Re: Some Stuff...

[Jeff Abrahamson <abrahj01 mh us sbphrd com>]

On Thu, Mar 02, 2000 at 02:37:43PM +1100, Chuck Dale wrote:
> Hi Cory,
> 
> 
> > If you dig a little deeper, the list gets longer, as I believe imlib
> > requires all the assorted image type libs for functionality (libpng,
> > libtiff, libungif, libjpeg).  Granted, gdk-pixbuf will replace imlib, but
> > at the same time, this takes away the advantage that imlib is on alot of
> > stock Linux systems.
> 
> Gnome is a *big* system. It is not an easy or useful operation to reduce
> the number of requirements. See later for why this isn't a problem.
>
> [snip]
> > One thing that Linux has always sported as both a detriment and benefit is
> > the extensive use of shared libraries.  Keeping up with them gets to be a
> > nightmare sometimes, but is an amazing tool at the same time.
> 
> Again, you are talking from the viewpoint of someone keeping up with the
> latest development releases. The end user doesn't have to bother with
> keeping up with libraries. They just buy a distrobution CD and install
> it. It works. No downloading, no tracking libraries, nothing. It works.

Getting all the libraries isn't a big deal: ftp -i my_favorite_mirror,
then mget * from the right dir.

(OK, it would be nice if the gnome mirrors would mirror all the other
stuff I need. It's annoying to start to compile imlib only to find
that I need to go and hunt down jpeg, png, ungif, tiff, and zlib, all
from different spots.)

What is a pain is compiling. A configure program at the top level that
dropped into each dir and compiled with the right stuff in the right
order, all the options having been specified once at the top level,
would be great. I wrote a rudimentary script for myself, but it's not
anywhere near general enough for general use. (Heck, I'm not sure it's
good enough for my use, given all the little tweaks that I'm having to
do as I go.) And, anyway, it's not autoconf. ;-)

Don't forget that this isn't a linux only thing. At home, I have RH
installed and gnome works wonderfully. Here at work, though, I'm on an
alpha running OSF/1 V4.0. I've been spending a bunch of time here
(don't tell my boss) trying to compile gnome so I can have a nicer
desktop than the half-broken CDE that the corporate computer support
folks put on my machine for me.

Mind you, at a big corporation wiping ones machine and installing
linux isn't an option. Although I can put everything I want into
~/lib, ~/bin, ~/share, etc. and run from there.

-- 
- Jeff Abrahamson
  abrahj01@mh.us.sbphrd.com
  610/270-4845