Re: [boost] Re: Directory Structure

From: David Abrahams (abrahams_at_[hidden])
Date: 2000-12-16 17:42:06

----- Original Message -----
From: "John (EBo) David" <ebo_at_[hidden]>

> if I have to install yet another
> language to even compile and install a set of C++ libraries for C++
> programs I personally am going to find it anoying.

You're in luck, I think. I don't know what the specific plans for ScCons
are, but it is possible to embed the python interpreter in a program (like
the ScCons tool) so all you have to do is install that. Ultimately, though,
I'm not sure it matters. After all, no matter what tool we use, unless we
provide customized build scripts/project files/whatever for each
environment, /somebody/ will have to install /something/. If you say
autoconf is the answer, then Windows people will have to install Cygwin or
something like it, and MacOS 8-9 people will be completely out of luck. If I
say ScCons is the answer, people will have to install it and may need to
install Python(Python is pre-installed on most modern Linuxes). It's a
simple fact of life that although many systems have a "standard" way to do
builds, these ways are not universally portable. Part of the point of the
Software Carpentry tools like ScCons is to solve the portability problem
once, by relying on Python (highly portable and already ported to many
platforms) as the substrate.

-Dave