Re: [PATCH 3/8] perl: generalize the Git::LoadCPAN facility

From: Todd Zullinger <tmz@pobox.com>
Date: Feb 15, 2018, 05:09 UTC
Message-ID: <20180215050909.GD27038@zaya.teonanacatl.net>
In-Reply-To: <20180214225754.GC136185@aiede.svl.corp.google.com>

Hi Jonathan,

Jonathan Nieder wrote:

Show 17 quoted lines

> Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason wrote:
> [...]
>> +++ b/perl/Git/LoadCPAN.pm
>> @@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
> [...]
>> +The Perl code in Git depends on some modules from the CPAN, but we
>> +don't want to make those a hard requirement for anyone building from
>> +source.
> 
> not about this patch: have we considered making it a hard requirement?
> Both Mail::Address and Error.pm are pretty widely available, and I
> wonder if we could make the instructions in the INSTALL file say that
> they are required dependencies to simplify things.
> 
> I admit part of my bias here is coming from the distro world, where we
> have to do extra work to get rid of the FromCPAN embedded copies and
> would be happier not to have to.

Heh, a similar bias is what led me to suggest a Makefile knob to prevent installing the fallbacks. I neglected to add you to the Cc list on that reply. But I was thinking of Debian and other distributions whom I know would similarly want to exclude Git/FromCPAN from their git packages. I know it's a simple rm, but it might as well be a simple rm in one place than spread across each package. :)

It may still be worth considering whether it's reasonable to make Mail::Address and Error.pm hard requirements, but I'm not sure if there are any platforms where such a requirement would be a pain. If there are folks here who are happy to maintain this fallback method, then a simple Makefile knob gives us the best of both worlds.

-- 
Todd
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Historian, n. A broad-gauge gossip.
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