in reply to Re: Why Module::Build?
in thread Why Module::Build?

If there is a major point to be taken from my post, it's how difficult it is to maintain or extend MM. Seven thousand lines of code to add two features? That's ridiculous.

And your comment that "consumers" features have been ignored is not true. The bulk (not all, but the bulk) of day-to-day consumer needs is currently handled by Module::Build and it's currently handled on most platforms. And to see if the author is responsive, check the changes file, see how frequently new versions come out and how many features are incorporated. PREFIX hasn't been added because it's hard. (I'm sure patches are welcome). MB is not done and no one has claimed that it is. Nor have all of the design decisions been the best, but what it offers is a hell of a lot easier to maintain and extend than MakeMaker. Why the authors are making the decisions they are currently making, I can't say and I don't know, but I doubt it will take 7,000 lines of code to add the feature du jour.

Cheers,
Ovid

New address of my CGI Course.

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Re^3: Why Module::Build?
by Corion (Patriarch) on May 19, 2005 at 21:32 UTC

    Why did you include the magic list of cool features then? What do I, as a "consumer" care for the difficulty of implementing new features? The only feature that I as a "consumer" want is, that it works as it has worked before. And if somebody wants to use M::B, because it provides more cool features for them, I will bitch about it if M::B breaks my setup Just Because It Can (resp. The Authors Decided To).

    Again, the problem is a problem of the mindset. The complaint about PREFIX, just to name a well-known example, is ages old. And yet, I have not heard a single workaround suggested. That is ridiculous.

[reply]

      The workaround is --installbase. That will satisfy most consumer's needs (and I agree that it's not sufficient).

      Cheers,
      Ovid

      New address of my CGI Course.

[reply]

        I don't know what you're smoking, but it must be the same stuff that Schwern's been taking. Let me cite from the documentation on --installbase:

        Note that this is different from how MakeMaker's PREFIX parameter works. PREFIX tries to create a mini-replica of a site-style installation under the directory you specify, which is not always possible (and the results are not always pretty in this case). install_base just gives you a default layout under the directory you specify, which may have little to do with the installdirs=site layout.

        If this is the "workaround", it is very well hidden that this can somehow reach a solution compatible to PREFIX=.

        As an aside, I found this information at the very end of the Module::Build documentation. This information should be at the top, so a "consumer" user finds it without problems. Maybe there should be a separate Module::Build::API document that documents the "producer" API, which far less people care about. I guess you'll think of this as a feature request, or a bug report, and it should thus go onto RT, or on some list. But I don't care about M::B enough - I only fear that too many people will use it.

[reply]

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