On Wed, 11 Jan 1995 09:04:57 +1100 Giles Lean wrote:

>Not always possible.  Much software needs to know where it is going
>to be installed when it is compiled.

You could always factor our these dependencies into one file the gets
compiled (not so good for a compiler package I know, but NetBSD
already hands out the compiler so null issue ?). Better yet, maybe one
directory is set aside for configuration information, much like X's
app-defaults. You could even go to the trouble of setting up a library
which supports something like this:

    #include <NetBSD/Config.h>			/* include proto's */
    #define	LIBDIR	"/usr/local/lib"	/* default if all else fails */

    char *your_home = ConfigGet(package_name, "LIBDIR", LIBDIR);

instead of:

    #define	LIBDIR	"/usr/local/lib"	/* hard wired */

    char *your_home = LIBDIR;


>As I noted in the netbsd-packages mailing list (contact majordomo@Good.com)
>we will need a filesystem layout to be 'standard' for installed packages.
>People who can't use the standard can use symbolic links; the default
>should not require this.

This often leads to many sym-links over time has new hard disks get
added, etc. The package install utility could recommend defaults that
fit a 'standard' layout.

>Giles

Marc B.
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