recommended "dependencies?"

[Mark Duling]

Randall Wood <rhwood at mac.com> on Friday, February 9, 2007 at 7:13 PM -0800
wrote:
>> I have noticed that most variants add or delete a configure flag in  
>> the form of +enable_*/+disable_*/+with_*/+without_* and maybe add  
>> or delete a related dependency.
>>
>> Therefore, I propose that all variants should fit the following forms:
>>
>> enable_*/disable_* (Enable or disable a feature that may depend on  
>> something else that a user may or may not want installed. For  
>> example: +enable_python or +disable_python to build a port that can  
>> optionally use python to extend functionality)
>>
>> with_*/without_* (Build with a certain port to provide a backend  
>> service or to change some aspect of how the program works without  
>> changing the program's functionality. For example: +with_gnome or  
>> +without_gnome to build a port that uses gnome standard file open/ 
>> close dialogs instead of gtk file open/close dialogs)

I think this makes sense for the variants that add/remove configure flags
and enable/disable stuff in apps.  But there are variants that don't do
this.  For example, some choose between using Apple's built-in utilities
and using MacPorts.  These are special cases of course, the preference is
to for MacPorts, but I wonder if there is some standard form for other
types or if it just remains outside any standard.

Mark