On Mar 15, 2007, at 8:54 PM, Adam Kennedy wrote:
Chris Dolan wrote:
M::B does not require make nor a C compiler to install or run,
once you have all of its dependencies installed. That means that
in theory it can be installed on a Mac that lacks the Developer
Tools or on Windows with just Perl, for example.
Again, neither does M:I or EU:MM (at least for the C compiler).
The one difference here is make.
Agreed. My mention of the C compiler was a red herring. Sorry about
that. :-) What I really should have pointed out was that M::B can
build XS and C modules even without make thanks largely to
ExtUtils::CBuilder and ExtUtils::ParseXS. The other point I failed
to make was that M::B builds itself without resorting to a Makefile,
which I've always found satisfying.
If you want to install modules from a source repository, you need
the ability to work with source. I'd be quite (and pleasantly)
surprised if the entire dependency chain of a typical catalyst
application didn't involve needing a C compiler at some point.
<catalyst_digression>
It's actually not THAT bad. My Catalyst app currently needs Perl
5.8.6+ and the following non-portable/non-PARable dependencies:
install PAR
install Params::Validate
install Date::Calc
install DateTime
install Encode (>= 2.10)
install Template::Stash::XS
install DBD::mysql
install Test::Exception
install Config::Any
install HTML::Parser
install Time::Piece
I know this because I develop on my Mac and deploy on Mac, FreeBSD
and Linux via a single .par file. The list above are what I install
by hand on each server and omit from the PAR bundle.
</catalyst_digression>
In any case, this isn't an attack on Module::Build, just a
suggestion to refer correctly to the deficiencies in other things.
The known deficiencies in Module::Install should be plenty to flame
about, without resorting to adding more. :)
I certainly did not mean to dismiss M::I. My goal was to reinforce
the uniqueness of the M::B approach among the various CPAN toolchain
elements. M::I is a clever evolutionary step from EU::MM
intermingled with a self-bootstrapping solution to the agony of
installing prereqs.
Chris
--
Chris Dolan, Equilibrious LLC, http://equilibrious.net/
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