binary distribution

[Jordan K. Hubbard]

On Mar 16, 2010, at 6:16 PM, Bjarne D Mathiesen wrote:

> Jordan K. Hubbard wrote:
>> On Mar 11, 2010, at 7:43 AM, Pratul Kalia wrote:
> ...
>>> On an alternate note, has ports ever thought of a binary distribution
>>> system too? (like apt).
>> 
>> Yes. :)   It's one of those long-standing TODO list items that just never seems to get done.
> 
> wouldn't that be a bit complicated ?
> 
> At present I've got 4 (four) CPU architectures on my computers:
> PPC G4
> Core Duo
> Core 2 Duo
> Core i7
> that seem to be binary incompatible

I think it's only complicated because you're over-complicating it. :-) 

For a "1.0 version" of any binary package collection to be successful, the project and its many Port maintainers are probably going to have to aim at a much more realistically constrained initial target, and by that I mean the x86_64 ABI running against 10.6 or later.  I don't say this with the intention of being "elitist" in my selection of machines, but simply to underscore the point that since any such project is going to be starting essentially from scratch and aiming at an implementation date some time in the future, it might just as well aim itself at a point slightly ahead of where we are now.  The x86_64/10.6 configuration is also far more abundant than some people might think - Apple has been shipping 64 bit x86 systems for quite awhile now, and in some very popular configurations, so MacPorts could make a greatly simplifying assumption here ("No universal packages") to start with and still be relevant to a very significant portion of the Mac community.  Those not on the x86_64 train can also still build their own ports, just as before, so it's not like I'm suggesting that anyone needs to be deprived of anything they currently have.

> I actually like the FreeBSD ports idea of 'just' downloading the source
> and doing the make/compile/install locally with all of the options of
> the different variants

Actually, by far the most popular way of grabbing software on FreeBSD is either via sysinstall's package menu or the command-line "pkg_add -r packagename [ .. packagename]", both of which offer easy browsing and installation of packages from any of the various remote package mirrors.  I know this because I was around when both were implemented and released, and we collected a lot of interesting usage stats.  What we found was that most people actually have no interest in wandering around /usr/ports trying to find something, particularly now that there are over 21,000 ports in the collection, when they can just grab something pre-built and get on with whatever their original reason for wanting that package was.  Those folks who are more at home in /usr/ports and/or the MacPorts dports directory more out of preference than necessity are a much rarer breed, statistically speaking, than they ever seem to think they are. :-)

- Jordan