Batteries Included Policy

[Landon Fuller]

I would like to propose a policy for general consideration. I believe  
it could save everyone energy and brain-cycles; let's call it  
"batteries included":
	As a general rule, ports should enable all standard features/ 
functionality that may be useful to an end-user.

With this:
	- You never install a port to later discover that it is missing some  
necessary piece of functionality.
	- Less likely that your port will depend on another port's specific  
set of variants.

Features that probably should be enabled by default, but often aren't:
	- SSL support.
	- LDAP support.
	- Database support (pgsql, mysql, sqlite). The client libraries are  
cheap to install.
	- SASL/GSSAPI support. Mac OS X is very kerberos-enabled, MacPorts  
can and should be too.

Variants should only be used for features that are highly unusual and/ 
or experimental.

I believe that aiming for "batteries included" will significantly  
reduce the headache and hassle of installing some software and getting  
on with your work.

-landonf

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: PGP.sig
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 194 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
Url : http://lists.macosforge.org/pipermail/macports-dev/attachments/20080621/358c3815/attachment.sig