Gerhard Hoogterp schreef:
> On Friday 09 December 2005 23:20, Tom Smith wrote:
>
>> Gentoo is a source-based distribution. This means that the software
>> you receive comes in the form of source code. It's up to you to
>> install (which includes compiling) the software with your specific
>> preferences--this is what makes Gentoo what it is.
>
>
> While this is true and one of the things that makes gentoo gentoo,
> there are already binary packages in portage. mozilla-bin,
> openoffice-bin. Mostly big packages which take some time to compile.
> So the idea of having a pre-compiled KDE isn't that alien to the
> world of gentoo..
>
Oh, phooey, Gerhard (sorry).
People, it's not like KDE just got huge yesterday or something.
There's a whole herd that has to manage the installation parameters of
KDE, version after verson, and that is no easy task... plus they had to
manage the migration to the split ebuilds, which was even more difficult
(and they did an outstanding job; it went quite smoothly overall, if you
think about it).
Do you think that these people wouldn't make their work easier if they
could, if making their work easier provided an overwhelming benefit to
Gentoo as a whole?
Does it never occur to you that there might be a *reason* that KDE is
not provided as a full binary package (in *addition* to the
compile-only, thank you very much, since some of us only use some KDE
programs and don't want the full-bloat KDE installed just to do so)?
After all, you can both compile or install the packages named above
(mozilla, firefox, thunderbird, OO.o). But not KDE.
Why, oh why? Why did KDE go to splitting the packages that make up the
DE, rather than making the DE even more monolithic somehow (if that is
possible)?
There is obviously some overriding benefit to modularity for the KDE
team (as for the X.org team, which is also migrating to a modular format
for their packge), and this benefit migrates down to Gentoo as a
source-based distro (as opposed to binary based distros like Mandriva or
FC, which seem much less likely to find an advantage from modular packages).
So take advantage of the benefit, instead of complaining. You need/want
all of KDE, but do you need/want all of it /now/?
What's wrong with emerging kdebase-meta to get a basic session, and
/then/ emerging whatever odds and ends you need from it, or -- perish
the thought-- emerging something small like IceWM first (you should have
a fallback WM anyway, in case KDE breaks), and then logging into /that/
and emerging kde-meta, if you must have every single part of KDE right
now, up to and including every pointless part that you are not going to
use until next month, if ever?
Both kdegames-meta and kdeedu-meta are dependencies of kde-meta.
Honestly, do you actually /need/ to be _/sure/_ that kjumpingcube and
kenolaba are installed before you log into your first session
(kdegames-meta dependencies)? Is logging into your session beyond
pointless if klatin is not installed (kdeedu-meta dependency)?
Apparently the KDE dev team doesn't think so, which is why they've made
it easier for /everybody/ to install a basic (and even relatively
full-featured) KDE session without having to wait for the massive number
of optional KDE packages to compile (don't forget, the maintainers of
any given binary distro have to compile all of this stuff too, to
provide the binary, and people on dial-up likely appreciate the cost
savings of smaller binaries to install).
And of course, it's a massive benefit to people who don't use all of KDE;
from people like me who use almost none, to people like my
mother-in-law, who --if she used Linux-- would likely only use the basic
session, Konq, KMail, and KOffice and maybe kpatience.
Figuring out what you actually need takes time, but you'd still save
time by emerging only that and skipping the rest. If you must have a
binary, then use the --buildpkg option to create one, back it up, and
make a nice KDE Packages disk for the future.
NAME
emerge - Command-line interface to the Portage system
--buildpkg (-b)
Tells emerge to build binary packages for all ebuilds
processed in addition to actually merging the packages. Useful for
maintainers or if you administrate multiple Gentoo Linux
systems (build once, emerge tbz2s everywhere). The package will
be created in the ${PKGDIR}/All directory. An
alternative for already-merged packages is to use quickpkg which creates a
tbz2 from the live filesystem.
Feel like a member of the dev team-- that's what they'd have to do to
provide such a disk themselves, so why shouldn't you do it for yourself
if you need it?
Holly
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