xfig / date / libintl problem on a MacBook Pro

[Keith J. Schultz]

Hi John,

	Nobody, here has anything against questions or questioning policy,
	but you are definately wrong in stating that MacPorts is a "buggy software scheme".
	Quite the contrary is true. Have you used Fink? Fink has in the past screw my entire
	system big time! I have had to completely install the entire machine.

	MacPort is rather non-evasive. If the software that is installs via MacPort has bugs or if a major
	incompatibility occurs I can simply remove MacPort and start from scratch.
	Also, MacPorts has evolved to become very stable. That is most problems with MacPorts are due 
	to not using the system properly. That is not selfupdating and not upgrading before a new port is installed.
	Then there is the problem that of migrating a MacPorts install, I personally hold this for a mistake, one should 
	migrate a MacPorts install. Yes, they have support for it, but I discourage it.

	Now, there is only two aspects that make Macports "buggy" as you say:
		
	1) The upstream source is buggy.

	2) The upstream software must be ported, aka portfiles have to be maintained.

	1) is a non-brainer.

	2) Is a problems as the volunteer work is not co-ordinated, so that every port is necessarily "in sync"
	     with every it depends upon. 
	MacPort is driven by volunteer work, and if you follow this list, you would know that the maintainers
	go way out of there way to help. Many problems that can not be solved are upstream problem.
	MacPort is cutting-edge software. Therefore, there will always be problems, but I would call them hardly
	bugs or buggy. It is development in progress. Evidently, would do work with software that is actively being
	developed very often or you would know this.

	Of course this is ONLY my opinion, and probably not YOURS.

	regards
		Keith.

Am 05.11.2010 um 04:16 schrieb John B Brown:

> Dear Daniel,
> 
> 	Communication is essential to learning. Asking as many questions as possible is one way to communicate a need for enlightenment. Posing possibilities is another. Asking questions can hardly be considered bombast. Why would you even remember my initial learning curve?
> 
> 	I certainly do hope you have a better command of work languages; your command of adjectives seems distorted.
> 
> 	And yes, debugging implies bugs. Macports are forever being debugged. Do you wish to claim that as my fault also?
> 
> 	Go check your cats!
> 
> Daniel J. Luke wrote:
>> On Nov 4, 2010, at 10:50 PM, John B Brown wrote:
>>> 	Since when has rendering an honest opinion been unacceptable?
>> You have repeatedly bombastically blamed macports for problems that end up being caused by changes you've made to your system that put it into a non-working state.
>> ... and now you're telling other users that macports is full of bugs.
>> That's fine (as it's fairly easy to ignore you) - but you should expect that someone will step in to correct you when you offer bad advice to other users.
>> --
>> 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.          |                          +========================================================+
>