Re: packaging system

[Przemek Klosowski]

   Let me just point out one thing before we get too far into this
   discussion. Past discussion of a possible packaging system has alluded
   to TeX, R, and perl as examples. I'm not familiar with R, but both of
   the other two do not require compilation for their packages. A packaging

Actually, Perl's CPAN system does allow for compilation. From experience,
a large fraction of Perl packages are compiled extensions. The typical
process is like this:

        perl -MCPAN -e 'install SuperModule'

        <CPAN code gets the source, unpacks, compiles, runs tests, installs>

It is impressive (and sometimes frustrating) how strict they are with the
QA process. Any compilation or regression test error prevents installation
of the package. CPAN archive system is rather comprehensive: upon installation
(which is automatic when you first try to use CPAN) it goes through a list
of archive sites, and selects several closest ones. The archive is indexed,
allows for pre-installation searching, etc.etc.

       p