A Plea to Reduce Dependences (e.g., for swig)

[M.E. O'Neill]

Jonathan Stickel wrote:
> I think what you are asking for is the intent of "Homewbrew":
> 
> 	http://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/
> 
> Now, I have only read about Homebrew and haven't tried to use it, but I can imagine all kinds of gotchas that might arise.

Because what the Mac really needed was yet another packaging solution.  How many is that now?

The quote at the bottom of the Brew front page is telling: “Homebrew is the bee's knees, friends. So far it's a perfect replacement for MacPorts.”

If people want to replace MacPorts, that seems to imply that MacPorts had a (potential) community of users it failed to serve.  Brew currently has 1653 ports (or in its terms, "formulas"), that ought to tell you that they've been able to get some traction.

Myself, I've used MacPorts for many years, and inertia will keep me in the fold for a while, even if it does mean hand-editing Portfiles.  I had been dimly aware of Homebrew, but hadn't really bothered to check it out. Now I have, and I'll keep an eye on it. It's good to know that there's an alternative to recommend to newcomers.

    M.E.O.