Re: [matplotlib-devel] Directories for C/C++ extensions

[Todd <tod...@gm...>]

On Oct 18, 2013 8:20 PM, "Chris Barker" <chr...@no...> wrote:
>
> Ian,
>
> > I am working on a PR to replace the use of matplotlib.delaunay with the
> > Qhull library.
>
> nice! -- ( though I sure wish Qhull did constrained delaunay...)
>
> > Installation will be similar to the existing packages LibAgg
> > and CXX in that if the system already has a sufficiently recent version
of
> > Qhull installed then matplotlib will use that, otherwise it will build
the
> > required library from the source code shipped with matplotlib.
>
> Why bother, why not just always build the internal version?
>
> (for that matter, same with agg)
>
> Wouldn't it be a lot easier and more robust to be sure that everyone
> is running the exact same code?
>
> What are the odds that folks are using qhull for something else, and
> even more to the point, what are the odds that the duplication of this
> lib would matter one wit?
>
> This isn't like LAPACK, where folks have a compellling reason to run a
> particular version.
>
> -- just my thoughts on how to keep things simpler.
>
>
> -Chris

>From a Linux distro packaging perspective bundled external libs are a big
no-no. If a patch is needed for whatever reason packagers don't want to
have to go and hunt down dozens of copies of the same library.  In some
cases there is no alternative but it should be avoided whenever possible.