From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Jan 26 18:45:53 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 57DBF16A4CE for ; Wed, 26 Jan 2005 18:45:53 +0000 (GMT) Received: from mail.scls.lib.wi.us (mail.scls.lib.wi.us [198.150.40.25]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E466843D2F for ; Wed, 26 Jan 2005 18:45:52 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from nalists@scls.lib.wi.us) Received: from [172.26.2.238] ([172.26.2.238]) by mail.scls.lib.wi.us (8.12.9p2/8.12.9) with ESMTP id j0QIjVtB086927; Wed, 26 Jan 2005 12:45:31 -0600 (CST) (envelope-from nalists@scls.lib.wi.us) Message-ID: <41F7E539.5070507@scls.lib.wi.us> Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 12:45:13 -0600 From: Greg Barniskis User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0 (Windows/20041206) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Gert Cuykens References: <200501251530.06424.shinjii@virusinfo.rdksupportinc.com> <20050125194736.GD76109@xor.obsecurity.org> <20050125224732.GA28662@xor.obsecurity.org> <20050126133627.GA23951@internode.com.au> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: "Donald J. O'Neill" cc: Kris Kennaway cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org cc: Warren Subject: Re: perl and ports X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 18:45:53 -0000 Gert Cuykens wrote: > True, lets talk about the factory then > > The machinery would be /usr/src > The resources would be /usr/ports > > Do you agree a wrench is not a resource ? I think your analogies go astray because you don't fully understand the wide variety of uses Perl has. It used in many different contexts, like: It might be a robotic arm that arguably could/should be left behind, if and only if that is its sole function. It might be the wrench at the end of that arm, which surely might be useful in another context and you should probably keep on hand. It might also serve as the lug nuts that bind the wheels to your vehicle, which are surely inadvisable to remove. Each port that requires Perl is different. In the building/furntiture analogy, Perl might be a couch that you could remove if it was really in conflict with the room. It might be the paint brush that colors your walls and that might be useful when adding a new room to your house, so you should keep it. It might also be the hidden filler that makes your other couch so darn comfortable, which is surely inadvisable to try to remove. Try to gain a fuller understanding of the vast and varied usefulness of Perl before rejecting it or trying to classify it as "being like" something that you are more familiar with. re: Perl's removal from base. I read that with some concern when it was first discussed, but I see that the burden of building it from source over and over again is terribly cumbersome. If removal speeds development and testing, giving me more timely advances in FreeBSD features, at the cost of I have to "portupgrade -[args] perl" once in a while, I am A-OK with that. -- Greg Barniskis, Computer Systems Integrator South Central Library System (SCLS) Library Interchange Network (LINK) , (608) 266-6348