On Sun, Mar 19, 2000 at 01:00:44PM -0800, Ben Kosse wrote:
> Let me preface by saying I'm not subscribed to [EMAIL PROTECTED] because
> I haven't the time to deal with the mass of e-mail it generates. Please CC
> any responses back to me.
> I'm getting awefully tired of Red Hat mucking up the install locations of
> files they throw into RPMs. The latest snafu I have discovered is Mesa-3.2 in
> the rawhide folders. Nothing thinks to search for Mesa in /usr/X11R6/lib and
> #include <GL/gl.h> doesn't work with the Mesa includes not in /usr/include
> or /usr/local/include.
I agree with you 10,000 percent on gratuitous layout changes which
are not required by the file system standard, the fssnd. There are way
WAY too many of them that turn any attempt at mixing RPM and tarball
co-existance into a flaming nightmare. I'm currently struggling with the
$%#%$# samba layout where I almost have to build RPMS each time I check
out from the Samba CVS tree (I'm on the Samba team) in order to keep the
rpm installation and the cvs updates from tripping over each other.
> Come-on, Red Hat, use the standard locations the apps use. It's not that
> hard, and many apps are starting to be well behaved (like Mesa) with their
> .h file locations.
> /usr/include, /usr/lib, /usr/doc are there for a reason. Use them.
I've seen similar problems with the OpenSSL libraries and RPMs
(although this is not strictly RedHat's fault since they are not
distributing crypto code yet).
> (And yes, I think X is shoddy for not following the same pathing, but there's
> little we can do about that).
You lost me on that one a bit... X includes can be accessed through
/usr/include/X11 (which is symlinked over to ../X11R6/include/X11) and that
should keep all the mappings happy. Same thing with /usr/lib/X11. I don't
see a problem there, at least there shouldn't be. That layout predates
the filesystem standard and, for that matter, Linux itself by quite a few
years but still conforms reasonably well.
It does point out that creative use of symlinks can also be used
to reduce the chaos introduced by these relocations and layout changes.
Yes, conformity to the fssnd is important. So is usability and
compatibility. A little effort to commit fewer random acts of terrorism
would cut back on the frustration that some of us run into while trying
to use and test distributions while at the same time trying to get some
developement work done!
Hopefully, some more of the standardization efforts will pay off
and we will see fewer customized locations for things and more apps under
development conforming to reasonable layouts while under development.
Moving from a development tarball to a distribution RPM (or DEB, or whatever)
should require nothing more than a change of --prefix=/usr (or /) from
--prefix=/usr/local (normal default) on the build configuration line.
Everything from that prefix root down should remain clean. That means some
compromises on the part of the developers and the distro makers BOTH! The
developers need to create layouts that can be reasonably mapped to the
file system standard (and Samba has NOT been the best in that category)
and the distro makers need to keep customizations down to a minimum.
> --
> Ben Kosse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Mike
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Michael H. Warfield | (770) 985-6132 | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471 | possible worlds. A pessimist is sure of it!
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