't
have to switch to the GNU tools to compile/use my software.
However, make is a special case. The extensions of different Unices'
makes are a bit confusing - I prefer to get on with coding instead of
doing years of research about whether a certain feature may be used.
;-)
Richard
--
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|_) /| Richard Atterer | CS student at the Technische | GPG key:
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