Re: [MinGW-dvlpr] Status of the MSYS 1.0.11 release

[Keith M. <kei...@us...>]

On Wednesday 28 March 2007 03:24, Cesar Strauss wrote:
> There is an issue, however, for which I ask your opinion.
>
> In the MSYS Snapshot download section, I see several upgrades and
> additions to the MSYS packages. Are they stable enough to be included
> in the next release? I would think so, but apparently Earnie choose
> not to include them in his msysCORE snapshot. Only coreutils was
> added, the rest kept the same versions as the current MSYS 1.0.10
> release.

Perhaps Earnie himself will confirm it, but AFAIK, he posted the CORE 
snapshot after he'd set the release point he intended for the 1.0.11 
release of msys-1.dll.  He then move on to preparing the ported 
packages he intended updating in the eventual release, posting each 
individually as he completed it, so that we could help him to test 
them.  In the release, I think we should incorporate these newer 
package versions in the release, in place of their earlier counterparts 
from MSYS-1.0.10.

And, my 2p, following up on Greg's question:
> > So is the question whether to use those 'tar' and 'bash'
> > binaries in a new installer binary?
>
> Yes, but also bison, bzip2, diffutils, file, findutils, flex, gawk
> and make.

In the CORE release, we should include all of those tools which were 
included in the core MSYS-1.0.10 release; IMO, where a newer version 
has been prepared as a snapshot, then that newer version should go into 
the 1.0.11 release, replacing the older version from 1.0.10.  Of those 
mentioned above, I believe all were in MSYS-1.0.10 core, with the 
exception of `bison', `file' and `flex'.  I'd like to see `file' added 
to the core set for MSYS-1.0.11, but keep `bison' and `flex' as 
optional extras, to be installed as msysDTK components.

WRT the msysDTK, it too could benefit from a fresh release, but work on 
that can be deferred until at least a release canditate for MSYS-1.0.11 
has been posted. I'd like to see the updated DTK also integrated into a 
combined MinGW/MSYS installer, in a manner which allows users to pick 
and choose which components they would like to install, while still 
honouring dependencies between components, where applicable.

Just a closing note, regarding `bash'.  I've been using the 3.1 snapshot 
for a while now, and it seems stable, so I think MSYS-1.0.11 can safely 
ship with it.  It still needs to be installed as `sh.exe', as that is 
what configure scripts are expected to use.  We could also consider 
placing an option in the installer, to also install it as `bash.exe'; 
on NTFS, that could simply be a hard link--MSYS' own `ln' command can 
create those; for FAT, it would have to be a copy, but IIRC `ln' will 
take care of that anyway.

Regards,
Keith.