Re: ports FLAVORS on pkgsrc (and postfix)

["Steven M. Bellovin" <smb%cs.columbia.edu@localhost>]

On Thu, 25 Jan 2007 12:14:48 -0600
Michael Parson <mparson%bl.org@localhost> wrote:

> On Thu, Jan 25, 2007 at 06:50:24PM +0100, Christian Biere wrote:
> > Jeremy C. Reed wrote:
> >> One thing that Debian does a lot more than pkgsrc is to create
> >> separate packages for libraries, headers/includes, applications,
> >> and documentation. 
> >
> > Which completely defeats the idea of free open-source software.

Hardly.
> 
> Probably more of a general Linux thing than just Debian, at least,
> RedHat has done the same thing for years.  Not everyone that is
> running Linux wants/needs the sources installed on every box.  It can
> be annoying when you figure out you need foo, go off and install it,
> then realize you also need the foo-dev package.
> 
I don't want source on every box, except maybe to let me read certain
files.  Why should my little Soekris gateway need source, when it
doesn't even have a compiler?  It doesn't even have enough RAM for one,
nor does it have a disk to swap to.

I want source for everything -- but I also want to be able to compile
on a big build server and push everything out from there.


                --Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb