Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Re: a contrib directory

[Harald Meland]

[Tez Kamihira]

> On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 15:58:32 -0700 (PDT), Tom Lord <address@hidden> said:
>> 
>> How about the idea of making a `contrib' directory for arch?
>
> IMO, It would be very hard work to maintain it accurately.

I agree that this would take a bit of work.  However, I'm not sure
that it would be "very hard work" -- and even if I'm wrong, I suspect
it would be worth the effort.

> Instead doing so, you may add a simple "registry list" in your work,
> just like ancient "HOST.TXT" file.

I don't think that would scale very well -- especially so for arch
newbies.  Tom's added [description of contents] might help a bit, but
to use this you'd still have to wade through quite a few of archives,
and more or less by hand distinguish which branch of the functionality
you're after is most recent (but still working :-).

The main benefit of having a 'contrib' directory in the tla distro
itself, is that this would be a *single* place to look for contributed
stuff.  I think it is obvious that finding stuff inside a single
'contrib' directory would be easier than scanning the registry list,
looking into the categories/branches/versions of the archives whose
description seems relevant, and then deciding which of the
alternatives you'd like to download and try out.

Even though arch supports distributed _development_, it isn't obvious
that one should force Joe Random Arch User to deal with that
distributiveness in order to get hold of various usability
enhancements.

On some other hand, though, I share Tom's sentiment that perhaps a
'contrib' directory is premature, or perhaps it's not.
-- 
Harald