[arch-general] Fwd: Proposal for the static library problem in Arch

[Gaetan Bisson]

[2013-09-28 15:26:56 +0100] Delcypher:
> For popular packages that have can build static libraries and shared
> libraries, build both but put the static libraries into their own
> "*-staticlibs" package and the *-libs" packages should contain only
> shared libraries. For example for boost you would have
> 
> boost : Development headers + other files
> boost-libs : Boost shared libraries
> boost-static-libs : Boost static libraries

I am strongly against this proposal.

For many reasons, including those in the page Allan pointed to, dynamic
libraries should be the default on Arch systems, and they should be the
only supported type of library.

Users who wish to build and use static libraries are of course free to
do so, but should not expect Arch will do this work for them. Splitting
packages as you suggests puts more burden on the developers, build
process, and mirror bandwidth - with very few users benefiting.

But, hey, that's fine: there is tons of great stuff in the AUR which is
not officially supported by Arch Linux, simply because we do not have
the resources to support everything - so we just focus on what most
people care. And anybody is free to come along and "unofficially"
support anything else...

-- 
Gaetan