Re: ANN: Basil -- Internet Message (email) and MIME library for Ada v 1.0

[Ludovic Brenta <ludovic@ludovic-brenta.org>]

goog...@hafdconsulting.com wrote:
> On Jul 22, 12:19 pm, Ludovic Brenta wrote:
>> If you're planning to use AWS's SMTP client code, it looks like you're
>> going to need this glue for your mailing list server anyway.
>
> SMTP won't be needed for the mailing list. People want mailing list
> servers that are integrated with their existing MTA systems, they don't want
> stand-alone systems. [...]

Right, that's why I was talking about the SMTP *client* part of AWS.
But of course, you decide how you speak with the customer's MTA.

> I am considering using AWS for the web interface portion, but then again
> you have the same integration problem. People want their web applications
> to run behind the web server *they* choose (or at least Apache) they don't
> want a stand-alone system. [...]

If you want to integrate with the customer's web server, I'm afraid
your best option is Java Servlets :(

>> The reason I wasn asking is not because I was interested in using your
>> library; only because I think it is nice in general to consolidate
>> small but related libraries into larger ones,
>
> I take exception to your belief that Basil is a "small" library:
[...]
> ada:          10823 (98.29%)
[...]

I didn't want to offend you but yes, this is small. Compare this with
(from memory):
gnade 1.6.1: 61 kSLOC
asis 2007: 91 kSLOC
GtkAda 2.12: 112 kSLOC
GCC 4.3: 630 kSLOC
the software I work on on my day job: 1 MSLOC

And that's counting only the Ada parts of these things. In the
packages I maintain for Debian, the average per package is around 93
kSLOC currently. Granted, GNAT, GtkAda and GPS do a lot to pull that
average up. I personally prefer to work on a few large packages rather
than many small ones.

Again I don't mean to offend you or downplay the amount of work,
dedication and passion you put in your library. On the contrary, I
think it is very professional. How many individual free software
developers systematically publish specifications and unit test suites
with their libraries? Basil is an impressive one-man, version 1.0
library.

While I stand by my opinion that grouping libraries in general is a
good thing, I also understand the reasons why you may choose
otherwise.

PS. I am overworked and I cannot package Basil for Debian, but I wish
someone else would step forward to do that. Any takers?

--
Ludovic Brenta.