Douglas A. Tutty wrote:
On Fri, May 09, 2008 at 02:24:56AM -0700, Predrag Punosevac wrote:
Olivier Mehani wrote:
On Fri, May 09, 2008 at 10:23:46AM +0200, Paul de Weerd wrote:
Are you aware of any no_x11 version?
I am not sure I understand your last question. How can you do
typesetting without displaying graphics?
TeXLive does not require X for processing but in order to see your
document you need to use xdvi, ghostview or something along those lines.
Obviously, I am not suggesting that you install X on a DNS server in
order
to do typesetting. What I am suggesting is that I would expect that you
use a desktop machine running X for typesetting.
I use LaTex to write letters. I can write a letter from my text-only
VT520, latex it, dvips it, then print the ps all without displaying it.
Or, I need to send a formatted document to a non unix user and the best
common display format is pdf. So, I make a pdf of my document and email
it to them. Also no need for displaying or X.
Are there other ports that require X11 for internal use even if you
don't need to display? If so, perhaps the xbase install set should be
split into xlibs and xbase so that less needs to be installed on a
non-display box for these ports to work.
Doug.
I think you got the answer from Edd. You do not need X running to
process the text but you need xlibs to compile the port. There is
nothing dangerous in installing whole X on a server as long as you
do not run it. If people are concern about the size of Xbase the bad
news is that TeXLive is almost 1G. The good news is that the Troff is
and various macros are included in the base of the system. Troff is
very, very usable and lightening fast (you as a developer probably know
Troff better than me). Now obvious question that somebody should answer
is does the troff require Xbase as well.
The other thing, if I remember one of the threads, is that Troff has not
been updated for a long time. It would be nice if somebody could update
it. Edd stated how he feels about creating no_X11 flavor. If I may
add something to it.
One could also argue that much finer TeXLive port could have been done
as certain parts of TeXLive experience rapid
development. TeXLive was HUGE job to port so the one who things that
finer port is needed is welcome to create it.
Due to the OpenBSD release cycle (6 months) and the fact that packages
are essentially unchanged during that period
the benefit of the finer port on OpenBSD would be limited. For a moving
target like FreeBSD that certainly would make sense.
Lastly, I like your idea about splitting xbase VERY, VERY much.
Best,
Predrag
