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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: Thu, 8 Dec 2011 02:17:44 -0800 (PST)
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Date: 2011-12-08T02:17:44-08:00
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Randy Brukardt wrote on comp.lang.ada:
> And most libraries are better distributed in a plain old ZIP file anyway --

I think this is too simplistic.
Zip files cannot manage dependencies between libraries and force the
user to
recompile everything.  This may be fine for a single computer, a small
number
of libraries, and small libraries, but does not scale to tens of
computers
that need the same development environment, or to dozens of libraries,
or to
very large tools and libraries.

> anyone who can't figure out how to unzip that and use their compiler's make
> facility shouldn't be programming (in anything!!) anyway. The fancy
> installer is just a time sink.

Sure, professional programmers should know how to unzip and compile
from
sources.  But you cannot become one until you've learned how to do
that.
By definition, novices don't know how to unzip and compile, and they
don't
know how to read a README file either :/ They need hand holding and a
"standard" (whatever that means for their platform) installer.

--
Ludovic Brenta.