Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:24:26 -0700 From: Cynthia Flynn <1cynthia2flynn3@telus.net> To: Steven Kreuzer <skreuzer@exit2shell.com> Cc: ports@freebsd.org, rizzo@iet.unipi.it, perryh@pluto.rain.com, gary.jennejohn@freenet.de Subject: Re: mtools vs X11 (Re: FreeBSD Port: syslinux-3.72) Message-ID: <49C4098A.6030200@telus.net> In-Reply-To: <830D8719-1F55-4BE7-B6D5-3C711F2D57C1@exit2shell.com> References: <49C00745.1050607@telus.net> <20090318001138.GF95451@onelab2.iet.unipi.it> <20090318113023.7bc51ef4@ernst.jennejohn.org> <49c1fd04.Ul73kIip/JpE7k7C%perryh@pluto.rain.com> <830D8719-1F55-4BE7-B6D5-3C711F2D57C1@exit2shell.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Steven Kreuzer wrote: > On Mar 19, 2009, at 4:06 AM, perryh@pluto.rain.com wrote: >> Gary Jennejohn <gary.jennejohn@freenet.de> wrote: >>> Luigi Rizzo <rizzo@iet.unipi.it> wrote: >>>> ... Cynthia Flynn wrote: >>> [snip - syslinux pulls in too much X11 stuff] >>>> I think the extra dependencies that you find listed for syslinux: >>>> [snip] >>>> come directly from mtools ... >>> >>> Yeah. It looks like mtools uses X11 by default, which IMHO is >>> incorrect. Instead it should have an option to turn X11 _on_, >>> rather than one for turning it _off_, as it currently does. >> >> IMO it is a POLA violation for mtools to depend on X11 *at all*. >> >> Instead of having an option, maybe the port should be split so that >> mtools itself just provides the code to access FAT filesystems, and >> (say) mtools-gui does the fancy display stuff. > > mtools already supports WITHOUT_X11 so if you don't want the GUI stuff, > you can build the port > without it. Personally, I think it makes more sense for mtools to be the > full and complete representation > of the actual program. Can someone confirm for me that a normal port install of mtools brings up a configuration menu in which the WITHOUT_X11 option can be set? I do not remember seeing any such thing, but it has probably been 6 months since I last tried it. I would never have guessed mtools was a GUI application. I've only ever heard of and seen mtools being used as a command line tool set and therefore had the expectation that its port would be available to FreeBSD server operators in a fashion that makes sense for non-GUI users. Perhaps I am not as typical a user as I thought, and you folks certainly aren't obligated to address the requirements of niche users, but if the setting of WITHOUT_X11 is not clearly presented for setting during a normal port install then I would humbly suggest that for all practical purposes it doesn't exist for most users. Cynthia
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?49C4098A.6030200>