RE: [Axiom-developer] CVS, Arch, Darcs

[Bill Page]

On Thursday, November 18, 2004 9:16 PM Tim Daly wrote:

>...
> From axiom's view GCL is a modular piece but it needs
> integration work to build smoothly and end users shouldn't
> do that.
> 

>From the point of view of *end users*, I think it should not
be more complicated than

  $ apt-get install axiom

(or the equivalent)

Forget about end-users building anything. All they want to
do (and all they should expect to have to do) is to learn
to use Axiom and get on with their main work. If we are lucky
perhaps some end-users will be willing and interested in
making they Axiom application work accessible to others.

For everyone else, there are so many levels and combinations
of experience, skill and patience that I can't imagine how it
would ever be possible to satisfy everyone. I would like more
people to become more actively involved with Axiom development
but for reasons that have little to do with the tools we are
using, it seems unlikely to me that this will change even if the
Axiom development process somehow manages to be more accessible.
Basically, most people just do not have enough time to devote
to this. So from my point of view, what is happening right now
is (more or less) optimal.

About the only improvement I can think of right now is to make
easily available a larger and well documented library of up to
date and tested pre-compiled binaries for as many platforms
and linux variants as possible. It would be great if some people
besides Tim and Cam could contribute to such a library. I would
be very pleased to set up an area on MathAction and the Axiom
Portal where such contributed binary versions can be uploaded.

Regards,
Bill Page.