How can I determine if a function is available?

[Daniel J. Luke]

On Apr 12, 2007, at 9:26 PM, Ryan Schmidt wrote:
>> of course, the downside of variants is that nothing can depend on  
>> them being there (which is why, for instance, the various  
>> subversion bindings ports are not implemented as variants, even  
>> though the current setup requires lots of extra build time which  
>> is otherwise unnecessary).
>
> So wouldn't we most accurately call that a deficiency in base that  
> should be corrected, rather than bastardizing the portfiles to work  
> around the deficiency? :)

Mabye?

Things quickly get confusing if you can depend on variants, though  
(what do you do if a port is installed but without one or more  
variants that you need for another port? what if they conflict with  
variants it _was_ installed with? how do you do automated build/ 
testing when the number of possibilities explodes as each port has to  
be built and tested with each other port with every possible  
combination of variants?)

Multiple ports works, has reasonable behavior, and isn't too  
confusing for the end-user.

Of course, if you want to see it work the other way, and are going to  
work on base/, then please go for it!
--
Daniel J. Luke
+========================================================+
| *---------------- dluke at geeklair.net ----------------* |
| *-------------- http://www.geeklair.net -------------* |
+========================================================+
|   Opinions expressed are mine and do not necessarily   |
|          reflect the opinions of my employer.          |
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