Re: Advice on Splitting Large Distributions in CPAN

First ignoring the complexity of the dependencies between every module and how complex it may be to maintain for the Bioperl devs...

I can't ignore that - it's the biggest problem! Dividing up the modules along functional lines is probably a win for users that just need a little piece but it will definitely cause problems for the developers.

If the developers are willing, sure, there's no reason they couldn't create 20 distributions instead of one, with a spider's web of dependencies carefully setup to link them together as needed. They could also just start mailing you free beer when you get thirsty! Might as well ask for that while you're at it.

-sam

Comment on Re: Advice on Splitting Large Distributions in CPAN

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Re^2: Advice on Splitting Large Distributions in CPAN by nathanhaigh (Initiate) on Jul 22, 2008 at 23:21 UTC
The reason I said "first ignoring..." was that there may be a misconception by the Bioperl devs that splitting a distribution up into lots of little pieces may be frowned upon by the CPAN people. Therefore if this is not the case, then the decision becomes a trade off between ease of maintainance and ease of installation/re-usability for the end user. Discussions are currently underway to split Bioperl into smaller chunks, and we need all the facts to help decide at what level it is best to split it. Thanks for your quick feedback, Nathan	[reply]

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Re^2: Advice on Splitting Large Distributions in CPAN
by nathanhaigh (Initiate) on Jul 22, 2008 at 23:21 UTC

The reason I said "first ignoring..." was that there may be a misconception by the Bioperl devs that splitting a distribution up into lots of little pieces may be frowned upon by the CPAN people. Therefore if this is not the case, then the decision becomes a trade off between ease of maintainance and ease of installation/re-usability for the end user.

Discussions are currently underway to split Bioperl into smaller chunks, and we need all the facts to help decide at what level it is best to split it.

Thanks for your quick feedback,
Nathan

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