Re: Packages that need helper apps outside of XEmacs.
Malcolm Purvis <malcolmpurvis(a)optushome.com.au> writes:
Steve> - The helper app gets distributed in source form only.
This sounds like a good start, but there would still have to binary versions
available for at least Windows, if not other architectures. Is access to a
compiler guaranteed?
Definitely not. Even disregarding platforms like Windows and Mac,
some commercial Unix systems ship without a working C compiler. Also,
the C compiler is not in all cases trivial to use correctly, the
libraries might be in strange places, etc. Automatic invocation of
the compiler is a very risky game.
Steve> - first invocation of the package some clever lisp would
Steve> configure/compile the app and install it into lib-src.
Steve> Sound like a fun hack?
Sounds like a great hack, but it wouldn't work in multi-user sites.
This could be fixed by installing the binary somewhere in `.xemacs/'
hierarchy. But other problems remain.
The ideal solution would IMHO be to support the concept of package
"installation" with a utility other than `tar'. Then the packages
that require the C compiler would be built from source at the time
when they are installed, preferrably by the administrator who knows
how to run his flavor of `cc'.
Building at installation time would be preferred,
Fully agreed.