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From: Robert Pendell <shinji+gmane AT elite-systems DOT org>
Subject:  Re: Stop turning CPAN modules into Cygwin packages
Date:  Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:50:59 -0500
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Brian Mathis wrote:
> On Dec 12, 2007 11:43 AM, Archie Warnock <warnock AT awcubed DOT com> wrote:
>> Igor Peshansky wrote:
>>> BTW, this problem must have been encountered (and, hopefully, solved) by
>>> other distros.  How does the Debian git package handle this?  I seem to
>>> recall that at least Red Hat Linux at some point had packages for some
>>> CPAN modules...
>> I don't know how they solve dependencies, or if it has anything to do with
>> dependencies, but I can tell you that Fedora Core 8 (and earlier versions) have
>> a _lot_ of CPAN modules packaged as RPMs.
>>
>> I, too, prefer to get my modules directly from CPAN but I do run into occasional
>> compilation problems from time to time.  At those times, it's really handy to
>> have the packages available.  But, as already mentioned, those should be fixes
>> that are passed upstream to the CPAN module owner/maintainer anyway.
>>
>> --
>> Archie
>>
> 
> Fedora (and the other distros) do this because they understand that
> for a really good working distro, you need to have everything on the
> system managed by the system's package manager.  It doesn't really
> matter that installing from CPAN is easy, because it always screws up
> the dependencies on the system.
> 
> The same goes for compiling other packages from tar.gz files and
> installing them without first rolling an rpm (for example).  Yes,
> compiling is not hard, and it might make one feel that they are a more
> empowered or advanced Admin, but it cannot be said emphatically enough
> that compiling things from .tar.gz files should be the absolute last
> resort way to get some software onto a system.
> 
> CPAN is sort of a gray area because it's another package manager in
> and of itself, and perl modules mostly are not "compiled", but it
> creates the same problems.
> 
One thing I will add is the admin of the NetBSD system that I login to 
will not install anything unless it is in a package form.  So if someone 
requests a perl module then it has to be readily available as a package.


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