Removing external binaries from Axiom source tree: a proposal (was: Re: [Axiom-developer] Axiom silver branch)

[David MENTRE]

Hello Bill,

"Bill Page" <address@hidden> writes:

> Storing binary files in a source code archive is something that
> I have always objected to, but Tim insists on re-distributing
> code this way. I really think we should stop doing this.

I can understand Tim point of view: do not depend on external sources
and manage complexity by providing the "Axiom-blessed" versions of
noweb, gcl, etc.

One possible solution to this issue would be:

 1. remove noweb, gcl, etc. sources from axiom source tree ;

 2. put them in a repository somewhere on axiom-developer.org ;

 3. write a shell script, much like GARNOME for Gnome ou Konstruct for
    KDE that fetches source dependencies from axiom-developper.org,
    build them and then build Axiom itself. 

This script could be a separate one or be part of ./configure (e.g. with
option --fetch-and-build-dependencies).

What do you think of it?

Best wishes,
d.
-- 
David MENTRE <address@hidden> -- http://wiki.axiom-developer.org/FrontPage