Re: [9fans] Man pages for add-ons

[Ethan Grammatikidis <eekee57@fastmail.fm>]

On 28 Mar 2010, at 20:36, Federico G. Benavento wrote:
> I think it all comes down to simplicity, you install the app, you
> run the
> app, it looks like some of you would like to add complexity just
> because
> you think it's the right thing to do.


Well.. it's experience with Linux (and, I suppose, BSD). If you
install stuff from source it's not long before you almost have no idea
what's in /usr/local. You might remember what you installed, but there
will be a lot of binaries with names that just don't make sense or
correlate to anything. Good luck uninstalling a package or cleaning up
when you upgrade one and find the new version doesn't install all the
same files so you're left with, for example, stray header files which
could screw up future compiles. Actually I use git on /usr/local which
both gives me an uninstall option and (with some rather long options)
a list of files installed with each commit. "All" I have to do is
remember to commit after each make install.

I don't know if history came up because venti could offer similar to
what I use git for, but that would only work if you installed only one
package per day. Now on Gnunix if you can get an app going with just
one package install you can call yourself lucky!

--
Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.
-- Alan Perlis