Re: [SoX-devel] [Sox-commits] sox INSTALL,1.18,1.19

[Chris B. <ch...@cn...>]

Reuben Thomas wrote:
> On Wed, 27 Dec 2006, Chris Bagwell wrote:
>
>   
>>> I don't agree with this. We should definitely put a requirement of the
>>> minimum with which we regularly test. For example, I use whatever the latest
>>> version is, so I simply don't test against older versions, and rely on Chris
>>> to pick up things that don't work with his version (like AS_HELP_STR vs
>>> AC_HELP_STR).
>>>
>>>
>>>       
>> I'm not much for putting needless burdens on developers/users... If
>> there is a reason why certain versions of libraries or tools then fine;
>> the checks help all involved.
>>     
>
> There's no burden on users in any case, as they don't need to install 
> autotools. The burden on developers is a once off: if they use an old 
> system, they need to install the latest.
>   
In this case, I was talking about users that want to run from CVS but 
have no interest in developing.  They've got to get their system up to 
bleeding edge just to compile from CVS.  For developers, its not always 
an option to upgrade; especially when your talking about non-mainstream 
OS's. 

>   
>> But in this case, it appears to be a check for no other reason but to
>> check.  Its only serving to alienate possible developers or users that
>> want to use CVS.
>>     
>
> The check you mentioned may not be necessary, but some sort of version check 
> may well be. It's much easier to say "make sure you have at least this 
> version" when for most developers it's only an apt-get or rpm -i away, than 
> not to mention versions and then get weird failures.
>
>   

Thats part of my point... Its actually much easier to not require 
anything (we get to take 2 lines out of configure.ac).  If nothing 
breaks then life is fine... If something breaks then its up to the 
person with older autotools to get it working and send patches.  No harm 
if they can't get it working because it 1) doesn't effect people with 
newer tools and 2) its not like they would have been able to compile 
with the version checks anyways.

Chris