[MacPorts] #14930: RFE php5: move all graphic libraries into separate variant?

[MacPorts]

#14930: RFE php5: move all graphic libraries into separate variant?
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  Reporter:  bulk at modp.com  |       Owner:  macports-tickets at lists.macosforge.org
      Type:  enhancement    |      Status:  new                                  
  Priority:  Normal         |   Milestone:  Port Enhancements                    
 Component:  ports          |     Version:  1.6.0                                
Resolution:                 |    Keywords:                                       
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Comment (by bulk at modp.com):

 Hi,

 thanks for the quick reply.   Yeah, I expect a lot (most?) people might
 want the graphics on by default.  As for a "no_graphics" variant -- I
 suppose it is a bit mysterious.  The short answer is that  it saves time
 and space for our sysadmins/release engineer.  They have to frequently
 nuke /opt/local and rebuild the whole images and not downloading/compiling
 the graphics libraries saves 15m per cycle.

 The long answer is that we are using macports as a development
 environment.   We love MacPorts, but we also need to make a few changes to
 the ports tree for all sorts of reasons: postgresql82 is required when we
 want postgresql83, something is out of date, etc.  (We are filing
 bugs/rfes but they take time to clear, etc).  Also there are a few bugs,
 such as python modules or apache randomly breaking on install (known
 issues).  Some package need env variables set before compiling.  Instead
 of making everyone go through the whole port install process, which can
 take a few hours,  we are making a version (or two), tarball all of
 /opt/local.   Then when a new developer  comes on board, untar, and 45
 seconds later the entire macports is installed, ready to go (with some
 minor post config).   So far it works great -- it's like poor-man's Xen
 without the kernel ;-)  Suggestions/comments welcome.

 However to make 'the image', lots of "rm -rf /opt/local; redo.sh" is done.
 PHP is near the end of the line,  and as mentioned, not downloading, not
 compiling the graphics librarys saves 15m of sometimes time, per cycle.
 (which can happen many times per day if something screws up, debugging,
 etc).

 Ideally we like to minimize any use of local ports and use as much of the
 official as possible, hence, our request to have a no-graphics variant.
 We'll can provide the patch if you want (it's should be simple and
 harmless).

 again, thanks for the speedy reply!

 --nickg

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Ticket URL: <http://trac.macosforge.org/projects/macports/ticket/14930#comment:2>
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