Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 21:35:42 +0100 From: Kirill Ponomarew <krion@voodoo.oberon.net> To: Alexander Leidinger <Alexander@Leidinger.net> Cc: ports@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Why does everybody switch to dynamic plists? Message-ID: <20050121203542.GB96472@voodoo.oberon.net> In-Reply-To: <20050121205202.4092fc5a@Magellan.Leidinger.net> References: <20050121205202.4092fc5a@Magellan.Leidinger.net>
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On Fri, Jan 21, 2005 at 08:52:02PM +0100, Alexander Leidinger wrote: > can someone please tell me why people enjoy to use dynamic plists, even > when there was a static plist already? > > With a dynamic plist: > - We lose the ability to search for files which aren't installed. > (useful for users) > - We lose the ability to determine if a particular port contains what > we search. > (useful for users) > - We lose the ability to check just with grep if two ports install > conflicting files (in case we get a report of a conflict it's very > nice to not need to install a port to verify the conflict). > (useful for users and port developers) > - We lose the ability to use portlint to check the plist (if the > maintainer checks the generated one he just can use a static plist). > BTW.: Does portlint know how to check the embedded plist (the > Makefile variables)? > (useful for port developers) > - We lose the ability to maybe answer support requests without the need > to install the software. > (useful for "the frontliners") > + We don't need to take care if the plist changes. > (useful for port developers) > > I count 1 positive and 5 negative aspects. > > If the developer of a port puts the dynamic plist generation into a > Makefile target instead of inlining it into the build/install process, > he doesn't needs to put alot more effort into the development process > (just one "make <generate-the-plist-target>") and gets the benefits of > static plists too. > > Maybe I've overlooked something, but so far I haven't seen a dynamic > plist which needs to be a dynamic one. So I think at least 99% of our > dynamic plists don't need to be dynamic. Just from my experience - dynamic plists are evil. -Kirill
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