From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Nov 7 03:34:58 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BAA1510656B8 for ; Fri, 7 Nov 2008 03:34:58 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) Received: from igloo.linux.gr (igloo.linux.gr [62.1.205.36]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 19CDA8FC3C for ; Fri, 7 Nov 2008 03:34:57 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) Received: from kobe.laptop (adsl202-73.kln.forthnet.gr [79.103.15.73]) (authenticated bits=128) by igloo.linux.gr (8.14.3/8.14.3/Debian-5) with ESMTP id mA73YkmK001465 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Fri, 7 Nov 2008 05:34:52 +0200 Received: from kobe.laptop (kobe.laptop [127.0.0.1]) by kobe.laptop (8.14.3/8.14.3) with ESMTP id mA73YkFF002516; Fri, 7 Nov 2008 05:34:46 +0200 (EET) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) Received: (from keramida@localhost) by kobe.laptop (8.14.3/8.14.3/Submit) id mA73YiAH002515; Fri, 7 Nov 2008 05:34:44 +0200 (EET) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) From: Giorgos Keramidas To: stevefranks@ieee.org References: <539c60b90810311123w2aa94b8akcd0a5d0fe791885a@mail.gmail.com> <539c60b90810311230i11460966la7ff35b0093642ec@mail.gmail.com> <87r65vl9ur.fsf@kobe.laptop> <539c60b90811031412y35e2599cneca5912ada43b081@mail.gmail.com> Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2008 05:34:44 +0200 In-Reply-To: <539c60b90811031412y35e2599cneca5912ada43b081@mail.gmail.com> (Steve Franks's message of "Mon, 3 Nov 2008 15:12:34 -0700") Message-ID: <87tzakqkdn.fsf@kobe.laptop> User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.0.60 (berkeley-unix) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-MailScanner-ID: mA73YkmK001465 X-Hellug-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-Hellug-MailScanner-SpamCheck: not spam, SpamAssassin (not cached, score=-3.133, required 5, ALL_TRUSTED -1.80, AWL -0.69, BAYES_00 -2.60, URIBL_BLACK 1.96) X-Hellug-MailScanner-From: keramida@ceid.upatras.gr X-Spam-Status: No Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: includes, configure, /usr/lib vs. /usr/local/lib, and linux coders X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:34:58 -0000 On Mon, 3 Nov 2008 15:12:34 -0700, "Steve Franks" wrote: > That's alot of good info. It should go in the porter's handbook, > maybe... Hi Steve, Probably not. What I wrote is specific to the GNU build system. We have many ports that use configure scripts and makefiles generated from various versions of the GNU build tools, but ports are ``different''. We are not the _maintainers_ of the main source code of all the ported applications. We just have to make sure they build on FreeBSD, and that's pretty much all of it. For example, if the source tree of a port includes a `configure.in' that is broken on FreeBSD and Cygwin, we don't really have to ``fix'' both of these. If it builds correctly on FreeBSD, we are done. This may not be enough for Cygwin users, but we are not out to fix everyone's code to build on everybody else's system. That would be an insane amount of work for a very doubtful amount of gain :) > So, if I'm looking to make a port, which one of those people should I > be acting as? Maintainer? That's FreeBSD-port-terminology you are > using, correct? FreeBSD Porters are a separate category. They usually fall in the category of `builder' I mentioned in the original post, but they have to provide the tools for `packagers' too, in the form of Makefiles, scripts and packaging lists that allow others to configure, build and package the ``vendor'' code for some FreeBSD version. When I mentioned `maintainer', `builder' and `packager' roles in the original post I didn't mean *FreeBSD-maintainer* but the actual person or team that maintains the upstream source of a program. HTH, Giorgos