# To subscribers of the xforms list from Rob Fletcher <rpf1@york.ac.uk> :
On Sat, 13 Apr 2002, T.C. Zhao wrote:
> # To subscribers of the xforms list from "T.C. Zhao" <tc_zhao@yahoo.com> :
>
>
> I agree too that there is no need to stuff
> other independent libraries into xforms
> now that xforms is open source.
>
> The reason xpm and even sometime libjpeg live
> inside libforms.so is for people who just
> want to run some app that requires xforms
> but not really into compiling anything.
> Downloading xpm and jpeg and compile them
> just plainly won't work for them.
> You can't possibly overestimate how many
> people fall into this category.
>
Yes, I do understand why these "basic" libs were built into the Xforms
shared objects. Acquiring and building from source is often a pain, and is
not something every "developer" using Xforms can do (or wants to do even).
There are often version skew issues too. (How many times hvae you had a
jpeg tool check the jpeg revision level and then moan about being the
wrong level and exit ... of course you should have checked the README,
but then, you think, "well, the latest version should be OK", but, oh no,
the code checks for a specific rev level - hah!).
Now Xforms is OpenSource, I do think the notes about collecting up the
independent libs, even building them into their own "support" library, and
the Makefile/Configure tools need some care. Not impossible though.
It would seem the release of Xforms into this arena, with its many devoted
fans, is quite a big project in itself. Care must be taken to get the
maintenance of reference sources well and truly sorted out, so that those
who continue to use this great package can be confident that the source is
properly patched and as stable as the releases we have been used to in the
past.
I would assume that a site somewhere will hold binaries built by good
souls around the net? It would be great to see the awesome list of
binaries as before (so many *other* OpenSource releases tend to only
carry a small number of binaries!).
Cheers all,
Rob.
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