> Les, you come from a heavy C/C++/make background eh? Env
> variables are pretty common in make-land but almost unheard
> of in java-land.
Actually, I have a _deep_ foundation in Java with little C++ background.
In fact, I have 3 times more "java time" under my belt than any other of my less used languages :) When I started college (1995), Java was the very first language I ever learned (even before C - it was the 2nd Computer Science course offered in the curriculum, the first being only an introduction to computer science concepts and logic).
My take on env vars has less to do with make and more of my school of thought keeping dependency binaries out of CVS. I view CVS as a _source_ control medium, not a build repository. Env vars are the logical choice for making clean builds when engaging in that school of thought.
I think most of the perceptions come out of how I see builds. I believe they are to be done by developers and those who occasionally build from scratch. From what I've seen in practice, I would say 90% of the "users" out there just care about a binary distribution they can download and go on their way without ever having to mess with CVS....
Again, I'm just happy to contribute to Hibernate, and will of course follow the consensus whenever messing with the CVS tree... :)
Les
