* Randy McMurchy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [2006-01-23 17:15]: > Miguel Bazdresch wrote these words on 01/22/06 22:11 CST: > > > PCRE is listed as a recommended dependency but it seems to me it's > > required. > > For all practical purposes, recommended=required. At least that is > how the developers sort of look at it. There may be some obscure > switch or parameter that will disable the use of something, therefore > it is not really required, so it is listed as recommended. This may > be the case with PCRE and KDE.
I guess my point is that 'recommended' is too wide a brush. I believe there are several levels of gray between 'required' and 'optional'. I just want to provide a single data point, from someone who has been using the BLFS book for years. I understand the work involved in changing the book, and I'm not proposing doing that, nor volunteering to do it. I don't expect anyone to. My point, by way of examples: * GnuPG is recommended for thunderbird. However, I've build thunderbird without it. I don't send encrypted or signed email. Not having gnupg didn't break my build. * Not having PCRE breaks kdelibs' configure, and from what I understand, it's pretty much required. Kdelibs without pcre is missing some basic functionality. * It's possible to build gtk2 without libjpeg. However, no one in their right mind will want to do that. It's pretty much essential in order to have useful applications. I don't believe GnuPG for thunderbird and libjpeg for gtk2 are in the same boat. Yet, both are 'recommended'. > Intentionally not following the recommendations of the book=not > getting too much help in the support lists. I won't deny support to anyone having trouble with thunderbird for not having gnupg. Not having jpeg support in gtk2 and then complaining about is, well, completely different. -- Miguel Bazdresch http://thewizardstower.org/ -- http://linuxfromscratch.org/mailman/listinfo/blfs-dev FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html Unsubscribe: See the above information page
