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From: Ludovic Brenta <ludovic@ludovic-brenta.org>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: How to nicely distribute a simple Ada library?
Date: Fri, 9 Dec 2011 00:42:44 -0800 (PST)
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Date: 2011-12-09T00:42:44-08:00
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Randy Brukardt wrote on comp.lang.ada:
>>... and force the user to recompile everything.
>
> Any decent Ada compiler (which includes all Ada compilers I'm aware of) has
> a simple mechanism to compile everything needed for your application.
> Nothing more is needed for the vast majority of libraries.

Complexity is one thing, time necessary to recompile is another.  For
example, GtkAda 2.24 took 1 hour and 44 minutes to recompile on ARM a
couple of days ago:

https://buildd.debian.org/status/fetch.php?pkg=libgtkada&arch=armel&ver=2.24.0-2&stamp=1323307454

But we are in agreement; simple libraries need no or only very simple
installers.

> letting the "upstream packager" (whatever the heck that is) worry about
> packaging.

Sorry, Debian parlance but I think it deserves an explanation.  I did
not say "upstream packager" because it makes no sense and here is
why.  The software flows from the original author ("upstream") through
the packager (middle man), then sometimes through derivative
distributions like Knoppix, and finally to the end users
("downstream").  Thus the Debian packager is "downstream" from the
original author and "upstream" from the end user.  Note that bug
reports flow in the opposite direction; that's why a packager
sometimes "forwards a bug report upstream", meaning he reports the bug
to the original author.

--
Ludovic Brenta.
Our gut-feeling is that aligned values quickly empower the Chief
Management Office Officer.