Re: gnuplot, wxWidgets and distributions

[<tim...@en...>]

Ethan A Merritt wrote:
> I can point out that Redhat has been shipping a minimally-configured=20
> and stripped down gnuplot
> package for a long time.  The current Redhat gnuplot rpm does not even=20
> link against libgd, thus they fail to include support for any of the=20
> gd-based terminals.=20
>
>  =20
>> I won't talk about other distributions, but the situation is probably=20
>> quite close to Fedora's.
>>    =20
>
> Not really.  For one thing, the move is in general towards distributing
> as a single DVD image rather than multiple CD images.  And at least in
> the case of Mandriva, which is where I have the most familiarity, there
> is no such distinction between 'core' and 'extra'.
> =20
>  =20
> (...)
> I find that in general the default packages and configuration on
> both RHEL and Fedora are not ideal for scientific lab use.  Both
> Suse and Mandriva are a better match out-of-the-box.  This comment
> is not intended as a slam against Redhat;  they have identified a
> target user community and designed their offerings accordingly.
> But labs like mine are apparently not in their target community,
> and the choices they make are often contrary to our needs.
>
> The truth is that we don't really know who exactly is the core user
> community for gnuplot. But at least among the developers it seems that
> scientific lab use predominates, and in my experience this means that
> Fedora core may not be as common as other linux distros.
>  =20
I have not seen any Linux distributions in the labs I have worked in, at=20
least none maintained by the tech staff. A few people had Fedora (in=20
California) and some Mandriva (in France). I am using a source-based=20
distribution, so I don't have any of there problems...

Anyway, I asked Suse and Mandriva people about gnuplot and wxWidgets.

In Suse, gnuplot is installed by default, and although wxWidgets is=20
probably not installed by default, it's there and ready. We may hope=20
they will keep gnuplot installed by default and ship it with the=20
wxWidgets terminal (wxGTK is something like 10MB).

In Mandriva, gnuplot is installed by default when you choose a profile=20
like "scientific workstation". wxWidgets is in their main repository.=20
There doesn't seem to be any problem here.

I guess we (I?) should not worry then. At least Suse and Mandriva are=20
very likely to ship the full-featured package.

As far as Debian is concerned, I'll assume they may build a third=20
package with wxWidgets given Ga=C3=ABl's report. Debian users are probabl=
y=20
not to be worried about.


Thank you for pointing out this difference between distributions. I=20
picked Fedora quite randomly.

Best regards,

Timoth=C3=A9e