Hans-Joachim Widmaier wrote these words on 11/18/07 03:41 CST: > Sure. But now you have 2 pages, and one of them is in a (more or less) > random format. There are no guidelines for the wiki (or didn't I search > enough?).
You are correct in saying that there really are no guidelines for the Wiki. It has been assumed that folks will put info out there that could be deemed helpful to others. If you feel the info you have is helpful, put it on the Wiki in whatever manner you feel is best. > I like the "everything's in 1 place" approach. Makes it harder > to forget about the other and miss something. Most likely impractical, > though. Impractical is the correct way to phrase it currently as there is simply too little Editor help to add new information to BLFS right now. The Wiki allows for information to be added without depending on an Editor. > I'm dreaming of something like a 'database' of all the dependencies and > a tool that tells you a build order for a specific goal, say 'Firefox'. > Ok, my little tool was like that, but I neglected to keep the 'database' > up-to-date. And I used the "as soon as possible" approach only. Someone created a Python script a year or more ago that does this (but only used the dependencies listed in the book). I never used it, but many said it was a very good script that worked as designed. For packages that are not in BLFS, but only listed as a dependency, there is nothing that script could do. You would have to build in some sort of dependency database as you suggest for packages not native to BLFS. > This is probably the central point. It is not a distro, but a lot of > people use it as if it were one. If it only wants to show you how to > build a system, and once you've done that you switch to one of the > polished Opensuses, Debians, Ubuntus or what-have-yous, it becomes an > end in itself. Is this the intended "use-case"? Build once, be happy, > switch to a real distro? I don't think so, but then that's just me. I only use LFS for my personal systems. I have over 600 build scripts (with dependencies noted as comments for the non-BLFS packages) so 'remembering' things is not an issue. I do the work once, document it (by creating a build script), and forget about it. Granted, this doesn't help anyone else. It works for me, but then I don't expect everyone to want to build over 600 packages every time they get a new system, upgrade, whatever. Personal choice, I suppose. > Everybody who builds it more than a very few > times will not really read it sentence for sentence again. He or she > will just cut and paste the command sections. And maybe start to think > if some coverage of "how to build a system a second time/how to upgrade" > would be nice. Or a repository with recipes for programs not covered by > BLFS (and their dependencies). Actually, this is what the Wiki was going to be used for. And still can. I think you are too hung up about a "template", or some "proper" way of adding to the Wiki. As far as the Wiki goes, think Nike - "Just do it". As far as package management goes, I suppose we all have our own methods. I know I have mine. It works for me. That's how I think BLFS should be. A base where folks can get the basics, and modify it to suit their own needs. I cannot see BLFS *ever* being a book that will be written in a manner that provides instructions to build a "distro". That part is left for the user/installer. If that is a hassle, or undesirable for someone, then perhaps a real distro would actually be a better choice for them. Hopefully my comments make sense to you, and you see the reasoning behind my comments. Please feel free to continue the discussion, or provide additional comments. It is nice to see someone passionate about BLFS, and I'll see what we can do to actually use some of the suggestions/ideas. -- Randy rmlscsi: [bogomips 1003.23] [GNU ld version 2.16.1] [gcc (GCC) 4.0.3] [GNU C Library stable release version 2.3.6] [Linux 2.6.14.3 i686] 10:58:00 up 6 days, 1:29, 1 user, load average: 0.03, 0.08, 0.08 -- http://linuxfromscratch.org/mailman/listinfo/blfs-dev FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html Unsubscribe: See the above information page
