Re: ports

[Mayuresh <mayuresh%acm.org@localhost>]

On Sun, Sep 02, 2012 at 04:54:32PM -0400, Izaac wrote:
> Second, make(1) is a poor choice for resolving dependencies.  In
> considering that we have all these various files laying about, resolving
> dependencies is a non-trivial task.  Allow me to present an example by
> performing a build of what ought to be a very simple, dependency-free
> package, i.e. misc/figlet.  The list of Makefiles to check, i.e.
> .MAKE.MAKEFILES, winds up being 21.  Twenty-one files are read, parsed,
> and the various variables are checked, set, unset, modified, and
> whatever else necessary to even approach the actual building of a really
> simple package.  All of this setup is not free by any stretch of the
> imagination.  It becomes blatantly obvious on even the swiftest machine
> when attempts to do something as simple as 'make clean' in, say,
> www/firefox:
> 
>    # ( cd /usr/pkgsrc/www/firefox && time make clean )
>    102.224u 44.366s 1:29.92 163.0% 0+0k 305+0io 15pf+0w

Reminds me of this article:
A Generation Lost in the Bazaar -  by Poul-Henning Kamp
http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=2349257

The build processes across Unixen have really mushroomed for historical
rather than technical reasons.

It all could have been a lot simpler. I'd like to be optimistic and hope
that things really get simpler over time.

Mayuresh