Re: [boost] boost organization and installation

From: William E. Kempf (williamkempf_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-05-02 16:57:57

----- Original Message -----
From: "Noel Yap" <yap_noel_at_[hidden]>
To: <boost_at_[hidden]>
Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2002 4:41 PM
Subject: Re: [boost] boost organization and installation

> --- "William E. Kempf" <williamkempf_at_[hidden]>
> wrote:
> > Some opinions about what's needed for distribution
> > which isn't directly
> > covered in the archive (what's there is what's
> > required for developers, and
> > a distribution system can't interfere with those
> > needs):
> >
> > * Requirements for additional tools/technologies
> > (such as perl) need to be
> > kept to a minimum, and should usually be restricted
> > to things you can
> > reasonably expect the user to have.
>
> Might I suggest sticking with Jam (since it works)
> until the packages are separated?

That would be ideal, but Jam currently can't handle things like
configuration management or installation.  Long term it would be nice if we
can portably specify how to handle these things and incorporate it into the
Boost.Build system, but short term I think we'll need another solution(s).

> > * Breaking out Boost into multiple installation
> > packages may be beneficial,
> > but you have to do so in a manner that doesn't
> > require significant changes
> > to the current Boost structure or prevents the
> > normal distribution that
> > developers use today.  This means there may be a
> > need for a seperate CVS
> > repository for release distributions... or it may
> > not, time will tell.
>
> A conversion script may come in handy here.  This way,
> what the developers see and what the users see are
> different.

Agree... but the script needs to be under the control of the distribution
volunteers.  We must not impact the developers here (at least we need to
minimize the impact).  (Note: I realize from another portion of your
response that you understand this and agree, I'm just emphasizing this for
others because I think it's one of the most important goals.)

Bill Kempf