Re: Ann: Build Guide version 1.6.0

[Dennis Leeuw]

Hi Stefan,

I have the idea that you are making valid points here. There is a lot of 
stuff that is actually not relevant on most distributions since they now 
come with up-to-date, in a GNUstep way, packages. Up until recently I 
felt stuff like ffcall (or libffi) and gcc (the objc part) had to be 
compiled manually to get GNUstep working as should be, but those days 
are over (I hope). Even gdb now supports objc.

I like to know from others what they think about this. Are the checks 
(and how to build it yourself) parts useful enough to keep them as 
prominent as they are, or should they as Stefan suggests be moved to a 
Appendix?

Let me know what you think.

Dennis



Stefan Urbanek wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Just a question...
>
> On 2003-10-16 16:50:54 +0200 Dennis Leeuw <dleeuw@made-it.com> wrote:
>
> > I can announce the GNUstep Build Guide version 1.6.0
> >
> > Changes:
> > Dependency versions updated to the latest and the greatest
>
> Would it be possible to move all dependencies in the BuildGuide 
> (http://gnustep.made-it.com/BuildGuide/index.html) at the bottom? Reason 
> is: "I want to install GNUstep, not make nor binutils, not even iconv, 
> what I do not know what it is". I think, what you need is to put a list 
> of required libs/tools/packages with their versions in some table, and 
> then immediately go to the GNUstep installation. There should be a note, 
> that if something goes wrong, then there should be some dependencies 
> problems, and the user that is installing should reffer to the 
> appendix/later part of the document to resolve problems.
>
> I understand, that one needs all that stuff, but "GNUstep installation 
> guide" should be mainly about "GNUstep installation", not installation 
> of GNUstep dependecies. And the first-commer can get not very nice 
> impression by seeing all those stuff he must go before he gets to the 
> GNUstep. Installation of other packages is not important to gnustep, 
> even they are required. It is likely, that most of them are already 
> installed on users machine. Maybe a small detail, but i think it should 
> be very discouraging.
>
> I would suggest following order:
>
> - very brief note about dependecies with short dependecies table with 
> package name and version
> - immediate GNUstep installation guide
> - resolution of dependencies
>
> Go to the GNUstep installation as soon as possible. Solve problems 
> later, but make user aware of possible problems and let him know where 
> is the solution.
>
> Anyway, I think that the guide is great,
>
> Stefan