Bart Smaalders wrote: > On 03/11/10 09:44, Chris Quenelle wrote: >> >> Has any more thought been given to an install-time solution >> for the multiple-versions problem? This could either be >> a special action, or it could be handled by an SMF service >> that updates the symlinks in response to a config file >> installed by the package. Since I haven't heard anything >> about this topic in a while, I assume this is on the back >> burner for now? >> > > Why is an install-time solution better? > > - Bart > >
It's better to pay a few milliseconds (or whatever) at install time than to pay a small runtime performance cost. Debugging problems with the version selection is easier at install time than it is at runtime. Runtime combinations or pfexec/verexec/isaexec are avoided by removing verexec from the equation. Obviously there is a complexity trade-off between complexifying the installer or comlpexifying the runtime. I think it's generally better to make that tradeoff in favor of simpler runtime, if both solutions are reasonable (as they are in this case). Because the install-time solution actuall provides less features, it's (by definition) a simpler solution. The additional feature is the ability to tweak the version selection algorithm at runtime. I don't think that's a necessary part of solving the original requirements. I guess I would say that the runtime selection feature (using environment variables) is an "attractive nuisance" feature. --chris _______________________________________________ pkg-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/pkg-discuss
