On Tue, 2004-08-24 at 17:54, Jason Chu wrote:
This is something I've been kicking around for a bit. Having other gcc packages like gcc-f77 and gcc-java would be helpful, 1) to shut people like this up (http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?t=6376) and 2) for people who actually need a f77 compiler (or a java compiler or whatever).
Well, would including the additional languages in the default GCC be that big of a deal? How much size would it add? What exact problems would crop up? I'm under the opinion that if there's no serious drawbacks, the languages should just be added to the default package. Simply include the languages that there is a demand for. In this case, Java and F77 are in demand. It seems having one GCC package actually follows Arch's philosophy better. Just like we don't separate Python and Python-tk. We choose the best options (in this case, languages). Another example where we choose one "big" package is with -dev libraries. While having these "gcc plugin" packages definitely has the "nifty" factor, one big package seems a bit more practical on the surface. Like I said, I don't know what exact problems there are. Also, like you said, if the GCC package gets upgraded before the gcc plugins, pacman will bitch. This seems like it's adding even more work, and if these are in Extra, it kind of messes with the CURRENT independence Judd is trying to have. With one package, everything gets upgraded at once, or nothing gets upgraded until it's all working. Just a thought. Ben -- Now remember, we can't ALL sign with an X