mtools vs X11 (Re: FreeBSD Port: syslinux-3.72)

[Gary Jennejohn]

On Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:24:26 -0700
Cynthia Flynn <1cynthia2flynn3 at telus.net> wrote:

> Steven Kreuzer wrote:
> > On Mar 19, 2009, at 4:06 AM, perryh at pluto.rain.com wrote:
> >> Gary Jennejohn <gary.jennejohn at freenet.de> wrote:
> >>> Luigi Rizzo <rizzo at iet.unipi.it> wrote:
> >>>> ... Cynthia Flynn wrote:
> >>> [snip - syslinux pulls in too much X11 stuff]
> >>>> I think the extra dependencies that you find listed for syslinux:
> >>>> [snip]
> >>>> come directly from mtools ...
> >>>
> >>> Yeah.  It looks like mtools uses X11 by default, which IMHO is
> >>> incorrect.  Instead it should have an option to turn X11 _on_,
> >>> rather than one for turning it _off_, as it currently does.
> >>
> >> IMO it is a POLA violation for mtools to depend on X11 *at all*.
> >>
> >> Instead of having an option, maybe the port should be split so that
> >> mtools itself just provides the code to access FAT filesystems, and
> >> (say) mtools-gui does the fancy display stuff.
> > 
> > mtools already supports WITHOUT_X11 so if you don't want the GUI stuff, 
> > you can build the port
> > without it. Personally, I think it makes more sense for mtools to be the 
> > full and complete representation
> > of the actual program.
> 
> Can someone confirm for me that a normal port install of mtools brings 
> up a configuration menu in which the WITHOUT_X11 option can be set? I do 
> not remember seeing any such thing, but it has probably been 6 months 
> since I last tried it.
> 

mtools doesn't use config options.  You have to set them on the command
line when you install the port.

---
Gary Jennejohn