Ugly Huge BSD Monster

[Terry Lambert]

Denis Troshin wrote:
> Almost  every  package  I  install requires a few other packages. This
> 'idea   of   using   dependent  packages'  turns  FreeBSD  (and  other
> unix-systems) to an ugly monster.

You're right.  The authors of the offending software packages
should not do that.  It's going to be incredibly hard to get
the FSF to quit using libibery, getline, gdb, etc., though.


> For  example, I don't need Perl or Python but a few packages I install
> require them.

Don't install those packages?

Provide patches that remove the dependencies, if they are
trivial?

Rewrite the software from scratch, if the dependencirs turn
out to be non-trivial?


> Does exist a programming under unix without these dependencies?

Sure.  Anything you are willing to write that doesn't do that.


> P.S.  Under Windows it is possible to write not bad applications which
> depend  just  on  libraries (KERNEL32, USER32, GDI32).  And these libs
> exist on every base system!!!

I beg to differ.  InstallShield has a tendency to install the
NT version of CTL3D.DLL over top of the Windows 95/98 version,
breaking things utterly (as one example).

Also, CRTL32.DLL no longer ships with the base system, but it
is required for a lot of runtime executable code.  It was left
out of the base system in order to force people to distribute
it, and that was done to impose license restrictions on where
the resulting code can be run (i.e. it's free to redistribute
with your applications, so long as you only run them on a
Microsoft OS -- see the VisualDevStudio license next time you
get a chance).


> Is it possible in unix?
> 
> Before I thought that unix programs very compact, but they are huge!

You're using the wrong programs.  I'm going to guess you are
installing Gnome or KDE or something like that that has a huge
dependency list because it wants to have a huge feature list.

-- Terry