X11 / multiple modules per portfile

[Ben Byer]

On Apr 25, 2007, at 6:01 PM, Jordan K. Hubbard wrote:

>
> On Apr 25, 2007, at 5:08 PM, Yves de Champlain wrote:
>
>>> *delurk*
>>
>> Being curious by nature, what does this mean ?
>
> It means he's no longer lurking.

Right.  I've been subscribed to this mailing list for a few months,  
reading occasionally, but since I was being discussed, I figured it  
would be a good time to jump in!

>>> I'd like to eventually submit these for inclusion in MacPorts to  
>>> replace the broken xorg port that currently exists.  As it stands,  
>>> I wasn't able to figure out how to build more than one module  
>>> (each of which needs a separate configure / make / make install  
>>> step) per portfile, so I have dozens of dozens of portfiles out  
>>> there.  Building a replacement for X11.app takes > 200 modules,  
>>> and I don't really want to dump that many portfiles into the main  
>>> collection.
>>
>> Being curious by nature, isn't it the goal of modular x11, to be be  
>> modular ?  just asking.
>
> As Ben pointed out, there's modular and then there's insane.  I  
> don't think we want 200 ports just for X11 and Ben is not suggesting  
> that he wants to maintain that many, either (that would be insanity  
> + insanity).   I think the break-down he's proposed is a good  
> compromise between modular and manageable and, given that we have  
> absolutely no X.org port maintainer at all, a significant  
> improvement over where we are now!

Hell, there's even a fair bit of debate within the X.org community  
about the merits of this modular system (see <http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/xorg/2007-March/thread.html#22991 
 >).

With the old monolithic XFree86 system, you had
PROS: easy to download (one tarball), easy to build (one or two  
commands)
CONS: Massive, slow download.  Difficult to configure.  Used crufty,  
weird tools like Imake.  (Usually) have to rebuild the entire thing  
whenever one part changes, which takes hours. All parts must be kept  
in sync with each other, and a new version can't be released until  
everyone is ready.

Modular system:
PROS:  A la carte / pick-and-choose downloading of small files.  Can  
build each module individually.  Uses standard autoconf / automake /  
libtool system.  Massively faster release cycle.  Fast projects can  
release more often without waiting for slow projects.
CONS:  Too many stupid little files to download or build by hand.

So, there are some cons to the modular system, but overall it's a good  
tradeoff.  The main reason this helps is because the Xserver can  
release more often; in fact, for the first time in history, X.org will  
be releasing a new version of the Xserver in between "full" releases.   
(X11R7.1 came with server 1.1, X11R7.2 came with server 1.2, server  
1.3 was just released, and X11R7.3 will be released with server 1.4.)

Anyway.  We seem to all be in agreement that we need to make some  
portfiles.  How do I do it?
-b