node.js port question and misinformation?

[Tabitha McNerney]

Hi Ryan,

Thank you for clarifying this and also thanks for watching the beginning of
the video to reconfirm that I wasn't hearing things and that Ryan Dahl who
is the primary developer behind node.js did in fact mention MacPorts in the
context I had noted here in this email thread. I am going to find his email
address and write him a note asking him to better understand how MacPorts
works and that there's nothing wrong with using the port!

-Tabitha

On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 2:43 AM, Ryan Schmidt <ryandesign at macports.org>wrote:

> On May 15, 2011, at 01:36, Tabitha McNerney wrote:
>
> > I'm becoming more interested in using node.js and am grateful to the
> Macports community for creating and maintaining a port dedicated to node.js
> (specifically the "nodejs" port). As I'm coming up to speed and learning
> about node.js, its founder and core maintainer, Ryan Dahl, has an
> introductory educational video on YouTube and included in the main nodejs
> web site < http://nodejs.org/ > ... and the beginning of this video, he
> emphasizes that its more important to get the node.js code itself and
> compile it from source on one's own machine (i.e., configure, make, make
> install ) instead of using a package management system and he specifically
> names MacPorts! I'm surprised he mentioned MacPorts because when doing the
> following:
> >
> > # port install nodejs
> >
> > The stages of an install include configuring / making and installing from
> source
> >
> > Perhaps what Ryan Dahl meant was to avoid downloading precompiled
> binaries and / or precompiled libraries? Forgive me if I have forgotten, but
> I never download precompiled binaries via MacPorts (at least that that I'm
> aware of) and am always in the habit of "port install xyz" (although I
> suppose that a "port install xyz" does not necessarily preclude the port
> config file from fetching pre-compiled binaries or libraries true?).
> >
> > So in a nutshell, is there any reason to really avoid using MacPorts when
> it comes to node.js?
> >
> > I hope my question can help clear up any accidental misinformation or
> preconceived notions about MacPorts.
>
> Yes, the nodejs port builds from source; you can read the portfile yourself
> to discover that, or install the port with the debug flag to see what
> happens. Most ports build from source. Usually, the only ports that don't
> build from source are the ones where we can't (either because source is not
> available, or the build process doesn't work) or where it would not provide
> any advantage (such as rebuilding Java .jar archives).
>
> We do eventually want to distribute binaries within MacPorts (or using a
> MacPorts companion tool). It's on the list for Google Summer of Code 2011
> again. But that shouldn't have any negative impact on users; it should only
> have positive impacts (such as not having to wait for things to compile).
> Obviously we're not trying to expend energy on a project that would be of
> detriment to users.
>
> Of course we want software developers to be happy when we package their
> software in MacPorts; if the developer is specifically recommending people
> not use our packaging of their software, then that is disappointing. Perhaps
> you can ask the developer to clarify his remark -- find out why he believes
> the MacPorts packaging of nodejs is unsuitable, so that we can either
> correct the port, or, if the port cannot be satisfactorily corrected, so
> that we can remove the port.
>
> ***
>
> Ok, I've now watched the first couple minutes of the video, and I'm not
> sure what he's talking about. First I thought he was saying that because
> node is under heavy development, users were being advised to compile from
> the git repository -- get the latest bleeding-edge version of the code, in
> other words. But then the example he starts to give involves downloading the
> packaged version tarball, just as MacPorts does. And new versions of those
> tarballs are released fairly often, so if the port is kept updated, it
> shouldn't be too far behind the latest version. So ask Ryan what he's
> talking about. :)
>
>
>
>
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