* On Mon, Aug 17 2009, Zbigniew Lukasiak wrote:
Optional features are not well suited for automated install. They
impose questions on the install - but what is more important they
generate problems when for down-stream modules that rely on the
optional features. There is no easy way to specify this - and also if
those optional features depend on installation of some optional
prerequisites - then the down-stream module have no way to determine
which ones of the optional prereqs are needed for the feature it
depends on (and if that optional feature relies on another optional
feature in one of the prerequisites - then the situation is completely
non-transparent for the down-stream module author).
I agree completely, this has been bugging me for a while.
Personally, I never do optional features anymore. I just make the extra
features mandatory. If they can install my module, they can probably
install anything it depends on.
If not, they can send me a patch to split out the optional feature into
a new distribution. But this has never been necessary.
Regards,
Jonathan Rockway
--
print just = another = perl = hacker = if $,=$
