Depending on external libraries

[Jim Gettys]

> 
> Having the build automatically build them too also makes things easier.
> 
> Asking people to edit their site.def or host.def to not build something 
> isn't asking too much IMO if a system already has the needed dependency. 
> That's a heck of a lot easier than having to hunt down the source for 
> something, build it, and install it.
> 

jhbuild solves this problem; it will download the right tarball
for you, from wherever is specified by the build specification,
and build it and install it where ever you specify.

I wish everyone would please stop presuming that some problem
they foresee lacks a simple (possibly) already existing solution,
but come at this with an open mind, with questions like:
"How would we solve this problem?", rather than "That's broken,
and there isn't a solution I can see".  The devil you know
is more comfortable to the one you don't know.

I know change is an issue; but if making X more approachable to
developers succeeds in only attracting a relatively small number of
additional developers over the next year or two, it will be
amply rewarded in our investment in the change.

Personally, having used both Imake and the autotools, I dislike both;
but I know which one is understood by the development community.
                            - Jim

-- 
Jim Gettys <Jim.Gettys at hp.com>
HP Labs, Cambridge Research Laboratory