Open Source Mac - Free, Open-Source software for OS X

[Andre-John Mas]

On 30-May-07, at 12:40 , paul beard wrote:

>
> On May 30, 2007, at 8:35 AM, Andre-John Mas wrote:
>
>> Given the target audience, and that these aren't pure unix solutions,
>> I can't imagine how this would make their life easier. Different
>> audiences, different solutions. I would be interested how you came
>> to your conclusion.
>
> Um, these are open source software packages that, while they can be  
> packaged, can also be built from source. It seemed there was some  
> overlap and an opportunity to build the mindshare associated with  
> MacPorts by explaining that many of those applications are  
> available in an integrated package management system.
>
> I wasn't suggesting they were interchangeable, merely that MacPorts  
> offered some of the same tools with a lot more useful stuff  
> besides. The idea was to give people who might feel adventurous or  
> who have experience with compiing ported applications a choice.  
> Choice is good. And expanding MacPorts' base is better.
>
> I'm getting a sense that people who use double-clickable installers  
> are somehow not "our sort of people." Goodness knows we can always  
> use more snobbery ;-)

No snobbery intended. For me it was more that people who are used to  
drag
and drop installs aren't necessarily going to want to play around  
with the
command-line - if someone comes up with a simple to use and elegant GUI
that just works, then I might reconsider my remarks.

Something else MacPorts would need to support is the ability to move the
application. I doubt /opt/local would be the right place for the  
applications.
Even if they were in /Applications it is not necessarily the final  
resting
place, since some people like to group application types together,  
for example
/Application/Movie Viewers/

Would there be a way for MacPorts to support file references, rather  
than just
file paths, so it could keep track where the application have been  
moved to? I
know MacOS X offers the ability, but is this something we might  
consider adding
to MacPorts?

Andre