Building Java ports from sources or not ?

[Chris Doherty]

On Tue, Nov 04, 2003 at 07:21:39PM +0100, Herve Quiroz said: 
> I was wondering if it is actually relevant to try and build Java ports
> from source. Indeed I used to agree with this policy (mostly because it
> allows the user to be sure that all dependencies are installed as well)
> but it is quite painful to maintain.
...
> So do we need to agree on some common policy or is it a "per-case"
> issue?

seems like a per-case thing to me, and up to the port maintainer--I don't
think the port maintainers are obligated to have a port build from source
if binary works just as well, and I know in my case I don't need to wait
an hour (slow machine) to get an Ant package identical to a binary.

like the old cvsup-bin port was a real time- and space-saver for those of
us who didn't need to wait a day and end up with modula-3 installed.

if there are no functionality or security issues, I'd vote for
maintainer's choice. I guess you'd be kind of hosed if you wanted to
install from source, though...maybe use the source distro to compile your
own binary package or something.

chris


-------------------------------
Chris Doherty
chris [at] randomcamel.net

"I think," said Christopher Robin, "that we ought to eat
all our provisions now, so we won't have so much to carry."
               -- A. A. Milne
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