p5 modules, get me started on one

[Daniel J. Luke]

On Jan 23, 2009, at 3:31 AM, Scott Haneda wrote:
> And I think I am a good case in which that sort of failed me. I  
> needed Net::SMTP, but to me, as a user, it was not there.  I tried  
> port list p5-net-smtp, and nothing.

There are generally two kinds of users who need a specific perl module:

1 - The vast majority will need it as a dependency for something else  
(and they don't really care about that module as long as whatever they  
are trying to install works).

2 - People who plan on writing scripts or doing something else outside  
of MacPorts that require that module.

Looks like you were in group #2? Most of the time, I would think that  
someone who wanted a specific perl module would either know (or find  
it trivial to discover) that it was part of a 'larger' package of  
modules.

> I sort of like the idea of a port file being a pointer to download  
> some other package that contains the parent modules, unless someone  
> tells me it is a really bad idea.


It's not necessarily a bad idea, it's just a lot of work for the  
maintainer (since each module would require a portfile that points  
back to the parent package).

Not that it excuses the MacPorts behavior, but I don't think the other  
package managers do this.

I think making the ports you want show up more easily when doing port  
search would be an easier way to approach fixing this.
--
Daniel J. Luke
+========================================================+
| *---------------- dluke at geeklair.net ----------------* |
| *-------------- http://www.geeklair.net -------------* |
+========================================================+
|   Opinions expressed are mine and do not necessarily   |
|          reflect the opinions of my employer.          |
+========================================================+



-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: PGP.sig
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 194 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
URL: <http://lists.macosforge.org/pipermail/macports-users/attachments/20090123/dab37c6d/attachment.bin>